5 Questions to ask your wedding photographer

During your wedding day, you will spend a lot of your day with certain vendors, quite a bit more time than you will with others. For many couples, this will include your wedding photographer, planner, day of coordinator and videographer. These vendors are the ones who will be doing every thing that they can to make sure that your day runs smoothly, and make sure to document every little special moment from the day.

Many times, if you chose to not hire a planner or day of coordinator, your photographer will naturally take on many of these roles as well, making sure everyone is on time and that you get to the ceremony right on time. The wedding photographer is the one person who will be closely following you throughout your entire day, adjusting your hair for each photo, fixing your dress, helping you move from location to location, and cheering you on the whole day. Because of this, the wedding photographer basically becomes your third wheel for the day. Which is why I encourage couples to make sure they really love their photographer. You are inviting someone to spend the most important day of your life with you, you should feel comfortable with them, confident in their abilities, and enjoy being around them.

To help you in your search for a wedding photographer, I’ve put together a list of questions I would encourage you to ask prior to booking.

1. Are we able to meet with you either in person or via video call?
   I recommend couples to schedule time to either meet with me, or at least speak on the phone. This is helpful for many reasons! First it helps you learn if the photographer is a good fit with yours and your partners personalities. You want to know that you feel comfortable with your photographer, and having a chance to meet or at the very least, speak, helps figure that out. This also gives you a chance to ask any and all questions you all may have for your photographer.

2. What packages do you offer?
   Logistically, this is a necessary question to ask very early in the process of speaking with a potential photographer.  You want to be sure the packages they offer fit what you are looking for.  For example, if you are only looking for coverage for 6 hours but a particular photographer’s packages begin at 10 hours with no smaller options available, then they may not be the best fit because you would be paying for many more hours of coverage than you need.  This also helps you determine if a particular photographer is within your budget. Your wedding photos are extremely precious, and if you splurge on anything, we recommend splurging on your photographer, but we also encourage you to know and stick to a budget that you and your fiancé are comfortable with.  Planning a wedding can be stressful, but having a plan for your budget is one way to help eliminate some of the stress.

3. Is an engagement session included with our wedding package?
   A complimentary engagement session is included in some of my wedding packages. This is something I love including! An engagement session allows me the opportunity to form a bond with my couples. I love getting to know my couples and the goal is to feel like old friends by the time your wedding is over.  It is an honor and a privilege to get to spend a wedding day with someone, and I value making my couples feel known and loved throughout every step of the process.  Additionally, if you are someone who maybe isn’t always the most comfortable in front of a camera, this is a great chance to warm up in a lower-stakes environment.  Engagement sessions are meant to be fun!  Treat it like a mini date, just with someone following you around with a camera :) If an engagement session is not included in your wedding package with the photographer you are meeting with, ask about what it would look like to add one on.  It’s worth it, I promise!

4. Are you able to provide assistance with scheduling the wedding day if needed?
   Most photographers will work with you to build the perfect wedding day timeline. It’s helpful to have your photographer plan this out with you so that your photographer can hear about what is most important to you throughout the day and plan time for your photos accordingly.

5. What does it look like to have you with us throughout our wedding day?
   Ask your photographer to explain what a wedding day with them will look like. Are they more behind-the-scenes and quiet? Are they thhe one who wants to hype you up all day? are they your go-to person when you realize right before your first look that you actually need to go to the bathroom but need help with your dress? These are the details that help you imagine if this is the person you want to spend your important day with. While these aren’t necessarily make or break, they’re super helpful in picturing what your day will be like.