What to ask when hiring your Wedding Photographer:

There’s nothing like the day of your wedding! You’ve planned, stressed, arranged, interviewed, & made sure every detail was ready. Ask any previous bride or wedding planner & they will tell you one of the most important decisions you can make besides the venue or dress is who will capture your day. These memories will fade into your mind unless you carefully pick the photography team to tell your love story. Anyone can take a picture & we all have “friends” who will do it as a gift, but you have to ask yourselves if you can trust your most special day to someone who doesn’t do this as their main source of income. Here are some tips to help not only look for the perfect team, but also help build trust:

Do they offer an engagement session?

Many photographers don’t include an engagement session as part of their packages or they’ll “add it” at a special price.  Still others will give away an engagement session if you sign up for their drawing. While none of these practices are bad, the important thing to look at is the reason why the engagement session is so important.

It’s an interview for both of you. You get to know your photographer during your engagement session which is paramount to trusting them. They get to find out how your fiancé makes you laugh, which side you prefer, how you flow together as a couple, & many things that will make your wedding portraits better. Plus, who doesn’t want more pictures of themselves!? A couple starting a new life together should fill their walls with variety from both their engagements & their wedding day! So carefully weigh options if your photographer doesn’t offer that crucial engagement session.

Is the photographer who booked you the photographer you get?

There have been times we’ve seen a bride be completely unaware of who just showed up at their wedding to photograph her important day. Some companies, not all are this way, book as many clients as they can & assign a team to photograph it based on availability & pricing model. As the owner of our business, we take great pride in being the ones who meet with, get to know, & shoot your wedding. We want our brides to know who they will be working with from hello until happily ever after. Trust takes time to build & it’s hard to relax around someone you’ve never met. Ask your potential photographer the question of who will actually be there at your wedding?

If you have 2 photographers, do they flow together?

Most brides want to have 2 photographers to make sure all the important shots get captured. One thing to think about is how well do the 2 photogs work together? Have they shot weddings together before? There are many times a newer photographer will ask his photographer friends to be their second shooter. While there’s nothing wrong with that, you have to be aware of your situation and how it will go. One of the benefits of being a husband & wife team for us is that we’ve shot every wedding together & we know each other’s moves & looks. Read more at our post:

Husband & Wife Photography Teams

You don’t have to have a husband & wife team as your photographer, we have many photographer mentors who don’t work with their spouses, but what you should look at is how well they flow with their 2nd shooters. Flow on your wedding day is very important.

Bottom line when looking for your wedding photographer is: do you feel comfortable? As long as my wife & I have been doing wedding photography we have always strived to make sure our brides are completely comfortable with us & we make sure our style matches their desires. Not everyone clicks with every photographer which is why there’s many options to choose from, but the key is to find the person/persons who are perfect for your fairytale!