Once you have your venue secured and a date in place the next and most likely the MOST important vendor you need to look for is your wedding photographer. This is where I have seen so many people limit their expectations and budget for and it was one of their biggest regrets. The moments that happen on your wedding day will never happen again, that exact group of people will likely never be in the same room together again and all those memories from the day and the moments that happened will fade over time. You want your memories curated by someone who is not only professional but one who you can trust. Here are 5  steps to hiring the perfect wedding photographer.

1. Editing and Shooting Style

Here is your first big decision. There are plenty of editing and shooting styles out there. Some photographers shoot light and airy, others are darker and moody, some are softer or others in between all of this. You need to look at what images you are drawn to, which suits your personality as a couple, what will portray the mood of your wedding day best? Look at the styles you love and then move onto the shooting style of those photographers. The shooting style is different from the editing. Do you want the straightforward stand and smile photos, do you want candid journalistic approach, do you want some direction and authentic moments captured? The easiest way to find out is to just ask the photographer you are interested in to describe how they pose people?

2. Reviews

Once you have narrowed down to the styles you love you will want to visit the websites. Get to know who you plan to potentially hire. Read reviews. This is a major investment for your wedding day and you want to make sure the photographer you hire is a trusted one. Ask friends, visit wedding wire, facebook, google, anywhere there are reviews.

3. Budget

There are a lot of photographers popping up these days with the ease of buying a DSLR and being able to be a photographer so this is where you need to be wary of low-cost wedding photographers. If the deal seems too good to be true, it usually is! I have personally had to cover a wedding last minute because their original photographer took off with their money! She had a “deal” to pay in full 8 months early and get 50% off the price! My couple thankfully had purchased wedding insurance (if you haven’t looked into that please do so to protect your wedding day investments!) and it took a few months but I was able to be paid for what they had lost so they didn’t suffer too badly but that added stress is something nobody needs the day before their wedding! Most professional wedding photographers range from the $3500-$10,000 mark. Saving for one is something you should consider. It may mean not stopping at Starbucks a few times a month to put that aside or any other nonessential spending to put it aside to make sure you are in love with those curated memories. Trust me on this! I was once that low budget photographer, I can show you the difference in photos, I can tell you I shot my first few weddings with only 1 camera body with no extra back up no extra memory card slot. Thankfully I never had to tell a bride “my card corrupted and I lost all of your images” but I was also in no way prepared for such a thing! Would you be ok if you spent $600-$1800 or sometimes more and didn’t end up with any photos to show for it? Not saying it will happen BUT the risk of it happening is there more so than with someone with extra backup and professional quality gear. So be sure to add that to your list of when it comes to budget what am I willing to pay extra for?

4. Meeting With Potential Photographers

This is not something you should decide within moments of receiving an email from the cheapest bidder, these are your wedding day memories! Please take time to meet a few photographers to see which one you connect with, the budget and style match your needs and that you trust them! Your wedding photographer will be with you the most on your wedding day, they will be witness to moments very few will see and you want to make sure that you are comfortable with them! For me, I like to get to know a couple before they book with me so that it is like I’m a good friend on their wedding day and there are no walls between us.

5. During or Before A Meeting The 12 MOST Important Questions To Ask

These I find are the be all end all in what my decision would ultimately be when booking a professional wedding photographer:

1. Ask the photographer what gear they use. A professional photographer uses professional gear… enough said. Look back up at the budget section. A professional should have a backup camera body with them. They should have dual memory card slots in my mind. I mean mitigating the potential of lost images at all costs is what they should be doing when they invest in professional gear. 

2. Are they ok without flash in a church if they are not allowed to use one? They should be and their gear should be able to handle the need to use the higher ISO. Obviously, a lot of us prefer the ease of natural light but we can’t always work with it so educating ourselves in lighting for all situations is very important!

3. What is their backup plan for photos if it is raining? Are they ok with resorting to indoor photos? As much as I love the being outdoors there are times that we need to last-minute ditch the natural light outside and do indoor photos which I feel just as comfortable with!

4. Do they have a backup gear in the event something happens to their camera during your wedding day? I make sure I have 4 cameras with me just in case I have a second shooter with me we both need to be backed up in case something breaks or stops working. I shoot with 2 at the same time at all times.

5. How do they back up your images? Do they have 2 memory card slots in their camera? I have 2 in both my cameras and thank goodness because I had 1 card fail mid-session on me before.

6. What is their post-wedding day process? Are you looking at waiting 6 weeks, 6 months for your photos and are YOU ok with that? If they tell you upfront that it will be 6 months you need to be ok with that. I have heard too many stories where the couple waited 8 months for their photos and only saw a small preview with no answers from their photographer and I wonder if they asked ahead how long until they received their images? Or perhaps there is a reason, did the couple pay in full? What is their policy on that? I do not deliver anything until full payment is received so if someone doesn’t pay for 6 months, they will wait 6 months. Do they properly back up in more than 1 place post-wedding day? What is their process post-wedding to do this? Computers crash, hard drives crash… be sure that your photos are being backed properly up before they are delivered to you. I have 6 hard drives plus 2 cloud-based storage sites… a little overboard yes but I sleep well at night.

7. Do they have business insurance that carries liability insurance? A lot of wedding venues require a copy of this from wedding vendors so to be sure the person you are paying to be there gets to cover the time at said venue be sure to ask and get a copy of this. Not only that it is something they should have to cover themselves in the event something happens to your photos, damage to their equipment, etc its always good to have your butt covered!

8. Ask to see a gallery of a full wedding if their website doesn’t showcase a lot of images or if they don’t have an album to sit down and show you. If they refuse to show you this then you need to move on. Not every image will be perfect but it should be consistent with the style, composition, and quality. The gallery should showcase that they can shoot in a variety of lighting (the church, the reception hall, midday sun, etc).

9. How do they dress for weddings they photograph? I know this seems odd but if they show up for a consultation in yoga pants you might want to ask this as I have heard a lot of awful stories!

10. How many weddings have they photographed? Have they photographed many that are close to the same size as yours? There is a big difference in covering an elopement style wedding to a wedding with 300-400 guests. I usually suggest having 2 photographers for weddings over 200/250 people. If they have only photographed 2 weddings that’s FINE (we all start somewhere)but just know them well, make sure you are seeing a variety of galleries to know they can handle all the lighting situations. A lot of photographers are starting to second shoot to learn before doing their own weddings and so some may only have second shot wedding images to show and that is great as long as it is THEIR work.

11. Ask to see a copy of their contract, read it, understand it and get a copy once you have signed it in a timely manner. If their contract is only 1 page long it is missing a lot of stuff that needs to be in a contract. Most wedding contracts are about 5-7 pages.

12. What are their payment policies? If they are offering 75% off to book now it is most likely a scam or they have no experience. It is common practice however for the photographer to want full payment 90, 30 days, 2 weeks or a week prior to the wedding day this is just to avoid late payments or chasing a couple down at the reception for payment when they should be enjoying their evening.

Once you have done all this and feel confident in the photographer you have met ask them their booking process and that’s it! Enjoy getting to know your photographer and have the most amazing wedding day!!! These steps should be the same when you are looking for a videographer as well since that is another major investment in curating your wedding memories.