Congratulations, you’re engaged! Typically the first thing you do after calling your friends & family is starting to envision what your wedding day will look like. Most couples decide on their date and choose the perfect venue. Next, you’ll want to start the search for the perfect wedding photographer, but before you make such a big decision there are some things that you should know to ensure you have an amazing experience and the photos you have always dreamed of.

Budget

The very first thing that you should do when beginning your photographer search is to sit down and come up with a budget for your photography. Photographers can range in price from a few hundred to over ten thousand dollars. It is important to know what you are able to spend so that you are not wasting time looking for someone who may be out of your range.

Photography Style – Shooting style

Log into Pinterest and search for wedding photos. What are you drawn to? Do you like the photos that are classic, posed with a more editorial look? Do you like the photos that are documentary, where it appears that the photographer is just a fly on the wall and is not influencing the subjects at all? Do you want some posed and some documentary style? Knowing this when searching for photographers is helpful because their style will be how you remember your wedding photos forever.

Photography Style- Aesthetic

In the same respect to the shooting style is the aesthetic of the wedding photos. Are you drawn to bright and airy photos, vibrant and bold or dark and moody? Photographers have built their businesses around their aesthetic and work hard to ensure consistency in their style, that way you always know exactly what to expect from their work. Once you make the decision of the look of the photos you want, you will be able to narrow down your photographer search.

Personality

Go onto Instagram and scroll through and look at some of the photographers you’re interested in hiring. Are they mostly serious, are they fun and outgoing? While this may not be a huge deciding factor for some it is important to hire someone you think you would get along with. On your wedding day, one of the people you will spend most of your time with besides your fiancé is your photographer!

Experience

Don’t be afraid to ask photographers about their experience and expertise! Reviews are valuable tools to see what experiences people have had while working with the photographer you are considering hiring. What are their past clients saying about working with that photographer? What was the experience and final product like? How did the photographer make them feel? People often think of hiring a photographer as someone who just shows up on the wedding day but you should feel taken care of from the moment you sign your contract through the delivery of your final gallery.

Note: You should never hire someone without being able to see full galleries of work that they have done in different lighting scenarios.

If you found this blog post helpful, check out these blog posts:

Should we Elope? Navigating weddings in 2021

Photography Wedding Day Timeline

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