That time of year has arrived, wedding season. It’s time to figure out who will attend your wedding, what you’ll serve for food and who will take the photographs during this memorable event. Finding the perfect wedding photographer for your special day isn’t easy, but we’re going to break it down with some tips to help you find the right person for the job.
Research Photography Style
Before you even venture into the world of trying to find the perfect wedding photographer, you’ll need to have some idea of what photography style suits your wedding best. I highly advise you to check out Instagram for some amazing wedding photographs. This will allow you to get a feel for the variety of styles available for your special wedding day. Some photographers edit their photos with bright vivid colors, and some lean towards the “light and airy” edits. You’ll want to decide what style you like best, and then find a photographer who can shoot your ideal photographs.
Ask Friends, Read Reviews
Your next step is to ask around. Ask friends who they know and recommend for wedding photography, while also researching reviews on local wedding photographers. It’s always best to go with someone who has high recommendations for the photography style you’re looking for, but if they don’t specialize in that style, you can always ask them about their thoughts and experience during your interview. Reviews will help you understand if they’re professional, if you’ll get your photos on time, and if everyone was happy with their final product.
Check in Facebook Wedding GroupS
We have found Facebook to be a great place to go to find awesome vendors for our wedding. In these groups, you can ask for suggestions from other brides around the area, or vendors can send their information direct to you, and it can actually speed up the research. Word of mouth always seems to be a great way to find someone who fits for you. That’s where we found our awesome wedding photographer, Lavishly Lux Studios.
Set up an Interview
Which leads me to my next tip on how to find the perfect wedding photographer, setting up interviews. In order to really get a feel as to whether or not a photographer is going to be a good match, you must sit down with them to discuss your vision and see if they’re able to follow through with that. It’s also nice to see what the photographer’s personality is like as they’ll be at your wedding.
Ask for a Portfolio
While you’ve already researched the wedding photographers that you’re interviewing, it’s still important to ask them to bring their portfolio. Most wedding photographers will have a portfolio full of their best photos ever taken at weddings or similar type of events. This will give you a good feel as to whether or not this photographer can match your photography style during your wedding day.
Study the Contract
Some wedding photographers have a very specific contract that their new clientele must sign. It’s important that you ask about this contract and perhaps see a sample so that you know what rights you’ll have to the photos and what your photographer is allowed to do with some of your photos in the future. Knowing what’s in each photographers contract will help you choose which photographer to go with.
Now that you have the basics, it’s time to decide who the perfect wedding photographer for you will be. Once you’ve evaluated all of the photographer’s reviews, portfolio photos, and contracts, it’s time to decide which photographer seems to be the perfect fit for your wedding day photography.
If you are getting married near Dallas or Los Angeles, we recommend our wonderful photographer, Lavishly Lux Studios!
Looking for your videographer?
These tips apply to your videographer as well. And we have found a great company who shoots weddings nationwide, and they have amazing pricing! For all you brides who think you have to skip the video of your wedding because of your budget, check out Royal Bison Studios to see how you CAN afford videography for your wedding.