7 Steps For Picking A Wedding Photographer (Or How Does A Wedding Photographer Pick A Wedding Photographer For Her Own Wedding)

As a recent bride and professional wedding photographer, I can tell you that picking a wedding photographer is stressful. You can pick one at random that fits in your price range or you can try to take a pragmatic approach. I’m not going to lie. The pragmatic approach may make you crazy. You may find yourself hunched over your laptop, battling bad flash websites, bombarded by cheesy love ballads blaring from your laptop speakers, and cross-eyed wondering if you need to send yet another email to a photographer waiting for a flipping response.

I thought I would take a break from posting pictures on my blog and write a ‘How To’ for all the other brides out there who are trying to pick a wedding photographer. This is from a photog’s POV though, so I hope to provide a little insight into the process. How does a wedding photographer pick a wedding photographer? Without further ado…

Seven Steps to Picking a Wedding Photographer

1. Ask your family and friends for referrals. They’ve already dealt with the photographer. They know how attentive they are. Did they get all the “must have” shots? Were they pleasant to be around? Was their turnaround prompt? Did they fall off the face of the earth as soon as they got their money? Referral business is the best way to find a photographer. And as a photographer, that is how I get most of my business.

2. Look at a complete wedding. Portfolio websites cherry-pick the best images from all our weddings. They are meant to wow you with what we can do. But remember that they are portfolio pieces. From one wedding, we may get 5 or 10 or 20 or just 1 image that we want to add to our portfolio. Ask your photographer for access to sample proofs. Then you can see if they get lots and lots of great shots for that 1 image they put on their website or if they took a thousand mediocre pictures and got lucky with one fantastic photo.

3. Read reviews but not too much. We all look at reviews of our vendors. We want to know what other people thought of them. Common sites to find wedding photographers are TheKnot.com, WeddingChannel.com, WeddingWire.com, and Yelp, WeddingBee.com. Just take it with a grain of salt. A lot of the vendors I researched wrote fantastic reviews for themselves. Don’t get suckered.

4. Figure out your own package. Before you look at what packages a photographer offers, write a list of what you want. Then see what the photographer offers. If you want to mix/match items or don’t see something in a package, don’t be afraid to ask your photographer for a quote of what you want. Common things include:

• Engagement Shoot – a photoshoot that is about 2 hours that happens before your wedding. You and your groom go to a location to take romantic lovey dovey pictures together. You can use these pictures for your invitations, for a guest book at the wedding, for centerpiece decorations, your wedding website, etc. This is also a good chance for you to get to know your photographer and be comfortable getting your picture taken by her. We all do this: Unless we are a professional model, we get in front of a camera and freeze. We do weird things with our eyes and necks. Your photographer will work through this with you during your shoot to make you look good. By the end of the shoot, you are taking amazing pictures. Learning how to pose during the engagement shoot will make your wedding pictures that much better. Plus you will be super comfortable with your photog by then and she will know what angles work best with your bone structure, height, skin coloring, etc.
• First Look or Photo Walk – This kind of shoot happens the day of your wedding with you and your groom and lasts about an hour. A First Look happens before your ceremony. The two of you are already dressed. Usually the groom is standing someplace and the bride gets to sneak up on him. The photographer shoots the big reveal when your honey bunny turns around and gets to see his bride for the first time. The couple then takes traditional or creative portraits of just the two of them. Alternatively, if you don’t want to see your groom before the ceremony, you can do a Photo Walk after the ceremony. Usually this is done during the cocktail hour right after you do all the traditional formals with your family. The photographer takes you and your groom off to shoot pics of just the two of you. The First Look and Photo Walk is why you see all those gorgeous pictures of brides and grooms by themselves looking like they belong in a magazine.
• Formals – These are those traditional full-length wedding photos where the bride and groom stand in the center of the picture and various family members stand next to them. Yes they can be boring and make the bride’s cheeks hurt she has to smile so much, but it is an important part of documenting your wedding. The best way to get through these as quick and painless as possible is to write a shot list of every group you want to have a formal photo with. Put your maid of honor and best man in charge of wrangling everyone. That will not be an easy job but they have to make sure they are always one step ahead of the photographer.
• Coverage (Hours of Shooting) – How long is your wedding? For the bride, it comes and goes in a blink of an eye and time is simply not relevant. But for your wedding photographer, the hours of coverage equals a work day. Look at your timeline. What time do you start getting ready? What time does the reception end? If it is more than 6 or 7 hours then you are going to have to make compromises. Typically the two things that get cut first are getting ready shots and end of the reception. If you want a few getting ready shots, have your photographer arrive after your hair and makeup is done and right before you put on your dress. Your photog can take pictures of last beauty touches, putting on the dress, and a few candids with your family and bridesmaids before jetting to the ceremony site to capture your arrival. The other thing you can cut if you’re tight on your photog’s time is the end of the reception. As a wedding photographer, I love taking pictures of a party…of people letting their hair down, having a cocktail or two, and boogying like no one is watching. However, those pictures often aren’t the most artistic and beautiful. Guests are drunk; eyeliner is smudged; armpits are sweaty; and the lighting is terrible. Unless your photog knows how to shoot night-time parties, you may want your photog there for all the important reception events (first dance, cake-cutting, parent dances), an hour of dancing, and then that’s it. Also ask about 2nd photographers and assistants. They are a great way to get lots of really great pics. Seconds usually help capture detail shots (flowers, rings, thank you gifts, guest book), the cocktail hour (while you are doing formals with the lead photographer), and gets you twice as many shots of all those must-have moments from different angles (first kiss, first dance, etc).
• Prints & Albums – Most photographers have prints and albums as part of their package. I give print vouchers for dollar amounts as I don’t know what you will want…you could want one giant canvas or 200 4×6’s or a coffee table art book. The thing you should look at when hiring a photographer is how much they charge for prints, albums, and canvases. There is a mark-up here. One reason is that professional photographers use professional printing vendors and pro prints just cost more. I’ve done tests and it is night and day what a print from CVS looks like compared to a pro printer. Professional printers make art from your images. Your home printer makes snapshots. It is a personal value call on what is important to you. But back to pricing. If you get a $200 voucher, how many prints does that actually buy you. If you get an album, how many pages and images are in that album? Also, the photographer is hoping to sell a few pictures to your guests at the wedding. Your guests aren’t paying the 7 hours of coverage for your photographer. They are only paying a fraction of what you are so they can cherry-pick the one or two pictures that they want a print of. Again, this is a personal value call. If you were at an art show, what would you pay for a print. Then look at what your photographer is charging and determine for yourself if you think that is fair.
• Proof Website – All photographers will offer you an online proofing website for you and your guests to see photos. This does cost the photographer money but is usually absorbed as overhead. This is where you and your guests can buy prints from.
• DVD of Images – Photographers will typically offer a DVD of the images for a price. These are usually high-resolution JPGs that are used for personal and archival use only. Unless otherwise agreed to, how the law works, is that the photographer maintains copyright of all images and it is illegal for you to make prints at CVS, post them to FaceBook, or enter them in contests. The reason for this is that CVS and FaceBook are making money off of the photographer without the photographer being paid for his/her service. It’s like you going to work for a month and not getting paid. This is really touchy for some photographers because once the image is out there on a DVD, there is very little the photographer can do if someone steals your work. Talk to your photographer and find out what their stance is. For my wedding work, my opinion is that the bride hires me to capture the day and the DVD is part of it, no questions asked. Obviously I would prefer if you got nice prints made instead of Walmart ones but if print quality isn’t important to you, it’s not important to you. Get your prints done wherever. Make your own album at Shutterfly. And if you put your photos up on FaceBook because you think they are awesome, that is really cool. Just be sure to tell people I took them, because going back to Step 1 – Referrals are the best way to get new business. (I actually give you two folders on my DVDs – one of high resolution for printing and one medium resolutions optimized for email and facebook.)
• Rock the Dress – This is one of my favorite kinds of shoots and what I did for my wedding. After you get back from your honeymoon and your wedding dress has been drycleaned, you and your new husband put on your wedding outfits for a photoshoot. Similar to the engagement shoot, you can go to any location or back to your ceremony site. One of the reasons I did this for my wedding is that I had a sunset ceremony and didn’t want to do a First Look. That left zilcho time for nice photos of me and my honey during daylight. Plus, after the honeymoon, you are going to be sooooo much more relaxed and that will come across in the camera. Also, you get to get all dressed up again and wear your dress. Maybe it’s the Greek in me, but I felt like I was getting my money’s worth out of my dress.
• Wedding Studios – One of the things that I offer to brides and other photographers, is a portable wedding studio. This is separate from the “wedding photography” where a photographer follows you around for the day. This is similar to photobooths or red carpets, but a more fashiony, couture-y, funky vibe. I was trained in traditional commercial and fashion photography and worked as a producer for years on music videos, print campaigns, and fashion shoots. I love shooting with traditional studio lighting on a seamless. Your guests are looking their best, why not let them get nice photos taken of them? I can’t tell you how often I get asked to take a family photo at a wedding and the bride and groom are not in the picture. Weddings are family re-unions and are sometimes bigger than just the bride and groom. For my portable studios, I bring tons of props with me too – feather boas, different kinds of hats, big painting frames, chalkboards, etc. and then tell the guests to work it. I love incorporating details from brides weddings too (like your colors, themes, etc). Tell me how we can personalize it for your wedding!
• Digital Editing – Most photographers will do basic digital editing to the photos as part of they post-production workflow. This includes color correction, cropping, and exposure correction and should be done to all images that are getting shown to you. The second level of digital editing includes removing pimples and scars, whitening eyes and teeth, blurring backgrounds, converting to black and white, etc. This is done on an image-by-image basis. The highest level of digital editing involves things like fixing hair, removing double-chins, applying makeup, making you look thinner, changing backgrounds, etc. This is usually a special request as it requires someone who really knows PhotoShop pretty well. I go to PhotoShop World every year. One year the tag line was something like “PhotoShop World. Cuz PhotoShop is Hard as Hell.” I thought that was appropriate. I offer different levels of digital editing with my packages, as well as offer to help brides fix their photos or to other photographers. Digital editing can save pictures. If you have a shot you think has potential, send me an email and I can see what we can do.

5. Tell your photographer the Must-Have Shots. I have a questionnaire that I have all my brides fill out that includes the entire timeline, all the little details for everything you’ve planned during the ceremony, the cocktail hour, the reception, what you are wearing, who your family is, who to take pictures of, who not to take pictures of, etc. If you want a picture of you and your groom holding hands walking under an arch JUST like your parents did 30 years ago, then I will make sure we get that shot. Don’t get me wrong. Your photographer reserves the right for their own creativity and artistry and you are hiring them for how they see the world. They will take pictures you never thought of, and will be able to capture moments you couldn’t have planned. If you know what you want, tell your photographer. If you don’t, that’s OK too.

6. Meet your photographer. If you can, try to meet your photographer in person or chat on the phone. If that totally freaks you out, don’t worry. Most photographers I know don’t like it either as it doesn’t highlight what we do best. We take pictures and see the world visually. Our verbal skills are sometimes lacking. We are however, social creatures and it is our job to go up to strangers, get them comfortable, and take their picture. Try to get a vibe off of them and see if it jives with you. You don’t want to be stuck with someone who irks the heck out of you. Most photographers I’ve met are super helpful and have worked with lots of wedding vendors. If you need recommendations, ask them.

7. Be patient. I have absolutely no patience when it comes to waiting for something. When I want something, I want it now. Before I learned what a proper digital photography workflow was, I thought you pushed a button on a camera to take the picture and then you could print the picture out a minute later. For those snapshots I talked about before, you can do exactly that. However, professional digital photography has quite a lengthy workflow that has to happen in order to get that file up on that proofing website. Files have to be copied, backed-up, imported, tagged, rated, adjusted, exported, uploaded, downloaded, and optimized. For all my shoots, I tell my client that it typically takes 3 hours of post-production work for every 1 hour of shooting. And that does not include digital editing. Editing a picture can take anywhere from an hour to 3 days per image depending on what needs to be done. Most photographers I’ve talked to tell their clients they can expect to see their proofs 2-4 weeks after the wedding.

That’s about all I can think of at the moment while trying to be concise and thorough. I’ll probably expound on some of these in other posts. Have fun looking at all the great pictures out there and have fun planning your wedding!