5 Tips on How to Choose Your Wedding Photographer!

Wedding planning involves a ton of decisions! It is the who, what, when, where, why of your special day. Once the venue has been chosen, many people move on to catering, flowers, invitations and photographer. (Let’s be honest, the dress is always first, even before the venue!) . So, how do you choose the photographer??? There are so many photographers out there and you don’t want to make the wrong decision - they are going to capture your memories of that day - you want them to last a lifetime, FOREVER. Here are five tips on how to narrow your photographer list down and make the best decision for you.

1. Style

   What type of photographer are you looking for? We know you want a wedding photographer, but now you need to decide if you want a more posed look, heavily candid or documentary style, or a healthy mix of both. You also need to figure out the type of editing style you are attracted to - someone who is true to color, dark and moody or light and airy. Do you want someone who shows a more emotional, romantic wedding day or the fun-filled, playful wedding day? These are questions only YOU can answer, but once you figure out the style you are attracted to, you are more than halfway there.

2. Price

   Every wedding has a budget and you will need to decide how much money you are wanting to spend on photography. There are photographers in every style above at every budget, but you need to ‘keep it real.’ What can you afford or what do you want to afford? Don’t lie to yourself here, be honest and stick to your budget. You don’t want to waste your time searching for a photographer to find out they charge 5K more than you can afford. Nobody wants to feel like they are settling here.

3. The Wedding Date

   Seems simple, but this is extremely important! You cannot book your wedding photographer until you have the date of your wedding. Which usually means, you have your venue booked - so get that photographer next. If you have a wedding photographer in mind, or one that you absolutely have to have, make sure your wedding date is free on their calendar.

4. Personality

   On your wedding day, you are going to spend A LOT of time with the photographer. Before you wedding day, you are going to be communicating A LOT with your photographer. After your wedding is over, you will be excited to hear from the photographer about the images, read the blog post, see how they document the wedding on social media and you will probably use them for more photography sessions in the future. You need to “click” with them. How do you do this? Read through their website, read their About Me page, and see how you feel. Do you like them? Do you want to spend tons of time with this person? Do you want to depend on them?

5. Reviews

   What are other people saying about them? This is a great way to hear what they do after they have done it. Were they easy to work with, did they communicate too much or too little, did they deliver what they promised? Read the reviews and determine if they will give you what you want/need.