Choosing a wedding photographer is a huge decision, as the photos captured on your special day will become timeless memories you look back on for the rest of your lives. To ensure you find the perfect match for your vision and style, here are essential questions to ask yourself while researching and before a consultation with any photographer:
- What Is My Preferred Photography Style? Consider the style of photography that resonates with you. Do you prefer traditional, photojournalistic, artistic, or a blend of styles? Do you prefer a more light and airy edit or a more cinematic/moody look? This is an important question to ask yourself as every photographer’s style is different. Just like a painter, sculptor, drawer, a photographers style and editing is unique to them. You’ll want to make sure your preference aligns with their style as it can be difficult for a photographer to change their shooting and editing style for one client.
2. How Responsive Are They to Communication? Evaluate the responsiveness of potential photographers. A prompt and clear communicator is crucial for a smooth planning process and ensures your questions and concerns are addressed in a timely manner. Keep in mind that during busy season (normally April-October), most wedding photographers are in the midst of shooting weddings, engagements, editing and doing their own marketing. Usually the typical response time can range from 1-3 business days. However, a good wedding photographer will always be clear on when they can chat and set up one-on-one meeting accordingly. As a wedding photography, the last thing I want is to leave my clients in the dark and create a stressful situation. From the moment an inquiry hits my inbox to the moment I send my final gallery to them, I always ensure they know what and when to expect meetings and photo deliveries.
3. What Specific Shots Do I Want? Identify specific shots or moments you want captured on your wedding day. Communicate these expectations to potential photographers during consultations to ensure they understand your vision and can deliver accordingly. Some important shots to consider:
- Getting ready photos
- Detail shots such as rings, dress, suit, bouquet, veil etc
- Perhaps you and your partner exchange gifts or letters while getting ready, perhaps you want photos of that?
- Photos of the ceremony and reception areas before guests arrive
- Any planned surprises throughout the day
These are just a few examples but examples like these are exactly what you will want to chat about with any potential photographer as they effect the timeline of the day and number of hours you’ll need your photographer for.
4. How Important Is Personality and Compatibility? Reflect on the significance of a photographer’s personality. This person will be part of intimate moments, so choosing someone whose energy aligns with yours is crucial for a relaxed and enjoyable experience. This is why it’s so important to chat and even meet with your photographer before booking with them. After the initial interaction, you’ll get a good sense if your vibes align. Another good indicator is how well your engagement session goes. All of photographers including myself, offer a free engagement shoot with their wedding packages. During the shoot, your photographer will get to know the two you a lot better and get a sense of what poses your comfortable and uncomfortable with. You’ll also get a better sense of your photographers shooting style, prompts and poses they like to use. Think of your engagement session as a practice run for your wedding. Any bumps and dislikes can be fixed during this time so that your portrait session the day of your wedding will go smoothly.
5. Do I Need Additional Services? Assess whether you need additional services such as engagement shoots, albums, or second photographers. Discuss these options with potential photographers and ensure they offer the services you desire. A part of an engagement or pre-wedding shoot, there are a few other things that you might want to consider having on your wedding day.
- One is a second shooter. What does a second shooter do? A second shooter helps to capture things that your main photographer might not be able to capture as there is usually a lot of things happening at once on a wedding day. For example, if photos of guests are important to you or guest reactions during the ceremony or speeches or even detail shots of reception and ceremony areas than having a second shooter will help tremendously. Depending on your timeline, the events throughout the day, and how big your wedding is, it might be almost impossible for your photographer to capture everything you want. So having this discussion early on with potential photographers will ensure that a second shooter is something they can provide for you.
- The second one is content creation. Nowadays, a lot of photographers are also offering the service of content creation. What is content creation? Content creation can be comprised of videos and photos of the “behind-the-scenes” throughout the day. Many add-ons for content creation (such as my services) will include a few highlight videos for IG/TikTok, a video guestbook, and all unedited videos and photos (taken with a phone) throughout the day. What are the benefits of this? The biggest one being that you will have content you can post on your social media the day of and the following days after. You won’t have to wait for your photos/videos which the standard turnaround time can be from 6-8 weeks depending on your photographer.
- The third additional service you may want to consider is printing. Nowadays the world of technology allows you to easily print photos yourself either at home or at a store such as Walmart, Henry’s, or London Drugs. However, if you’re looking for high quality prints, blown up images and full albums you might want to find a photographer who wither prints them for you or works with a delivery platform that allows you to choose and order prints/albums right from the sight. For example I use Pass Gallery to delivery my photos to clients online. Once clients open the email I send them, they then click a link to view and download their gallery. From there they can also choose printing options and products such as albums, fames, etc.
Choosing a wedding photographer involves more than technical skills; it’s about finding someone who understands and resonates with your vision. By asking yourself these key questions, you’ll be better equipped to make an informed decision that ensures your wedding day memories are captured beautifully.
