When I consult with newly engaged couples, the biggest task I have in the time that I have their attention is to educate them. So many people have never planned a wedding before and therefore know little to nothing about how wedding photography works. So I spend a lot of time explaining how things work, how I work, and what they are to expect from me or any wedding photographer they should consider booking for their big day.
I figured it’d be a good idea to put a few snippets of that education out there online, so you can all be armed with some of the awesomeness that we wedding photographers should be doing.
SO, without further ado, Lovato Images’ Tips for Hiring Your Wedding Photographer:
• First and foremost, make sure you like their photography. Visiting their website would help.
• Make sure your photographer is good with lighting. Obviously, that’s what photography is all about. So your wedding photographer really should know how to work with light, especially when it’s right in their eyes.
• Your photographer should be FUN! Your wedding photographer is with you all day long, so they should have a good attitude and a personality that fits with yours. When you have fun with your photographer, you are having more fun and are more relaxed and better images result.
• Be sure to inquire about the photographer’s physical skill. Shooting a wedding for 10+ hours is a very physical task and you don’t want a photographer that can’t endure the day. Asking them how many squats they do per day is a good question to consider.
• Make sure your photographer isn’t afraid to get down and dirty. You want a creative photographer that’s going to get different shots and angles so your images are as unique as you are! So a photographer that lays on the ground is definitely a smart and artsy shooter.
• Along with a creative side, you want to make sure your photographer has a photojournalistic approach as well and is able to get candid shots without being in the way. This is where the free and open action happens and you want a photographer who can document the real stuff without being all up in your grill (potentially spoiling the moment). A stealth, ninja-like photographer is a fabulous choice to get the most honest images from your day.
• You want a photographer that loves what they do. When there’s a few minutes of down time, your photographer ideally should be smiling, laughing, enjoying your wedding day, and shooting extra stuff just for fun. Because duh, they love what they do. So a photographer that takes weird self portraits during a few extra minutes before the ceremony would obviously be a good photographer for anyone. Because duh, they just love what they do.
And there you have it! Lovato Images’ Tips for Hiring Your (Fabulous) Wedding Photographer. Take these tools and go get the best wedding photographer for you!
Big thanks to Chad Sengstock, Geoff Leyon, Minhsu Wang and Gary Knight for these awes pics of muah. 😛
Kelly - You are right, this post rocks it!