After spending dozen hundred hours planning for your wedding, you would want to have every special moment if not the whole wedding captured in beautiful illuminating photos and brilliantly edited videos. You are however torn on who is the perfect photographer for the job. You have interviewed several of them, gone through loads of their work and loved their style. You have also asked your friends who have done weddings before you for their opinion; you have also stalked them online to gather reviews from their previous clients and what they say about the services they received. Everything you have done so far is great, but you still need some clarity. So before you settle on one and book them, you would want to ask them these three questions to make sure that everything goes as you have planned and avoid any hidden surprises.
1- How Many Hours are in Your Package?
This is a crucial question because we have seen photographers who will only cover the day part of the wedding and bailout during the evening party. Considering the amount of money you have spent, the sleepless hours you have spent you would want to capture every moment of it to share with your children and perhaps your grandchildren. So before you enter into a contract with them seek to find out how many hours they are giving you. To them it is just a normal day in business; to you, it is a one-time event in your lifetime. Negotiate for at least 15 hours that way they can capture your bridesmaids dressing up to the last dance in the evening party.
2- Have They Worked at Your Wedding Location Before?
It is very refreshing to hear your photographer say they have shot at your wedding locate before or they even know the staff by name. If they have, ask them to show you picture samples, which will give you ideas on what you would want to have. He will also have inside knowledge regarding beautiful hidden spots. If they haven’t, ask them if they will be willing to visit the venue a day before the wedding. That way they will have an image of what they will be working with. Every venue comes with its fair share of advantages and challenges as well the photographer should assess them before the wedding. Since photographers are artists, they will know what to do with your venue layout to give you the best it has to offer. Remember this is not a rehearsal so you cannot afford to get it wrong.
3- How Long Have They Been at Wedding Photography?
Not so sound discriminative, but you would expect to get the best quality from a photographer with years of experience. A new photographer who is just starting might not have the experience you need. Other than that, his equipment might not be of the highest quality despite that fact that quality is your main concern. I might, however, be wrong; it is possible to have a beginner who is thorough with their work so you can also give them a chance. An experienced person has faced numerous challenges and developed clever ways of dealing with them. You would also want to find out if photography is their main business or it is something they do part-time. For someone who does it fulltime, you would expect to find some degree of quality since it is their main source of livelihood. Part-timers might lack that touch of perfection because even if it doesn’t work out for them, they still have something to fall back to.
Bonus Tips
Your photographer should exude some level of confidence in you. He should cover almost all of the questions you would want to ask even before you ask them. You should feel a strong positive connection with them as a person and the work they do. You should also trust them to capture the greatest day of your life. If you have any reservations, do not hesitate to ask them, and remember no question is silly as it relates to capturing memories that will be with you for as long you will be alive. If they have satisfactorily answered all your questions and worries and you feel confident they are up to the task then get them booked.
