15 TIPS FOR PICKING YOUR PERFECT WEDDING PHOTOGRAPHER
First and foremost, congratulations on your engagement! It’s such an exciting time in your life, even during the craziness going on right now. Personally, picking a wedding photographer was my #1 concern when we got engaged, I knew that I had to find someone perfect but I didn’t even know where to start. I found myself at the mercy of google trying to figure out my first steps, so hopefully this can help with all the questions you have!
1. Create your wedding budget. Then figure out how much of that you are willing to spend to document your memories. Does this include a videographer? There’s nothing worse than picking a photographer, falling in love with them, and then realizing you have to pick between food and a photographer. My husband and I set up our budget quite fast and each picked our #1 non negotiables. Of course mine was photography, I didn’t care how much it cost, I wanted who I wanted. His was food, he wanted to make sure it was a good meal. So our two biggest pieces of the budget pie were photography and food. Try to remember, after it is all said and done, the only thing you have left of your perfect day (other than your marriage) are your memories and the photos.
2. If your budget includes a videographer: You will have to decide whether you want to look for a business that does both combined, or if you are okay with doing separate. I originally wanted a videographer and my husband did not. So we decided to just spend a little more on a photographer than originally planned. Then COVID hit, our families and friends couldn’t be there, so we cut from another budget last minute (which was easy since we didn’t get to have the venue or anything like that) and we hired a videographer. I personally liked getting two separate businesses to do this but that’s me; you may want one business to do both. I would recommend doing both tips #4 and #5 and doing them with both videographers and photographers. I wouldn’t limit out photography/videography businesses just because they don’t offer the other. We had zero issues having two businesses, and it personally worked for me because I got sneak peeks from the photographer, then the whole gallery from her, then we got the first video from the videographer, then the full video after. It worked out because everything didn’t come at one time and we were able to enjoy them in pieces rather than being overloaded with everything all at once.
3. Have your date already selected. OR at least down to a couple dates, and then find out which dates they have available as well. Personally, I had a date with my original venue, I found my dream photographer, she was available, I was just about to book her….and then my venue changed dates on us…to the only date the photographer didn’t have available that month. I had to start the whole process all over again and I was DEVASTATED.
4. Find the editing style you like. Do you like dark and moody photos? Light and Airy? Bright with some contrast? All Natural? Look at a few different photographers that range in styles, pick which speaks to the both of you the most, then find photographers with the same style you like.
5. Speaking of style, find the photo style you like as well. Do you like more artistic photos? Or maybe just a documentary kind? Photos that are more candid? Work on at least trying to figure out which style you are both drawn to. If you want a more documentary style, you’re more than likely not going to want a gallery filled with more artistic style photos (i.e. Shooting through trees, fun photo shopped photos). But please note that a lot of photographers have more than one style of shooting, for example, I generally shoot more documentary but I like to throw in one or two artistic photos, and I’m always up to shooting more if requested.
6. Reach out to the photographers and schedule either a call, zoom, or in person meeting. You have to make sure you “vibe” with your photographer. If they can make you laugh or they are easy to talk to, you are going to have a way better experience rather than with someone you meet for the first time at your engagement shoot.
7. Engagement Photos! When looking at wedding photographers, also look at their engagement/couples photos. I 100,000,000% recommend you book with the same photographer for both your engagement photos and your wedding. This will give you and your love time to get used to your photographer and them to get used to you. I have found that it also helps because your engagement shoot will flow well with your wedding photos. But most importantly you will figure out what worked for you and what didn’t. Example, I once shot an engagement shoot and when it was time for their wedding they politely asked that we didn’t do any “dipping” photos because although they came out well in the engagement photos, they weren’t their favorite pose, so they’d rather not do them at the wedding. Without doing the engagement session with me, we would have never known that.
8. Use weddingwire and theknot for inspiration but don’t just look at photographers from there. I can’t tell you how many amazing photographers aren’t on weddingwire or theknot. Why? Because both of those are ad based, so photographers have to pay memberships to be featured. It’s great to look through for sure, but be open minded to looking other places as well. Believe it or not, but I found it way better to ask a local facebook wedding group for recommendations. Why? Because they will recommend you and will send photo examples from their wedding. The Knot and Wedding Wire share the best portfolio photos of the photographers.
9. Do you remember loving your facebook friend’s wedding photos? Don’t be afraid to ask your friends for their recommendations as well. They’ll be the most honest about their experience!
10. Find out details. How long is the turnaround time? How many photographers will be coming to the wedding? How long will you stay? What are your packages? Do we have to feed you and find a seat for you during our reception? Do I have to order prints through you or can I get a flash drive? These are all important details that you’ll want to know before booking.
11. Don’t leave the biggest day of your life up to your uncle to capture. I promise you, although you will likely save thousands of dollars, your memories are not something you can duplicate, and you probably will not end up with many “wall hanging” images.
12. If you’re still on the fence, don’t be afraid to ask the photographer to see a full wedding gallery and some reviews. This will help because instead of seeing the best of the best images (a portfolio), you will see what you will likely end up with after your day. It would also benefit to see images from your venue, IF they’ve shot there before!
13. Ask to see their final products in person. For example, if they offer an album, ask to see a completed one. Ask to see different paper options. Make sure you like the final product before committing. ALSO- Check to see what the prices will be for these products, sometimes they are not included in the packages.
14. Remember you get what you pay for. Most times it may seem better to go for that $250-500 wedding photographer. Especially if they are just starting out. But once your day is over, you really only have your spouse and your memories. Wouldn’t you want the perfect images to help keep those memories alive? You may have good luck with a first time wedding photographer….or they’ll miss your first kiss, forget to put a memory card in, or worse, not be able to take a single deliverable image, leaving you $500 poorer with nothing at all to show for it. Sure, you may get your $500 back, but wouldn’t you rather have a photo with you and your grandparent on your wedding day? Or the tear in your parents eye as you’re dancing with them?
15. After choosing, make sure you sign a contract. This not only protects your photographer, but it protects you. It also usually answers some of the detail questions in #10 in case you can’t remember those 8 months down the road.
I hope these tips help at least ease your mind while wedding planning, I know how difficult it is to pick vendors, especially when there are so many uncertainties in the World right now. Please feel free to reach out to me at any time if you have any questions or need further explanation on anything!!
Congratulations and please remember that the journey is half the fun. The wedding day will be over so fast and you will only have your photos to remind you of how perfect everything was. :)
