Finding your Wedding Photographer!

There are many important factors to choosing your wedding photographer. 

The first thing you need to determine is whether or not you like the images that a particular photographer has to show you.  You should look up and view at least 5-10 different photographers’ work online and narrow it down to3 or 4 individuals who you will interview. It is definitely important to be intrigued or excited by the images a photographer shows you but this is not always the deciding factor.  What is?.......

 Most importantly is the personality of the individual who you will hire and invite as a guest to your wedding.  
  Personality.  Now that you are meeting with the photographer face to face, the question you have to ask yourself is: Do I like this person? Do I feel comfortable with this person?  Will my friends and family like him or her? Would I invite him or her to my wedding?

Personality and character may not be the first thing you judge when 
interviewing a potential photographer but it is always a common thread that 
influences the final decision. You have to really like AND trust the person who will be capturing your wedding images. You could find the best of the best wedding photographers, but if he or she bugged you in anyway and you are not totally honest with yourself, the only person who is going to suffer is you. The bottom line is, if you don’t like your photographer for any reason your wedding images and your memories or going to be reflected upon as if looking into a tarnished mirror.

 

The second and almost as equally important as personality is the photographers eye; the way he or she sees and captures the wedding day. This unique trait separates one photographer from the next. It is “the photographer’s fingerprint” no two are the same.

A photographer can copy another photographer’s style, but the fact is no two 
photographers see the same way. When looking at different photographer’s work, 
take notice of how and what they see. Do the images move you? Are they unique or different or do they look like every other photographers work you have looked at. Are they emotional? Do they tell a complete story? Are they artistic and 
creative? Are they real? Do the people look comfortable?  Finally, out of all 
the photographers you met with, whose images did you gravitate towards the most and why? Usually, the answer to these questions will tell you who the right 
photographer is for you.

Finally, the last deciding factor is usually Cost.
You spend hours if not days of your time interviewing photographer after photographer and now you have found the perfect one for you. Their images are amazing and he/she is the greatest person ever! However, your inner voice picked someone who is more than you budgeted for. What do you do?

Ask yourself a few important questions. After the wedding is over, what am I 
going to have left?  Answer: Your pictures. Everything else is going to be forgotten and only remembered through your photographs.

 According to many different surveys I have researched, the 
number one regret married couples had is that they wished they would have 
invested more money on their wedding photography.
 
When the music is over, the food is gone, and flowers are dead, your wedding pictures are the only thing left to bring back those memories and the irony is that most people spend more on flowers or food than their wedding photography. It is your photos that will help you remember all those details years later.

Your wedding album will last long past your wedding day and then passed down to your children and grandchildren. If your wedding pictures are important to you, don’t you think wedding photography should be a place in your budget where you give priority too?

Shopping for a wedding photographer is like buying a house; you get 
what you pay for.
In both cases the purchase and decision to buy is based on emotion. Buying a little more than you can afford is always a wise investment that you won’t regret as long as you have put in the time to find the perfect one for you. With that said, it doesn’t mean there are not ways to get the most for your dollar.  One way is to buy all albums and products you might want up front as part of a package instead of buying a-la-cart afterwards.  Another way is make sure you understand what it will cost before AND after the wedding. 

Sometimes a photographer’s packages appear to be less expensive at first glance, 
then after the wedding you get hit with add-ons you did not expect such as over 
time fees, more expensive re-prints or additional album design charges.  Then 
you end up spending more money than you would have with a photographer who first appeared to have been more expensive but everything was included in his 
package.

Don’t make the mistake of weeding out photographers because you called or 
emailed and asked for prices and then crossed them off your list because they 
exceed a certain dollar amount that you determined photography should cost. 
 Calling on the telephone and price shopping won’t give you the same 
education as actually meeting the photographer in person or having a face to 
face conversation via Skype if your not in the same town.

Wouldn’t you feel better knowing you spent a little more on your wedding 
images because you loved your photographer and your wedding photographs were so amazing that you wanted them all in your album  VS. getting less than you 
imagined and end up spending more than you dreamed.