For every couple, their wedding photos are precious. You will probably get your wedding photo album out of the drawer and look it through every now and then, you will show it to your kids and grandkids. I’ve even seen a wedding photo used as the photo on the gravestone once – the couple got married in the early 20th century, lived their life together, and died at old age, but they asked their family to put this vintage photo on the headstone for them. And it looks adorable – they’re young, in love, and happy together. Forever. Would you trust your photographer to make such awesome wedding pics that you’d want to be remembered looking like this forever? If yes, you’ve picked the right wedding photographer.
We’ve prepared a few useful tips and pieces of advice that will help you choose the best wedding photographer for your couple.
Look for a full wedding gallery of the photographer, not separate pics
Never choose your future wedding photographer by just a few photos. Every photographer has at least several good pics in their portfolio – you have to see the whole wedding gallery of a certain couple to make sure there are many high-quality photos there. If you judge a photographer by 3-5 good shots from a 10-hour-long wedding, you won’t see the whole picture. A full wedding gallery will show you how many good photos this particular artist can take, how many creative ideas he or she has, how the photographer can set the poses for the bride and groom, etc.
Check the photographer’s works from the same season your wedding is planned for
So many couples don’t consider this little detail. Your wedding photographer should know how to work with the particular season in the particular area, because the lighting is very important and the artist should know when the sun sets, and they should be able to offer you a timetable for different photo shoots (first look, family photos, snaps with bridal party, just-the-two-of-you photos, etc). And also, you might simply not like this photographer’s work at your fall wedding, while his or her summer wedding pics all look perfect and polished. So, remember, the season is important.
Your wedding photographer should be skilled in making family photos
A wedding photographer must be educated and experienced in different genres of photography – portraits, landscapes, group photos, still life, and so on. This is much harder than when you specialize in just one area. At the same time, probably the most important genre for a wedding photographer are the family photos, because it’s hard to make everyone happy with their look in the pics with lots of people involved. And the more family members, the harder to take the best photo. Add to this the chaos of a dozen of your relatives posing, talking, switching places – and this photo shoot might turn into a nightmare. Usually, it takes about 20 minutes to take the family photos, and the whole process can be chaotic or the opposite – boring for the couple. Only the best artist is able to cope with family photos without problems.
Make sure you like the personality of your future wedding photographer
Really? Yes, really. You have to realize that you not only are going to trust this person to embody your memories from the wedding with the means of wedding photos, you will also have to communicate with the photographer months before and months after the wedding day. It’s not just a single-day experience. It’s prolonged cooperation that includes discussing poses, styles, genres of the pics, doing try-outs, coordinating the post-processing of your wedding photos, and so on. You won’t meet this person for one day and be done with it. And even on the actual day of your wedding, the photographer will be in your face all of the time. So, if you don’t like the person, don’t hire him or her for such a big job.
Response time is significant
When you’re looking for a wedding photographer, pay attention to some things in their attitude so that you don’t regret hiring them later. For example, if you contact them for the first time and they don’t respond quickly enough, think twice before starting working with them. If they don’t give you enough of their attention to even answer your request that will bring them money, how can you expect them to be punctual after receiving that money?
Think about discussing with your future wedding photographer the time limits for their work – when will you get the photos? Of course, they need time to do the processing, but it shouldn’t take 6-8 months. Usually, couples receive the photos somewhere around 4-6 weeks after the wedding day, sometimes up to 12 weeks.
