06 May How To Find A Wedding Photographer That’s Right For You: Tips And Things To Consider
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The most magical and memorable day of your life is approaching, and you’re bursting with excitement. Your venue is booked (hopefully), you’ve chosen your wedding dress (or dresses) and suit (or suits), you’ve gone for your cake tasting, and you’ve probably sent out your wedding invitations (or at least your save-the-dates). It’s now time to start thinking about a wedding photographer and how you’re going to document your day, because having those magical memories captured for you to look back on, for all your happy years to come, is a given.
As two professional photographers and filmmakers, we will also try and convince you that the most important thing about your wedding are your photographs and your wedding film! But even if you don’t agree, you will undoubtedly still want those photographs (and video). So how do you go about choosing a wedding photographer? Well, we’re about to make the process a little bit easier for you. Let’s start with our story…
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Finding Our Wedding Photographer
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We found Jennifer Moher (the most amazing wedding photographer) by chance. We spent many hours sifting through wedding hashtags on Instagram, and looking at popular wedding feature pages in search of someone different; someone who could capture our magical day in a very creative light. We wanted an intimate, editorial and documentary-style approach, with a focus on small details, and capturing the emotion and mood of the day.
When we came across Jennifer’s feed on Instagram, we knew we’d found someone special. Someone who understood moment-capturing, and someone who loved minimal white spaces, and played with light and interesting compositions. Although at first her offering seemed to be in black and white only, after chatting about what we wanted, she was more than happy to be flexible with us, and we’re still in awe of how beautifully she captured our day (you can see some of our favourite pics – that she took and we edited – throughout this post).
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But we must also mention that even though we found Jennifer, we didn’t dive straight in and book her overnight – we had to firstly see if she’d be interested in shooting our day (traveling to South Africa from Canada isn’t the easiest thing to do – even pre-COVID-19-bans) and we had to do our homework to compare pricing with other photographers whose style we liked, and some local photographers who we knew were available for our special day. It was a long process, but as photographers ourselves we knew how important finding the right wedding photographer would be, so we don’t regret the time we put into finding and booking Jennifer.
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With the research we did, and the process we followed, we managed to come up with some helpful tips to finding your ideal wedding photographer, and hope this blog post can make the search for your wedding photographer a fun and not-so-tiring process (because we know you have enough to think about with your big day coming up!)
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How To Find A Wedding Photographer That’s Right For You – Tips and Things To Consider
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To get started, look at popular wedding blogs and feature pages
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There’s a ton of amazing resources available, with online magazines, blogs, portals, and feature pages sharing some of the best wedding photographers’ work and details (some even have special databases created, listing some of the best photographers on there). Most wedding photographers these days are also more than happy to travel (although with the current COVID-19 pandemic, this might be a little trickier, so judge it as it comes) but our point is – don’t be afraid to ask wedding photographers who aren’t necessarily based in your city. Below is a list of some of our favourite wedding resources to get you started:
- Click here for Green Wedding Shoes
- Click here for June Bug Weddings
- Click here for 100 Layer Cake
- Click here for Wedding Sparrow
- Click here for Bridal Musings
- Click here for Wedding Chicks
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Ask your venue for recommendations
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Another great place to start (and if a wedding photographer’s travel fees are out of your budget) – ask your venue. They’ve hosted many weddings there before (unless you’re eloping in a never-before-visited location in the wild…and if that’s the case then we’d LOVE to be your photographers), so they should know a few wedding photographers who are already familiar with the venue’s best photo spots, and probably have some knowledge of how to play with the lighting throughout the facilities.
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Create a moodboard
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We know you’ve probably created hundreds of boards on Pinterest already (like we did), but don’t stop at the reception decor and dress ideas. Create a board of your favourite photos and photo styles too. Save and pin things like composition, colour, and pose styles. This will not only help you find a suitable wedding photographer, it’ll guide him or her to understand what type of shots you like. We found it really helpful (even during our pre-big-day wedding elopement adventure in Namibia) to have a moodboard to refer to, and share with our photographers (Jennifer only shot our wedding day – we had our friends Sage and Megan assist with our Namibia vision). You can see the Namibia and wedding day moodboards we created, below:
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Look to your social networks for recommendations
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Ask your friends, family (and maybe even other wedding vendors) for recommendations. You can share your moodboard and ask to see if anyone knows of wedding photographers who would be interested in shooting your day. You never know how you’ll find your one, so might as well ask around.
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Find photos shot in similar conditions to your wedding
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What we mean here is – if you’re planning to get married on the beach (like we did) you shouldn’t be scrolling through #mountainwedding photographs (unless you’re merely looking at pose ideas). Each wedding photographer has a style, and it’s really helpful to find one that shoots in the way you want to be shot. If you want 90% of your photographs to be close-up portraits, then you should try find a wedding photographer who specialises in (or has a broad portfolio) with that style of photography. We loved Jennifer’s candid, documentary style of shooting which is why we asked her. Make sure you find the right match for you.
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Start hunting for that wedding photographer early
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As with wedding venues (and most other good things in life), the best get snapped up early, so the sooner you can secure your wedding photographer the better. More often than not, you’ll need to pay a small deposit to secure him or her – sometimes 20% of the final fee, sometimes just the travel costs – so make sure your budget allows for it, and plan accordingly.
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Reach out to at least 10 wedding photographers
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This might seem like a bit much (we actually ended up asking 15 photographers for quotes) but there is a lot to consider when finding the right wedding photographer for you, and sometimes price will be a big factor. If you find two incredible photographers but the one is priced three times more than the other one, then it’s a no brainer that you’ll choose the one better for your budget. This can sometimes get really tricky, as a photographer’s price is based on their offering (some have exorbitant packages offering you over 600 photos, a printed book and other added benefits) so their pricing will reflect their offering, but if you’re based in Brazil, for example, and are paying in Brazilian Real, then receiving quotes in Euros from high-end photographers in Germany might be completely out of the question for you. But in the same breath, you never know what you might be able to negotiate.
You must remember that wedding photographers are people too, so if you don’t need all the extras they’re offering (which is shooting the price up) and you only have a certain budget for your photographer, then be honest and chat to them about it. You might find that the one photographer is willing to strike a deal because they love the sound of your wedding and want to add it to their portfolio, or they’re happy to exclude the printed book and only give you 50 photos for a reduced rate.
Yes, this will be a very time consuming process (as a lot of wedding photographers will ask you to respond to a number of questions too before giving you their rate – this will allow them to quote better, and it also shows them that you’re serious about them and not simply “shopping around”…even if you are), so you might need to go back and forth with a few of them, but it will all be worth it in the end, we promise…unless of course you love our photography style, have a reasonable photography budget, and don’t want to look any further, then of course you can skip this step and just book us now to shoot your adventure elopement or intimate wedding 😉
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Start a comparison spreadsheet
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This is just an optional tip (and something we did), but since we were having multiple conversations with 15 wedding photographers, we found it easier to record all the information in one place. We created a Google Sheet where we saved:
- Each of their names
- A link to their website / instagram page / portfolio
- Where they were based
- Their quote in their currency
- Their quote converted to our currency (so it’s easier to compare)
- And any applicable notes (for example if they were flexible on post-production delivery, or if travel costs were excluded)
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Once we received all the quotes and information, we could easily sit down together and compare everyone equally.
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Learn about your rights and what is included in your wedding package
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Even though you’re the client, and you’re paying your wedding photographer for their service, you should still treat your contract like a business contract, and make sure you’re happy with all the fine print.
Most contracts will stipulate that the wedding photographer owns all the rights to all the photos taken on the day (including photos of you and your SO), meaning he or she will be able to use those images for promotional purposes (on their blog, website, and social media, and to create advertisements or submit them to feature pages – remember those ones you were sifting through at the beginning?)
You’ll also need to understand what you’re able to share online, and if certain credit needs to be given each time you do, and if you want to print your own images at a later stage (or create a book from another source), you may need to pay extra for those image rights.
We don’t want to scare you here, but it’s good to know the questions to ask when considering your photographer.
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Find out about post-production and how long you’ll have to wait for your final photos
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As photographers ourselves we can tell you that shooting the photos is only half the work. Chances are, your wedding photographer took close on 4000 photos on the day of your wedding, and now he or she needs to sift through and choose the best ones, and then go into their editing software to edit each and every image that they’ll give you. The images are big RAW files (much bigger than your typical JPG), so uploading, processing, editing, and then exporting each one is quite a process (but it’s also half the fun, so a lot of photographers will take their time here and really craft your special day momentos).
Based on the research we’ve done, wedding photographers can take anywhere from six to eight weeks to deliver your images, so be prepared for that (but this is just based on averages – some photographers might take longer or shorter).
Don’t be afraid to ask some questions when you’re wedding-photographer-shopping too. Find out:
- What the photographer’s process is – perhaps they’ll let you choose which images you want them to edit, or they’ll retain that creative license
- When you’ll receive your shots (perhaps you’ll receive a sneak-peak a couple weeks after the wedding and then the bigger batch later on)
- If you’ll be getting high resolution or low resolution images
- If you’re able to print the images yourself, or if the photographer retains the rights
- What kind of retouching and editing can be done, and if you’d need to pay extra to have effects or special filters added
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Have a video call if you can’t meet in person
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If you’re battling to choose between two wedding photographers, try meet them to see how well you gel together. If they’re on different continents (as was in our case) and you cannot meet in person, have a video call (this might be a good idea during these coronavirus times anyway) to get to know them a little better. You’ll be getting very intimate with your photographer, and they’ll be with you at every moment on the best day of your lives – make sure you get along!
It’s important to listen to your gut here as well – if a photographer seems too good to be true, or they’re only telling you what you want to hear, then maybe they’re not the right fit for you, so don’t be scared to ask some tough questions and spend some time getting to know them.
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Once You’ve Found The Wedding Photographer That’s Right For You – Tips and Things To Consider
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Ask for the shots you want
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Go back to that moodboard you created in the beginning, and see if there are any shots that you absolutely have to have. Of course be considerate – if the shot you love is a drone image on a wooden boardwalk, and you don’t have a wooden boardwalk anywhere at your venue, and your photographer is not a drone pilot, you can’t expect him or her to make miracles happen. But if you saw a cute way to display your rings, or you found a great reference of a photo taken with champagne as a prop (and you will organise that champagne during your photoshoot), then chat to your wedding photographer about it.
A lot of the time you will want your photographer to guide you and choose the best angles and shots, and you’ll just let them do their thing, (you’re hiring them for a reason, right?!) but if there’s something particular you just have to have, and you think can be replicated fairly easily (again, chat to your photographer as they’ll know how difficult it would be to do), don’t be afraid to discuss it with them. They’ll very quickly tell you what is possible and what is not.
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Plan all the day’s shooting opportunities with your wedding photographer
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You’re going to want to make your photographer’s job easy, and you’ll want to offer him or her the best opportunity to capture the best shots. If you’re hoping for dreamy sunset images with beautiful lighting, but you haven’t made yourselves available for shooting during this time, then you won’t get those beautifully-lit photographs. The photographer will try his or her best to capture your day in whatever conditions get thrown their way (gale force winds – like our wedding – rainstorms, thunderstorms, snowstorms – you name it, the photographer will capture it), but you’ll want to create opportunities that allow them to get the best possible photos of you.
- Speak to them about how much time they need
- Consider a “first look” (as this will give the photographer another opportunity to take photos of you when you’re not itching to celebrate with all your friends and family)
- Try plan your wedding day so that you’re both available during the best light (normally just-before and around sunset) for some intimate shots
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If you also have a list of family and group photos you want, make sure you discuss those with your photographer ahead of the day, and of course make time in your wedding day schedule for these (as gathering people, and taking a large amount of group photos is a very timely exercise, so just keep that in mind).
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Try organise a test shoot
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A lot of couples will book an engagement shoot with their photographer so that they can all get to know each other (and it will also give you the opportunity to see how your wedding photographer works, and what their edited photos look like, so that you can guide them or give feedback, and of course, so you can practice being comfortable in front of the camera – something a lot of couples struggle with).
If you can’t have a test shoot because your budget doesn’t allow it, or your photographer is in a different city, state, or country (like ours was), then try see if you can at least meet them the day before the wedding – if you’re having a rehearsal dinner, for example – so that you can get familiar and maybe even have some practice in front of the camera ahead of the big day.
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We hope this post has been insightful, inspiring, and helpful! If you’re looking for a documentary-style candid shooter, we cannot recommend Jennifer enough. You can see her portfolio here, follow her on Instagram here, and of course see some of our photos that she took for us here.
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Booking us to shoot your wedding
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We’d also love to mention that we are available to shoot small weddings and elopements from June 2020 onwards, so if you love our style of shooting and editing (see some of our photos below and on Instagram) and you’d love to chat about an adventure elopement or intimate wedding, we’d love to help you create one, and capture it (in photo and film form) too. Let’s chat!
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Below you can see a wedding we recently shot in South Africa, and for the rest of our portfolio, click here
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If you enjoyed this blog post, you may want to see the rest of our Wedding Series right here on our blog, or on YouTube, Instagram, Pinterest and TikTok.
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