Of the myriad decisions you are required to make for your wedding, your choice of a photographer is without a doubt one of the most important. While referrals from friends and family is a great place to start, that is not where you want to end the search. You still want to consider several things to ensure this is the right photographer for your wedding.
What Style Photos Do You Want?
The first thing you want to do before selecting a photographer is determining the different styles of photos you may be interested in. You may not already know this..but there’s a lot. There is documentary style, portraiture, fine art, edgy-bold to name a few. Research the different styles carefully to get a better sense of what appeals to you most. This will make it a lot easier to narrow your search as many photographers tend to specialize.
Do Your Homework
The internet is your friend and can provide tons of information that will help you in your wedding search. Sites like Weddingwire allow brides to post reviews of the different services they received. Check out the photographer’s website carefully to get a sense of his work and what he may be like a person. This blog of this San Luis Obispo wedding photographer for example, shows pictures of his family and gives lots of personal information that illustrates why he loves his job so much. Check out social media profiles..not being super-active is not necessarily indicative of anything, but an active presence is certainly a good thing.
Interview Multiple People
Unless you get an overwhelming gut feeling about one particular photographer and you know without a shadow of a doubt you want him to shoot your wedding, it is a good idea to set up in-person interviews with at least three to five of your top picks. This will give you a good opportunity to see if your personalities fit…remember that he will be very involved with you on this day and you don’t want to work with someone whom you really don’t like or feel comfortable around, no matter how much you liked his samples or how much your friend recommended him. If you are working with a company that has multiple photographers, it is important you find out if the person you are interviewing with is the person that will be shooting the wedding.
Ask to See Full Albums
Don’t decide on a photographer based on a highlights album or gallery. Like anyone, they are showcasing the best of the best of their work. But, this won’t give you the full picture of their work. Ask to see around two or three full galleries from other weddings that aren’t those of anyone else that may work with them. You also want to look at albums of weddings that were in a similar setting as yours so you have a good idea of what your actual pictures may look like. If you are having an indoor wedding with dimmer lighting, you don’t want to just look at albums of weddings that took place outside.