Weddings and RAW Files for Clients

I definitely have a much deeper understanding of the wedding photographers concerns over the RAW after your thoughtful comments as well as others. Thanks for that!

I think you have captured the right perspective in the sense that the incremental value of the RAW files is much less than the value of the set of final images that are both expertly captured and processed. I can only guess that there will be some small percent of images that my fiance or I have interest in editing. Furthermore, there is probably only a small percent chance that the wedding photographer's post processing will have interfered with anything I might want to do. And who knows how much the extra image data in the RAW file would make a difference anyway.

I'm realizing that my desire for RAW files is more of a "just in case" situation than anything else. So the reality is that it is a small benefit to me and a small risk to the wedding photographer. Of course the wedding photographer worries that this has the potential to become a headache since he doesn't know me well enough to feel comfortable with me even if I sign the terms.

So, I think my conclusion is that all else being equal, the wedding photographer who provides me with some RAW files would win my business; however, I wouldn't be motivated by RAW files to give up a better wedding photographer for a less capable photographer.