How do I choose a Wedding Photographer?
Knowing that your Wedding Photographer is right for you can be tricky. If you’ve never had professional photos taken of you before then how do you know what you want?
Sure, you have Pinterest, Instagram and hundreds of other resources online to research a style you’d like, but how can you research a Photographer’s personality and know whether or not you “click”? And why is it important to get on with your Photographer?
Make sure you get along with them
Your wedding Photographer will likely be with you all day on your wedding, from the moment you start getting ready to the moment you finish your first dance (or beyond). That’s a LOT of time to spend with someone you don’t know. Your confidence will play a huge part in who you can relax around, whether you feel uncomfortable with someone hovering around you clicking a shutter.
If you’re confident then the job becomes a lot easier, you’re probably not overly fussed about a connection with a Photographer as long as they get the job done. You’ll find it easy to pose, be natural around them and you won’t notice every time a lens gets pointed towards you.
For those of you who are less confident the personality of a Photographer can impact the quality of your photos hugely. If you’re feeling stressed, anxious or self conscious then it’s likely this will translate through to your photos. You don’t want someone to be making you feel uncomfortable on your wedding day and distract you from the real excitement – you’re getting married!!
Having a Photographer you connect with definitely makes a difference, once you relax your smiles become genuine, not forced, the laughter is real and the vulnerable moments are captured without you worrying whether or not someone sees you become emotional at important parts of your day.
How do you know if you’ll connect with your Photographer?
Communication is key. Whether by email or phone, a person’s personality soon shines across. You’ll be able to get an idea of whether they’re relaxed or firmly focused on the job in hand and nothing else. You’ll be able to tell if they’re going to be helpful on your wedding day, or stubborn (I’ve heard horror stories). If you need a few emails and a couple of calls to decide then that’s okay, a video call or a face to face meeting might also help. Although bear in mind whether your photographer is located. If it’s quite far away they may prefer a video call.
You can also check their reviews, there’s so many different places people could leave a review for your Photographer. On their Facebook page, Google reviews or if they have a Hitched profile. If they don’t have loads, that’s okay. Asking clients to leave reviews after their wedding often gets lost in the excitement of delivering photos or people promise to do it but just run out of time. So look at the reviews they’ve got and make a decision from there.
Pricing
This is always a hard question to tackle. A lot of work goes into wedding photography, pre-wedding meetings, marketing, camera purchases, lenses, hours and hours of editing work. Whilst it seems like a huge expense there is a LOT of work that goes on behind the scenes of your wedding.
The general consensus is that you get what you pay for. However, you can find a few gems out there if you’re on a tight budget. People who have full time jobs in the week and just pick up a few weddings a year can be cheaper but still good quality. However they might not have as much time to tackle their workload so expect longer turnaround times.
If budget isn’t a problem then you’re in luck as you won’t have to narrow down Photographers to fit within what you can afford. Most expensive isn’t always best so whilst pricing is important, it’s not always a deal breaker, be open minded and make sure you know what’s most important to you.
Does their portfolio show versatility?
Most weddings happen in the summer but what if you’re having a winter wedding? You need a Photographer who can work with low light, use flash and not have to rely on natural light to produce beautiful photos.
Has the Photographer worked at weddings with a lot of guests or just smaller weddings? If so, will they be able to organise large group shots?
What about bad weather? Will your Photographer work well around rain if your wedding ends up being a rainy day?
These are all questions that you can discuss when you initially enquire, your Photographer needs to know your wedding will fit their style and expertise, as well as you knowing they’re up for the job. 