hours

How to Select a Wedding Photographer

Excerpts from the booklet "How to Select a Wedding Photographer that is Right for You" by Dave Z.

Wedding Photography Styles

Your wedding photography is intended to last a lifetime. Because the resulting images will represent and record such a significant event in your life, it's critical to find a wedding photographer whose vision and style match your own. There is no right answer; you have to decide what is right for you. Becoming familiar with the basic types of wedding photography is a good place to begin. Here’s a look at the main three wedding photography styles and approaches.

Traditional Wedding Photography

Professional wedding photography started with the traditional style approach and is described by some as a "timeless style". This is the style that you've probably seen when going through your parents wedding photos. The main charactersitic of this style is carefully posed wedding photos of the key moments. ...

 

Wedding Photojournalism

For years, photographers have used photojournalism to capture topical, newsworthy events or their aftermath, such as the protests at Tiananmen Square. When applied to weddings, the approach is characterized by a series of candid wedding photos covering the entire day. Known also as the “storytelling” approach, wedding photojournalism is the opposite of the traditional style and has become very popular in both domestic and international wedding photography.

 

Illustrative Wedding Photography

The illustrative style incorporates the planned approach of the traditional style while leveraging the spontaneity of the photojournalistic style. The main characteristic of this approach is the strong use of good composition and lighting. In execution, your wedding photographer provides direction, and you are encouraged to interact. ...

 

In my opinion, the bottom line is that a talented wedding photographer must wear many photography hats on your wedding day. To do the right job, at times during your day he or she will need to be able to execute high-quality traditional posed portraits—it may be a long time before your entire family gets together in one place again. And  it’s imperative that your photographer has not only the flexibility to capture the events and moments as they unfold, but also the ability to take you and your new husband off alone to create some timeless images of the two of you. My advice is to choose a wedding photographer that can balance your day well, just as you are going to have to do.

 

Selecting a Wedding Photographer

 

Ok—now that you’ve had a chance to consider the various approaches to wedding photography, let’s discuss the process for selecting a wedding photographer, from online research to portfolio review, from wedding photography packages to budget considerations. Once you get started, you’ll find there are many wedding photographers of varied experience, styles, and price ranges. So how do you go about selecting a wedding photographer that is right for you? There’s a lot on the line—your memories of one of the most significant days of your life. Here are some ideas on how to get started.

 

Decide on your budget.

When determining your wedding photography budget, keep in mind that you get what you pay for. As a general rule of thumb, you should expect to invest about 10% of your total wedding budget toward wedding photos (this does not include a high-end wedding album or special custom prints). This might seem like a lot, but when you consider that, besides the dress, the only thing you can take away from your wedding day are your wedding photos, it is a reasonable investment to make. ...

 

No matter what options you choose as a baseline, your wedding photographer should provide you with edited images that are properly exposed and color corrected, while providing an after-effects menu of services for custom cropping, image retouching, or special effects. Also, you should be given the ability to view your wedding pictures online. Higher-end wedding photographers often host a private viewing session in their studios first for you, your family, and a select group of friends before your wedding photos are released online. This can be a very nice touch and an excellent way, post-honeymoon, to gather your close friends, catch up, and revisit your special day

 

Finally, a CD of all your digital wedding images at a 4” x 6” print resolution level should be included or provided for purchase along with custom enlargements and wedding albums. But all this varies from wedding photographer to wedding photographer, so check around. And like most other things, you get what you pay for, so be skeptical of packages that seem too good to be true.

 

Build a list of wedding photographers.

Start by building a list of wedding photographers whose style you like and whose price ranges fit within your budget. ...

 

Review the photographers’ online wedding photos and wedding photography packages.

 

Visit the wedding photographers websites, and spend some time carefully reviewing their wedding photos and wedding photography packages. ... Look to see if the wedding photographer takes the kinds of wedding photos you like, incorporating a good mix of indoor, outdoor, candid, portrait, fine art, and detail photography... A good weeing photogapher needs to be capable of executing a number of photographic styles and approaches in various conditions in order to capture your day well. This should be reflected in the sample wedding photos you view online. ... Reasonable wedding photographers list their wedding photography packages and prices online so you can get a general idea of their cost structure. This saves time for you both.

 

Why do good wedding photographers seem to charge so much?

 

I am often asked this question by brides and grooms who are puzzled about why professional wedding photographers charge $3,000 or more to photograph a wedding. After all, their thinking goes, with the advent of digital technologies, how much can taking and delivering wedding photos really cost? The answer is a lot! In fact, studies have shown that wedding photographers spend more today processing digital images and keeping up with emerging technologies than they ever did with film.

 

In addition, imagine that average professional wedding photographer shoots 25 weddings a year. At $3,000 a wedding, that adds up to $75,000. Seems like a lot, right? But now subtract all the costs involved in running a small business, like taxes, administrative expenses, marketing, equipment costs, insurance, and so forth. When all is said and done, a professional photographer is left with just a fair living at best. You see, people that charge under under $1,000 to shoot your wedding are not full-time wedding photographers. They can’t be. No one can make a full-time living with that rate structure. They’re part-time wedding photography enthusiasts who work on the weekends to support their hobby.

 

There is a big difference between a professional wedding photographer that makes his or her living and pays bills through work and a part-time photographer trying to take a hobby to the next level. I’m not saying that you shouldn’t work with a part-time photographer to shoot your wedding. Many of today’s great wedding photographers started as part-time hobbyists. Given your budget, expectations, and risk tolerance, this may be your best choice. But go into it knowing up front the real pros and cons so you have the right expectations and are well prepared.

Create and contact your short list.

Next, make a short list of wedding photographers whose style you click with and whose price is in your range.

 

Contact them by phone or email. The first thing you need to do is to find out which wedding photographers are available on your wedding day. Take the opportunity to discuss in detail your day, their approach, and what wedding photography packages are available. Your initial contact with each wedding photographer will tell you a bit about his or her wedding photography style and personality and whether or not he or she is someone you’d like to work with. Remember, this person will be an integral part of the most important day of your life, so be sure you choose someone you feel good about.

 

Meet in person.

 

The next step is to make appointments and meet with your short list of wedding photographers who have made it this far through your selection process. Meeting will give you a chance to interact with them in person and view their wedding photos firsthand. Make sure that the wedding photos you see in person are the same you viewed online. Unfortunately, some photographers today take images from others’ websites and pass them off as their own in their online wedding photo galleries. But this is difficult to support in person, because they do not have access to the high-resolution negatives necessary to produce a good print.

In addition, a face-to-face meeting will give you more insight into each photographer’s style and personality and whether or not he or she is someone you’d like to have as a “guest” at your wedding. Unlike your other wedding service providers, your wedding photographer is someone who’ll be glued to your side almost the entire day—so make sure you choose someone whose company you enjoy.

 

Five Foundational Questions to Ask

 

Write down all your questions before you meet, and take notes during the meetings. There are numerous online sites where you can go to get advice on the questions to ask. Here are five key questions to ask when selecting a wedding photographer:

 

1. Will you be the person photographing my wedding? Sometimes there’s more than one person in a company, so you want to make sure that the person you are talking to and considering will be the person actually taking your photographs. Also, today there are a number of large national and regional photography chains emerging that don’t allow you to meet your photographer prior to your wedding day. They market this approach as a virtue, claiming that they make finding the perfect photographer EASY through a stable of “certified” photographers. While this may be the case and work for some couples, it is not for all brides and grooms and especially not for those who require a level of personal interaction and touch that can only come from meeting with and selecting a professional wedding photographer themselves. Remember, besides your wedding dress, the one thing you can take away from your wedding are the wedding photos. Ask yourself, would you let someone else choose your wedding dress, or for that matter, your flowers, or the meal you plan to serve? There is no right or wrong answer, but if your answer is no, then having someone else select your wedding photographer may not be the right choice. ...

 

3. What is your approach to planning and executing wedding photography? It is important to understand the approach the wedding photographer will take to planning and delivering your wedding photos. Is he or she rigid and inflexible, insisting on a particular style and technique? Or is he or she open and flexible, with an arsenal of approaches and techniques to meet your specific needs and goals? For instance, many wedding photographers today market themselves as photojournalists at the exclusion of all other wedding photography styles. While focusing on storytelling and candid moments is a solid basis for delivering a strong set of wedding pictures, it is not the end but rather the beginning of what it takes to photograph a complete wedding. The fact is, on the day of your wedding, you need a wedding photorgapher with the agility to leverage a number of photographic styles in a dynamic and fluid environment, a wedding photographer who is not only a photojournalist but also has strong abilities in detail, fine art, and portrait photography. ...

 

Lock them in

At this point, if you've taken the time to ask good questions, you’ll know which wedding photographer is for you. It’s time to act. Remember that others have been shopping around for wedding photographers just as you have. Wedding photorgaphers work on a first-come, first-served basis, and cannot promise or hold a date until they receive a signed contract with retainer. It’s unfortunate, but a bride and groom can lose their first choice after much time and effort spent in the selection process because they did not act quickly enough. Don’t let this happen to you. Once you find a wedding photographer you like at a price you can afford, lock him or her in.

 

Tying It All Together

 

Weddings are amazing; they represent the birth of a new family. No two are the same. I hope this booklet helps you filter through all the noise and make a choice that is right for you. As a couple, you will probably spend more time selecting a wedding photographer than on any other single element of your wedding day. I have introduced you to the various styles, outlined a process for researching and selecting, and armed you with some questions to ask at meetings with potential wedding photographers. Now the hard work begins. Roll up your sleeves and find the wedding photographer that is right for you.

 

Grail Knight: “But choose wisely, for while the true Grail will bring you life, the false Grail will take it from you.”
– Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade

 

buy now »

How to Select A Wedding Photographer, How to Choose a Wedding Photographer

Bridal Portraits
Business Portraits
Child Photography
Commercial Photography
Dog Photography
Family Photography
Equine Photography
Maternity Photography
Newborn Photography
Senior Pictures
Wedding Photography