Choosing your wedding photographer

I’ve heard many brides say that the pho­tog­ra­pher was one of the most impor­tant deci­sions they made regard­ing their wed­ding. Why? Because it’s your wed­ding pho­tographs that will stay with you for 10, 20, 50 years after your wedding.

Your pho­tographs record all the mem­o­ries for you, and every other detail of your day — the venue, your friends, the flow­ers and dress — lives on through your wed­ding pictures.

Colin Green­lees, of Green­lees Pho­tog­ra­phy, has sent the fol­low­ing advice which I hope you’ll find use­ful when choos­ing your own wed­ding pho­tog­ra­pher. The full arti­cle is pub­lished on Colin’s own web­site here.

Wed­ding pho­tog­ra­phers vary in their per­son­al­ity, their pho­to­graphic style, how they work with the wed­ding party, how much expe­ri­ence they have, the qual­ity of the equip­ment they use, the pack­ages they pro­vide, as well as the final prod­ucts they pro­duce. So you’re not just hir­ing some­one to take pic­tures. No mat­ter how you look at it, you’re get­ting a pack­age deal. The ques­tion is, what will the pack­age include?

The Pack­age Deal

Many pho­tog­ra­phers today include their pho­tographs on a DVD but there are many who do not and oth­ers who charge a lot of money for this service.

The wise bride or groom will ask if those pho­tographs have been edited, as pho­tographs that are com­pletely unedited are often less than what they could be and I have heard of some cou­ples who have been dis­ap­pointed with their DVD images.

Check that your wed­ding pho­tog­ra­pher will edit every pho­to­graph you receive includ­ing those on DVD as well as those pho­tographs that are used in albums, those which are pur­chased online, and those which are enlarged.

Sec­ond, ask whether the pho­tographs you receive will be of a high-resolution qual­ity. Many pho­tog­ra­phers only pro­vide a low-resolution ver­sion that only has enough res­o­lu­tion avail­able for small 4 x 6– or 5 x 7-inch photographs.

Choose a pho­tog­ra­pher who will pro­vide the high-resolution pho­tographs that can be printed in any stan­dard size as well as ver­sions which have been opti­mised and re-sized for Inter­net and e-mail use.

Third, you need to con­sider what is included in the pack­age. Does the pack­age include an album? Albums included in some wed­ding pho­tog­ra­phy pack­ages offer sig­nif­i­cant sav­ings over an album pur­chased separately.

If you want a pro­fes­sional, heirloom-quality album, think about choos­ing a pack­age that includes an album. The more expen­sive the pack­age, the bet­ter the qual­ity of the album and num­ber of sides it includes.

The Wed­ding Photographer

As part of the pack­age deal you’re not just get­ting stuff, you’re also hir­ing a pho­tog­ra­pher. So what qual­i­ties should you look for in a wed­ding pho­tog­ra­pher? In some ways the answer is obvi­ous. You look at the photographer’s work and decide on whether you like the pic­tures or not.

Also, when speak­ing with a pho­tog­ra­pher you need to decide on whether you are com­fort­able with this per­son. Does the per­son seem com­pe­tent and relaxed? Does the pho­tog­ra­pher ask ques­tions about you? What you must remem­ber is that the pho­tog­ra­pher will be spend­ing most of the wed­ding day with you so make sure you are com­fort­able in their com­pany.

Choos­ing a friend or rel­a­tive to pho­to­graph your wed­ding can result in huge sav­ings. Don’t let this moti­vat­ing fac­tor blind you to other issues when con­sid­er­ing who to hire for your once-in-a-lifetime wed­ding pho­tog­ra­pher as it can cause stress in the relationship.

So let’s sup­pose your friend or rel­a­tive offers to pho­to­graph your wed­ding. If you are not alto­gether happy with the pho­tographs, it will likely cre­ate bad feel­ings between you. And if the per­son is not a pro­fes­sional who shoots wed­dings fre­quently, you may be dis­ap­pointed. You must also con­sider whether they have back up equip­ment in the event of fail­ure and it is imper­a­tive they have Pub­lic Lia­bil­ity and Pro­fes­sional Indem­nity insurance.

Thanks to Colin for sub­mit­ting this arti­cle, which was orig­i­nally fea­tured on his wed­ding pho­tog­ra­phy blog. To read the full arti­cle, please visit this link: http://www.greenlees-photography.com/blog/how-to-choose-a-wedding-photographer/