Five Questions you NEED to Ask a Wedding Photographer… From a Wedding Photographer!
1. What is your style and approach?
This is hands down going to be the most important question to ask because it’s going to determine if you and your photographer are compatible. Make sure you go onto their website and make sure you love everything about them; their style of photos, the colours of their photos and how their couples look in the photos.
Make sure to ask your photographer about their style; what they call their style and why their style matters to them. On top of this you should also ask the photographer what their method is to get these photographs. The reason you should ask this is because it’s going to determine how ‘hands on’ your photographer is or isn’t. If you want a posed wedding that would make the front cover of Vogue then you need to make sure that your photographer specialises in that specific style. Alternatively if you want a photographer who shoots candid, in the moment photos then you need to make sure that this is their approach. With years of experience in the wedding industry I have developed a storytelling style that is candid and allows your day to flow naturally from start to finish.
Lastly you should also take into consideration how your photographer is editing their photos. Some photographers will do dramatic touch-ups, removing blemishes, smoothing skin where other photographers will focus on a natural approach to their post-processing. My style of editing is somewhere in the middle; It’s my job to make you look as flattering as possible in the photographs while preserving natural beauty. I will remove blemishes such as spots and breakouts but I won’t remove important features like beauty marks, birth marks etc.
2. Are you insured?
This is very important; this will show the ‘real photographers’ from the ‘not-so-real photographers’. It’s easier than ever to pick up a camera, watch some YouTube tutorials, start a website and say that they are a professional wedding photographer. However, running a successful business is very different to just taking photos and being insured is one of those things that shows your photographer is serious about what they do. And make sure to ask how much they’re insured for; not only is this a good way to determine if your photographer knows what they’re talking about, most wedding venues nowadays will ask that vendors are insured for the value of their estate in the event something goes wrong.
3. Do you work with a second photographer or an assistant?
While two photographers isn’t always necessary, it’s always good to know if they will be working with an assistant on the day. Having a second photographer can affect the flow of your day; when people need to get dressed and when the photos are going to happen. I will always recommend a second photographer to my couples if they’re planning on having a large wedding or if they’re getting ready quite far apart on the morning of their big day. A second photographer can really help the make sure that no important shot is missed.
Asking if your photographer is going to have an assistant is also important because it lets you know how many vendors you’re going to have to provide meals for at the end of the night. If you don’t know how many vendors you have, you might have missing plates.
4. What is your backup process?
This is hands-down one of the most important questions that never gets asked. When most couples think about their wedding day, they think about the photographs, how the day is going to run and how smooth it’s going to be but the photographers job goes on well beyond your big day. The moment a photographer is done taking your photos, they need to start to make backups in the event that something catastrophic happens. The last thing you want is for the most important day of your lives being lost because your photographer didn’t take the time to backup the photos.
I purposefully have a comprehensive redundancy system in places that all starts with using a professional camera that has dual card slots (meaning that every time I press the shutter button, the photo is saved to two separate memory cards in the event that one fails or malfunctions). When it comes to backing up the photographs I will save them to my laptop at the end of your night. I then copy these files to an external hard drive when I get home and eventually upload the photographs to the cloud to make sure I cover as many bases as possible. How a photography backs up their photographs can determine how serious or not they are about their photography business.
5. Can I see a full wedding gallery?
This is very important because it will show the photographer’s style and approach throughout the day. As a photographer, it’s easy to upload photos of couples that look incredible but some photographers might not include family photographs or group shots because they maybe feel that they don’t matter as much. Seeing a full wedding day is going to let you see everything; all of the fleeting, intimate moments that may matter more to you bridal portraits.
When you ask to see a photographer’s gallery, make sure to ask if this is from a full wedding or from a styled photoshoot. It’s easier than ever for a photographer to make incredible photos of professional models dressed as a couple at a styled venue when there is no pressure but that doesn’t often translate to when the heat is on during a wedding day and the photos you have to matter - there are no do-overs! A wedding photographer is someone who serves as a conductor of your day and you want to know that the one you choose is someone who can handle the pressure and ensure that your wedding runs smoothly and efficiently, allowing you to spend the most time with those you love the most.
To see sample galleries from some of my favourite weddings, check out my Wedding Photo Journals!
