How To Find The Right Wedding Photographer For You
This might come off a little biased, but a photographer would be (and currently is) the #1 most important vendor for me to book for my wedding day. It’s one of the only physical memories you’ll have from a very precious time in your life & a great wedding photographer is invaluable! But finding a photographer, let alone narrowing down to a few of your favorites, comes with a lot of pressure, decision making, and being picky; all of which are totally normal & valid seeing as this is a very important day in your life!
I’ve said this before, but your #1 wedding expense should be the thing you care about the MOST. If all you’ve ever dreamed of was your wedding photos and being able to look back at them with your kids, friends, and family for years to come, that’s exactly what you should spend the most money on. Being someone who’s a wedding photographer and is currently looking for someone to shoot my and my partner’s wedding, I thought I could give a few helpful tips on deciding whether a photographer is the right fit for you!
The First Steps
So you nailed down a venue and have a wedding date; the next person you’ll want to book is your wedding photographer! This can feel like such a daunting task because social media is filled with so many amazing options but at the end of the day, you need to find someone who’s right for you + your partner. How do you know ‘what’s good’? Are they in your budget/are you willing to splurge? What type of shooting style do you like? What is your vision for your wedding day? All of these questions are so important to think through & are something you’ll need to ask yourself if you’re wanting your ideal end result.
Where’s the best place to start? Coming from the mindset of someone who just got engaged & is looking for wedding photographers, creating a mini mood board of photos I like has helped my vision come to life. This can look like other wedding photographers work, some color scheme ideas, actual art, textures - whatever comes to mind when you see your wedding day vision! This is also a tool that could help in your process of finding a wedding photographer; you can always send over this mood board so they can get a better idea of what you’re looking for.
After creating your mood board & getting more excited about the process, narrowing down the type of style you like and can envision yourself in is the next thing to think about! Are you wanting a more documentary style, where someone is essentially a fly on the wall and goes throughout your wedding day without any interruptions? Are you wanting your entire day to be directed & stick to a strict timeline? Maybe a little bit of both? Are you wanting film to be included in your day? Posed vs prompted? A calm photographer vs a high energy photographer? Again, so many things to ask yourself and your partner, but will really help you nail down the right wedding photographer you can envision apart of your day.
After you’ve sifted through lots of inspo photos, made your mood board, & figured out what kind of wedding photographer you’re wanting, the next step is to go out and search for your dream photographer; but what’s the best way to go about this? In my opinion, Instagram hashtags. About 90% of my couples who find me/book with me have found me through searching Instagram hashtags! No matter how many times people mention that they’re outdated, they’re still very often used by current day wedding photographers and a tool that often gets overlooked by couples. Will it possibly take hours to find some you like? Of course! But you can easily go down rabbit holes of searching through hashtags (try #statenameweddingphotographer or #citynameweddingphotographer), finding a photographer you like and take a deep dive into their work. If you’re wanting to take it an extra step, you could go into their following list & see the other photographers they follow and check out their work as well!
A quick tip that might save you some time is to avoid websites like The Knot + Wedding Wire. These sites are mainly a place for wedding photographers to advertise (something they pay a lot for!) and hearing my couples’ experiences on these sites, it seems that they are filled with many inexperienced photographers looking for work at cheaper rates. While this might work for some, is again, something I strongly encourage to not do!
You found some possible photographers, what’s next?
After sifting through tens maybe hundreds of photographers, you found some that you really enjoy & like their style! And while that’s the main thing to look for, there are definitely some important questions to ask yourself before you inquire.
The first thing is to take a little deep dive on their website. Read their “About Me” page. See if they have their pricing listed. Take a look through all of the photos on their gallery pages. Are they still someone you could see yourself getting along with, within your budget, and have them take your dream photos? AMAZING. You’ll almost be spending more time with your wedding photographer than your own partner on your wedding day, so you’ll want to make sure you can get a sense of who they are and share the same vision as them.
Which brings me to my next topic; inquiring with a photographer!
The Initial Inquiry & Video Call
Your inquiry to your photographer is a tell all of if you will be a good fit for each other! This is something you should take time to personalize, really think about what you want out of your photos, and let your personality shine through. After that initial inquiry, the photographer will most likely reach out with a few more details + want to schedule a call to meet. The day of your call comes up & you’re not sure what important questions to ask! This often gets overlooked as having a call with someone you’ve never met can be a little scary, but having a few questions ready to go for the photographer will not only benefit you in the long run, but will also help you decide almost instantly within that call if you’ll be a good fit or not!
The first + biggest question you should ask is “How do you know if you’ll be a good fit with a couple as their wedding photographer?”. This will be a tell all of how the photographer shoots throughout a wedding day, their shooting style/approach, and how they could potentially blend in with you + your partner on your wedding day. Some people need more direction while others can fully let loose, some photographers are very bold & outgoing and take charge, while others might be more calm & a fly on the wall. Finding this out will help you decide which direction you’d like to go when picking your wedding photographer!
Another great question would be to ask them to send you a few galleries. On social media, you’ll almost always see the best of the best from any creative in the industry, so being able to see a full gallery can give you a peek into what your wedding could potentially look like, how the photographer approaches a wedding, how they handle different lighting situations, etc etc. There are so many benefits to seeing full galleries!
Speaking of wedding galleries, one of the biggest buzz words in the photography industry right now is ‘documentary photography’. While everyone uses this term, not all wedding photographers shoot true ‘documentary’ style! This approach is fully letting the day happen as it happens with no interruption, no posing, nothing; just pure observation. To avoid any miscommunication with your photographer, it’s a great idea to ask “How do you approach shooting a wedding day? Will you pose us at all? Etc.?”. Even though asking to see full galleries + seeing them yourselves could easily answer this question, I still think it’s a good idea to see what the photographer has to say!
While there are an endless amount of questions to ask your photographer on your inquiry call, I think these are a few of the most important questions that sometimes get over looked! Like I mentioned earlier, you’ll be spending more time with your wedding photographer on your wedding day more than anyone else, so you’ll want to make sure you three mesh together, have a similar vision, and at the end of the day just get along great!
Lastly; FILM!
I wanted to quickly go over another buzz word within the wedding industry right now and that is film! While some couples absolutely adore it & know a little bit about it, many other couples have no information about film, what it has to offer, and how it works into the flow of a wedding day.
If the photographer you’re reaching out to mentions they shoot film, you can ask them similar questions to what I mentioned above like “How does film blend into your workflow for a wedding day? Do you shoot half film half digital? Or only important moments of the day? Can you show me some wedding day film galleries?”. Their answers will let you know how film will blend into your wedding day and what you can expect out of hiring a hybrid wedding photographer!
One mega important question I think everyone should ask is “How long have you been shooting film?”. If you’re someone who really wants film & all it has to offer on your day shot from someone confidently, this is such an important question. While some wedding photographers might’ve just started out with film (which is totally okay!), they might not be the best fit for you. Hiring someone who is comfortable & knowledgeable with film/analog photography can add so much to your wedding day gallery & is worth every penny!