Professional Wedding Photographers
With the huge number of wedding photographers to choose from it can be confusing so I hope this may be helpful to future wedding couples. Professional wedding photographers will have a reputation to uphold and will be known to other people within the wedding industry.
Many keen amateur photographers are advertising their services; although they may be good photographers, shooting a wedding is a specialist area of photography and experience is so important. Make sure your photographer has a plan for bad weather.
Personality
The personality of your photographer is very important as your photographer will, at times, be working closely to you and your guests so needs to fit in. There needs to be a great connection or rapport between your wedding photographer, you and your partner to ensure you both feel at ease and look your best in your wedding photographs.
Meet your prospective photographer
It’s advisable to arrange a meet so you can see the photographers style, portfolio of wedding photography and products.
Complete Weddings
Make sure you see examples of all photographs taken at more than one wedding and check that the photographs have been taken by the photographer(s) you will be meeting with.
Pricing
When you are contacting photographers to check availability you’ll get an idea of charges but I would advise that you do not make your buying decision based on price alone. Having said that everyone is looking for
value but after your wedding is over all that’s left is the wedding ring(s) and the photography and may be a video. If a photographer is charging much more than others there is likely to be a good reason for this in order to justify the price.
Albums
Many photographers will supply your wedding photographs on disk, effectively the digital negatives. This is great because you will either have a selection or every photograph taken at your wedding to enjoy. Our wedding album has given my wife and I much pleasure over the years; a professionally designed and manufactured album will be outstanding.
There are of course many cheaper alternatives so it’s always advisable to check out the albums and other products photographers have available.
We have several different formats of albums available to view at our studio; the prices do vary considerably depending as do sizes, number of images and the way the album is manufactured.
Backup Equipment
Make sure your photographer has good quality backup equipment. No camera, no photographs.
Illness
Check if your photographer has a contingency plan in the event of illness.
The Detail
Make sure you know how long your photographer will attend your wedding, what will be produced for you and at what price; get this in writing to avoid any confusion after your wedding day. We tend to confirm everything by email.
Specific Photographs
A list, not too long, of special photographs you would like is always a good idea. It’s the shots you would miss if they were not included in your collection of photographs, e.g someone you may have grown up with as a child, a close friend who lives overseas.
I hope this has been helpful. There are many different products referred to by the same name but which vary in terms of quality. Storybook albums vary in size and the way they are printed and manufactured so please make sure when you are making your enquiries that you are comparing prices for the same type of product.