Choosing your photographer
How to choose your perfect wedding photographer
If you google ‘wedding photographers’ you will get thousands of results. If you post in a facebook group asking for photographer recommendations you will get a whole load of responses, more often than not from well meaning friends and relatives of photographers recommended them (there may be some bias there!).
So how do you find your wedding photographer? I have written this, hopefully helpful, post to try and guide couples who are looking for their perfect wedding photographer.
The fundamentals
First of all sort out the fundamentals (is that the right word?) the nitty gritty, the basics (are any of those the right words?!) What I mean is decide the budget, the amount of hours you want your photographer there for and how many photographers you want.
Budget - that one is pretty obvious. What do you want to spend?
Work out what is the minimum amount of time you want covered. The reason I say this is because there may be a photographer you really want to book but their full day package might be over your budget, but they may offer a half day package which will cover from ceremony to first dance so do you really want prep covered?
Do you need one or two photographers? If it is a big wedding or you want both couple’s prep captured then you might need two photographers. Most photographers will be able to add a second photographer to their packages, but this of course will add extra the the price. Some photographers already work in a pair as standard.
Once you’ve got the fundamentals (still not sure if that’s the right word!) then you can move on to the next stage.
finding the photography style you like
How do you want your photos to look?
There are lots of different photography styles. This is not only in how a photographer works on your wedding day, but also editing afterwards.
For example you have; traditional, classic editorial, documentary, candid, romantic, fun, or a bit of everything! Some photographers will do group shots and posed shots, some won’t do any posed photography.
Then there’s the editing style afterwards such as light & airy, dark & moody, colourful, desaturated, vintage.
I suggest you look on Instagram as you will find all sorts of different wedding photography styles on there, see what you like. Remember though that styles can go out of fashion and what looks great now might not in 15 years time (remember vaseline smeared lenses or selective colouring?! 🤮)
I have attempted to edit one of my photos in a version of different styles to give you an idea as to how different a photo can look.
making your short(ish) list of photographers
Next step is to find some photographers whose style you like and make your short(ish) list.
Recommendations from married friends or family members are a good place to start when looking for your photographer as you can ask to see their full gallery and also you may remember from their wedding day how the photographer worked and what they were like.
You can use directory websites like Bridebook or Hitched . Directories are quite useful as you create an account so you can keep a list of your favourites. You can narrow down the results by budget and area. Of course most photographers will travel but then you are widening the net and will have even more to chose from so that is why I suggest you start off by looking local-ish.
As I said before google will give you a million and one results but if you know what style you want that will help to narrow it down if you put those words in your search parameters.
You can ask your venue as they may have a recommended supplier list but how is that managed? Is it just photographers’ who have worked there before and they liked? Which is important but doesn’t mean you’ll get great pictures. Also some venues charge suppliers to be on these lists so there may not be any curating, just whoever pays up.
You can ask on local area Facebook groups but be prepared for hundred of responses of people just recommending their mates. Facebook groups specifically for people planning a wedding may be a better option but again be prepared for lots of replies!
Look at reviews. Either on Google or on the photographer’s own website - they should have reviews and testimonials from previous clients.
first contact
The next thing to do is contact the photographers you like and see if they are available on your date. This should narrow down your list a bit as it’s likely that not all photographers will be available. Photographers’ websites are of course a showcase of their best work so you might want to ask to see a full gallery in the initial contact too if you feel their portfolio doesn’t showcase enough variety.
Things to think about…
Styled shoots
I’ve already mentioned about asking to see a full gallery but something else to check is that it is a real wedding. Lots of photographers (me included) take part in styled shoots as it’s a chance to get creative, try new things which is great as you don’t really want your photographer experimenting at your wedding! However a website full of styled shoots is a bit of a red flag as shooting one of these, when you have the time to retake shots, is not the same pressure as shooting a wedding.
‘natural light’ photographers
I’m not the biggest fan of using flash but I generally have to use it at pretty much every wedding when it gets to the evening. However there have also been times when I’ve had to use it during the ceremony and/or speeches if the venue is on the dark side. So if you venue is a bit moody and you are looking at a wedding photographer who says they are a ‘natural light’ photographer (AKA they don’t (or can’t) use flash) then they will probably not be suitable.
To good to be true
I’m referring to price. There has been one or two cases of wedding photographers (and videographers) who book in loads of weddings really cheap, they often sent associates to shoot the weddings, not always letting the couple know beforehand, and eventually went bust leaving lots of couples without a photographer and/or videographer at very short notice and with no money left to pay for someone else. And it’s still happening.
Next steps
You might, after confirming who is available on your date, be ready to just ago ahead and book your photographer in which case get that booking form filled in! Or maybe you are still undecided or you want to meet any potential photographer.
meet and greet
You might decide you want to meet the photographers before making your final choice. Most photographers will be happy to do this over the phone, via zoom or face to face. But what are you going to talk about? You can ask about how they work, what is included in their packages, how long the gallery will take, talk about your wedding plans too. And you might want to ask a few boring but key questions…
Are you insured?
Some venues will require to see your other suppliers’ proof of insurance but even if they don’t you want to make sure you photographer has all the necessary insurance in place.Do you have back up equipment?
We all know equipment can fail so a decent photographer will have more than one camera. They don’t need to have a duplicate set up but I would expect two camera bodies and two ‘all purpose’ lenses so should one fail mid ceremony they can continue to shot your wedding without too much of a hitch.Do you have a back up plan if you are unable to attend?
People get sick, bones break etc so any photographer needs to have a back up plan they can action if they can’t attend on your day.
Decision time!
Once you have followed all these steps it is really down to you to make you mind up.