Photography Wedding Tips

Questions to ask your wedding photographer 1. What is your experience with wedding photography? How many years? How many weddings as the photographer? Have you been a photographer at our venue or another venue that is similar? Do you enjoy being a photographer at weddings? 2. How can you optimize your photography for our day? (We include a wedding timeline as part of our services to optimize our photography for you. We know how much time we need at certain parts of the day for photography. We want to give you maximum amount of finished photos! Our suggested timeline can easily be blended with the other vendors' timelines.) 3. What is your photography style? Is it just one or a combination of wedding photography styles: traditional, photojournalistic, illustrative, posed, candid or documentary wedding photography? (Likely a photographer will use more than one style to create a complete visual story of your day) 4. Are you the actual wedding photographer on the day of my wedding? If not, can we meet with the actual photographer? 5. Will you be the photographer at another wedding on our wedding weekend or even on the same day of my wedding? How will that affect our wedding photography? If it's on a Sunday, and you are a photographer at a wedding on Friday or Saturday, will you still have 110% for my day? 6. Can we get our digital negatives from our wedding? Is it an extra cost? Are the images full resolution? How long after the wedding date will they be available? 7. What kind of photography equipment do you use? Are there photography tripods and extra photography lights? Is it obtrusive? Can people trip on your photography stuff? Is your gear professional photography gear? Do you have backup equipment? 8. Do you have professional photographer insurance? (A professional photographer would have that) 9. What if there is an emergency on my wedding day? What if the photographer is ill or cannot make it to my wedding? Who will be my wedding photographer? Will you help provide someone equal or greater photography level and not strand me? 10. If I wanted to, could I see a complete wedding with hundreds of pictures? (This allows you to see the consistency of their photography work, and not just one 'best of'' photography album) 11. How much is photography overtime? (This should be in your wedding photography contract) 12. How do you dress as the photographer at my wedding? (You want your photographer to look appropriately dressed at your wedding, not dressed like they're going to a beach barbeque)

Questions to ask yourself about your wedding photographer

1. Do you love the photography that you see? Does the photographer produce wonderful images of strong impact? Do you 'connect' with their style? Is it the way you envision your wedding photography?

2. Are you comfortable with the wedding photographer?
You're going to be with your photographer all day long. Is this photographer someone who stays calm and is a problem solver? Will this photographer be able to easily integrate into your family and stay professional? Will the photographer be a part of your support group for your wedding day? Will the photographer be there for you if you need them and otherwise be mostly invisible?

3. Do you understand the wedding photography contract? Is everything regarding photography all spelled out?

Choosing a photographer that's right for you

1. What is more important, better pictures or more photography 'stuff' in a package?
With a limited budget, choose a better photographer over more photography products. If your wedding images are wonderful and have strong impact, you can always buy a custom album or fine art prints later. If you get average photos, your wedding photos, even in a custom wedding album, will always ever be only average.

2. Before your wedding:
Is your photographer attentive to your photography questions? Does your photographer ask questions about you and your wedding day? Does your photographer respond quickly to emails or phone calls? Do you feel that your photographer is trying to accommodate your photography needs?

3. Day of wedding:
Your photographer will put greater effort into your photographs when they know that you appreciate their work. Make sure your wedding photographer understands that working with other wedding vendors is a team effort.

Photography regrets

As enticing as it is to spend less money on photography, it's pretty much a guarantee that you will get less value by going with a cheaper photographer. Consider that the photographer is one of the only vendors you will continue to have contact with after your wedding day. You want to implicitly trust that your photographer will deliver your wedding images to you in a timely fashion and, more importantly, that you will love your wedding photographs.

Shopping for a wedding photographer is like buying a house: you get what you pay for. Don't make the mistake of weeding out a photographer because you called or e-mailed them for prices and then crossed them off your list because they exceed a certain amount that you determined photography should cost. One photographer likened it to looking for a restaurant online or over the phone. Just asking about their price over the phone isn't going to show you what a great experience their food is. Feel great about the person you hire as a photographer and see a distinction in the work. Give careful consideration to your photography budget and invest as much as you can into that part of your wedding.