My best piece of advice would be not to spend too much on a photographer... or just not have one.
I wish now that DH and I had spent the money we had on a great camera for ourselves and got someone in our family to take the pics (or hand it around to different people to take pics)
We spent $2100 on a photographer, who was terrible!!! She didn't get pics of the bridesmaids and groomsmen at the wedding, and not one pic of our wedding cars!!! We were so super pi$$ed off about that!!! The pics our family members took were so much more beautiful and natural.

Photographic memories are forever!
Im going to disagree about not having a professional. They usually know what they are doing and have a lot more equipment than the normal person has. (although you might know someone) But do your homework beforehand. We were lucky enough to have had photos taken previously by the person we used. It was a lot less stressful knowing she could already make us look really nice. To make sure you get all the shots you want write down a list of the must have photos you want. eg: perfume shot, shoes, bride with mum, bride with dad. Then there is written evidence that you asked for all the shots.
We also had table cameras , you can pick them up quite cheap BUT consider the price of getting them developed which is around the $10 mark AND there will be at least one moron who will take a photo of their naked atonomy for you. ( :evil: I was furious when i got my photos back). You also cant edit them in any way.

If we had our time over, we would buy some cheap digital cameras and have them on the table again. Maybe not one on each but one between a few. If you trust the guests as there is always someone trying to pocket something! You could always resell them after. but it comes down to the money you have beforehand.

I also, personally took photos for my friends wedding (I was also in the wedding party) ROFL Their photography was a > insert mean words< He was rude to the bridesmaids, and had a very made manner. We also commented that we were having trouble with our dresses eg: they were made, and one was too big on the shoulders and kept slipping off to show the nude coloured bra strap. Kept pulling it up, but didnt notice to fine details like that. I guess a good photographer would be saying or moving your clothes to make it look the best. Their proof shots were awful. the colour of the dresses were completely from one end of the colour spectrum to the other end. She has in her house the photos enlarged that I took of them as her main photos. I really feel for her as what if i hadnt taken my camera on that day and took all these shots for her.