Wedding Photographer Advice

Congratulations!!!! You’re engaged!

Now begins the task of planning your wedding day and booking all the necessary suppliers who will bring all your plans together. Gary Evans Photography has some great tips and advice when choosing the all important wedding photographer. Firstly, you will need to set the date and choose your venues because without these there is no wedding. Once you have done this, one of the first people to start looking at are photographers. Many wedding photographers get booked a year or more in advance, this doesn't mean you won't find a photographer at shorter notice – you will – but if you want to be absolutely certain that you get the photographer you REALLY want, you need to book them as early as you can.

So, where to start? Wherever you look you will find literally hundreds of photographers around at every price level and style you can imagine and sometimes the choice can seem overwhelming. Search the internet and look through the many wedding magazines available to see the sort of thing you like, but don’t get too bogged down in the labelling. Photojournalism, traditional, reportage, candid ..… these are all terms that photographers like to use to label themselves but we suggest that you ignore labels and just look at the photographs on the websites. Definitely ask your friends for referrals, especially if they have recently got married. It is always good to work with someone who has been recommended to you. However, bear in mind that just because your friends thought theirs was the best photographer ever, that you need to make the right choice for you.

Think about what you want photography wise. Do you want coverage from the preparation through to the end of the reception that night? Or just at the wedding venue or something in between? Do you want just an album or would you like a slideshow set to music as well? Maybe you want all the images on a disc as well.

What next? Once you’ve got a short-list of potential photographers, phone them to discuss your wedding day. If you’re not comfortable talking to them on the phone, if they’re not friendly and open and interested in you and your day, then they’re probably not the person you want to have around you for 8 hours on one of the most important days of your life. Firstly, ascertain that they are available on the day and who will be actually photographing your wedding. Larger studios may have more than one photographer and there is nothing wrong with this, so long as you and they know who will be your photographer. You will, of course, need to know their pricing structure – but this is not the be all and end all of wedding photography. In the same way as you can’t ask “how much is a wedding dress?” every photographer will have a different way of structuring their packages and until you have detailed information about what is really included in the pricing, the headline numbers can be very misleading. The photographer whose packages start from £1000 could end up working out cheaper than the person who quoted you £500 a day.

Tip: Beware of photographers who quote you super cheap prices, because there will be a reason why they are so cheap. With wedding photography you usually get what you pay for.

Think about how a photographer who offers to cover your wedding for prices in the region of £500, including 200 prints plus the DVD plus album (just an example) can possibly be making enough money to cover the all costs of running a business, such as insurance should things go wrong, or to buy spare equipment so they have a spare camera on the day if they happen to drop theirs on the church floor. Smell a rat? Chances are they are an amateur who fancies making a little extra money at the weekend. If they mess up on the day they have nothing to lose. It’s just a bit of fun – to them!

Tip: Most professional photographers have qualifications and are members of either the Master Photographers Association (The MPA) or the British Institute of Professional Photography (BIPP) so look out for their logos on the photographers websites.

There are, of course, some talented amateurs with some experience of wedding photography. They can be a real find – but please bear in mind that they may not have the experience to deal with difficult lighting conditions such as dark churches and super bright mid-day summer sunshine. Check what sort of photography they were doing before they started in wedding photography and how long they’ve been taking photographs for. A responsible amateur photographer (and indeed many full time professionals) will be a member of The Society of Wedding and Portrait Photographers (SWPP), again look for the logo on their website. I would suggest that you avoid a photographer who isn’t a member of any organisation.

"My Uncle has a nice camera, and he won’t cost me a penny!" He may be a very keen photographer indeed, but is he an experienced WEDDING photographer? He needs to be able to provide you with photographs that you will cherish for the rest of your life or will you look back and say “I wish we had booked someone to do it properly?”. What will happens if your uncle messes up? Will you ever really forgive him or will it perhaps strain family relations for the future? Is it worth the risk? And what about your himself himself. Would he prefer to ENJOY your wedding day than go through the stress and pressure of making sure he doesn’t mess up? If it goes well, getting your uncle to photograph the wedding could be great, but if it doesn’t, the repercussions could last for years.

So how much should I budget for? A quick surf around Norfolk photographers websites will reveal packages between £300 and £3000. The reason for the variations is down to a few simple variations. Some photographers work on their own whereas others work as part of a team. Also, some use bespoke albums containing 100’s of photos while others use more freely available albums with 30 prints in them. However, at the end of the day, how much you budget for photography is down to you. A popular photographers cliché is that once your cake has been eaten, the suits returned, the flowers have long since wilted and the venue is hosting someone else’s wedding all that remains is a ring, a carefully stored dress, your memories of the day - and your wedding photographs. It may be a cliché, but its also true. what’s that worth? Only you can decide.

Tip: Make an appointment to meet them. Once you have your shortlist of photographers arrange, if possible, to meet them. It’s not always feasible, and many people do book on the strength of a website, but if you can meet them, then do. If you can’t, then be sure to have a detailed telephone conversation with them to make sure that they know what YOU want.

Expect to travel to them for the meeting. Keep in mind that they will have several albums, and often prints too, for you to see and its not really practical, or for that matter professional, to travel all over town with them. Can you imagine having your wedding dress consultation at Starbucks? It’s the same with photographs. Also, if possible leave any youngsters with a babysitter as you cannot really give the photographer your full attention if you are keeping one eye on your children. Finally bear in mind that the photographer have made evening time available to see you, and they may well have another couple booked in to see after you. At the meeting, be sure to look at complete sets of wedding photographs as well as albums. Some photographers are known to shoot over 1000 images in a full day’s shooting to put an album together with which sounds ideal, but if your album is 50 photographs then there are a lot of unusable images that you are paying for!! Look for sharp, in-focus photos together with consistent colours that show a good range of story telling images, as well as natural shots of you and your guests enjoying themselves – plus those all important detailed shots showing where your money went!!

Look at the photographers style in his images and be sure that this is what you REALLY want from your wedding photography. There is no point in admiring someone’s work and then asking them to shoot in a style that differs from what they have shown you. Listen to what they are saying to you about how they work. If they shoot in an unposed, reportage style, and you want lots of family groupings, they are unlikely to truly be the photographer for you. To sum up, research different photographers and decide what you like, have a ballpark budget, meet your short listed photographers and be sure you know what you’re getting for your money.

Article and images courtesy of Gary Evans Photography