What every Bride and Groom need to ask when Shopping for a Wedding Photographer

There are a few basic questions that you should jot down to ask a wedding photographer when you call and meet with them, and we will also give you some pointers to help every bride and groom save time when shopping for their wedding photographer.

1.Believe it or not, the first question you should ask is if your wedding date is available. This will save you a lot of time! Imagine calling 5 wedding photographers, and giving them the run down on what you are looking for, listening to their rates and what they have to offer for at least 15 minutes, then to be asked what your wedding date is only to find out they are already booked. If all of them were already booked for your date, you wasted an hour of your precious wedding planning time. When we receive calls and emails from prospective clients, that is the first question we ask them.

2. Ask the wedding photographers what their style is. This is important. If you are looking for very traditional old school style wedding photos for your wedding, and that photographer only performs photo journalistic style photography, it won't be a reflection of who you are and what you want your wedding to be reflected as. There are photographers, like myself, that are versatile with their photography and can do both traditional and modern, eclectic, and contemporary style wedding photography. This comes in handy for us when we have the parents of the bride and groom that want traditional wedding photographs and the bride and groom want one of a kind, artistic and unposed photographs. We simply take both throughout the day, and everyone is happy.

3. Are you my Photographer?
Sounds silly I know, but many companies contract out other photographers. There is nothing wrong with this. If it's important to you, simply ask if you can meet with the actual photographer that they are contracting for you, get it in writing, and ask to see that photographer's work. If you don't like their work, simply ask to see another contracted photographer's work, and so on. If you are still willing to book with a company that contracts other photographers, make sure that you have a signed contract by both parties. It is common for photographers to collaborate their services to better accommodate the bride and groom's needs.

4. Do you have a Business Insurance Policy?
This is not to be confused with a home owner's policy, etc. A lot of photographers are DBA's and are not actually licensed businesses. There is nothing wrong with this, as long as they have insurance. This is important because, God forbid, if anything goes wrong, they are covered. A lot of people are not aware that if they do not have a business policy and their equipment for their business is in their home, that it will not be covered on their home owner's policy. We have a business policy that covers our equipment and a liability of up to two million dollars - hopefully we will never need to use it. We are also a member of the PPA which also covers their members with insurance and benefits.

5. What type of Equipment do you use for Weddings?
This is very important. There are different type of lenses and cameras. With the right skills, it's possible that the wedding photographs would turn out just fine with lower grade cameras, but the print quality would show. The more expensive lenses are heavier glass and can capture more light so that your wedding photos aren't as dark. You need to ask the wedding photographer if they have and use back ups of all of their equipment. Because most people don't know a lot about camera equipment, I will try to simplify this. The most popular and common camera wedding photographers use are Canon 5D's and the most popular lenses are a zoom and prime lens with apertures of 2.8 and 1.2, 1.4, 1.8 and so on, most of which are L series (professional grade for Canon.) This of course is why photographer's fees are high - to have reliable equipment. Also, ask to make sure they are using digital. There are still some photographers that use film. There is nothing wrong with that, but it's not the same as digital, and it takes a lot of skill to use film - so if they use film, make sure they have experience in wedding photography of at least 5 years.

6. How long have you been photographing weddings?
Notice, it states weddings, not photography. Wedding photography is a type of photography like no other. The locations and lighting and distance are changing, constantly. The photographer has to have experience with wedding events, church rules, working with planners and coordinators, wedding schedules, etc. These are very important. You don't want a photographer that has no idea what the generation dance is or that is taking photos during the wedding ceremony behind the preacher and over his shoulder (that's a sure fire way to never land a job in a church again for all of you photographers out there.) I would say to ask how many weddings that have photographed, but like myself, most lose count and some weddings are for ceremony only. The bottom line is that it takes a special person to handle the stress and chaos of a wedding day, and with all of the photography skill in the world, if a photographer can't handle the pressure of a bride freaking out, mother yelling, etc. (which happens a lot when flowers don't show up, etc.) and schedules changing every minute, it won't matter.

7. If your Vendor or Planner recommends a Photographer, ask the Photographer if they Advertise with them or Pay any Money to Them or Donate Photos to them.
We so often get sales persons that give us the option to advertise with them. With the ad, we get placed under "Top Recommended" or we will receive referrals for exchange of photos of their venues. The only thing that I do not like about this practice is that it is for enterprise purposes, only. The planners and vendors are not basing the recommendations based on the photographer's work, but rather how they conduct business with them. There are many vendors and wedding planners that absolutely do not practice this. The best way to know, is to simply ask.

8. Do I have to pay anything extra for Artwork, Airbrushing for my Photographs, Travel Fees or Anything at all? If so - What, how much, and what are the guidelines?
Units and wedding pricing packages can be very confusing. The bottom line, ask if they charge for art work, air brushing, color correcting, resizing, etc. If they do, get the details, and get it in writing. Our artwork is complimentary with all of our photos, but we explain that it is at our discretion, limiting the number to say 50 photos verses 1500 photos. Some wedding photographers charge extra fees to travel to various locations, even if your contract states all day coverage. So just ask, for example, if there would be any extra charges for stopping at a park to take formals in between the ceremony and reception, etc. If they tell you that there are extra charges, get it in writing.

9. Will you be Photographing Alone or will you have an Assistant or Another Photographer?
This is a simple question. There is absolutely nothing wrong with a photographer that shoots a wedding on his or her own. It is a peace of mind to know that there are two photographers with two different views and angles to offer. It also helps the photographers to have an assistant to unload and set up their equipment and basically be in two places at one time. This gives you more time for photos, and not so much on time lost from the photographer loading and unloading and setting up equipment and lighting. Call me spoiled, but I won't photograph a wedding without an assistant or other photographer. The bride and groom and their family and friends love seeing the different view and angles and the photos of different events taken at the same time - they love the variety it offers.

10. Will I Receive the Photos on a Disc and if so What is Involved?
This is our most popular question we are asked. For example, our packages that offer the photos on the disc include all of the digital negatives (that means the good, the bad, the ugly and the beautiful) of all of the photos we took on the wedding day. We also include any and all we did any art work to or touch ups. We print out a contract that is a self explained copyright release for the happy couple to have with the guidelines. They can then take that disc and release and have the photos printed by any lab of their choice (not Walmart, PLEASE!) We recommend Roberts Imaging for affordable and quality photographs for consumers. You can easily pop your disc in your computer, and upload the files online and have the prints delivered to you. Simple as Pie. Make sure that if your photographer puts your images on a DVD, that it is not a "slide show only" and the photos are separate. A lot of people I have spoken with have been burned by this. They thought they were receiving the DVD with all of the photos on it, but they had a slide show of all of them and they were not printable.

Of course there are more:
What will you be wearing?
Do you help with our photo schedule and plans?
How will our family and friends get prints from you?
How will we view our proofs?
How long do we have to pick our selections?
When do we have to pay our final payment?
What if we want to save our money for an album in a year from now?
How long do you store our photos for us?
How do you back up our photos?

I hope this helps you select your wedding photographer! This of course, is just from the view of a wedding photographer.