Choosing a Wedding Photographer

One of the happiest moments in your life just happened - you just got engaged!  Like most people, at this point in your life, you really haven't had a need for a professional photographer.  Chances are, your mom was always the one who handled that sort of thing for family photos.  So what do you do now?

Research.  Now you may not know where to start, don't worry, most people don't when it comes to choosing a photographer, let alone one for your wedding.  It also may not seem like the most fun thing to do, but oftentimes, it's during this time that you begin to realize what photography style you like, and want you want for your own pictures.  You begin to imagine the poses, the fun bridal party ideas you want to be sure you do, and how your album is going to look.  You imagine yourself flipping through those album pages with your future children or recounting the story of your wedding day as you sit with your grandchildren staring at the canvas print that is still hanging in your house after 40+ years.

Since this is not easy to start, I wanted to write this short guide to help nudge you in the right direction.  You'll see a link below this post for a free checklist to help you find a good photographer that should be another helpful tool.  For now, let's just get your bearings in researching this new industry.

First thing you will want to do is figure out if you want a local wedding or destination wedding.  While most photographers are willing to travel for destination weddings, it will make their pricing much more expensive as most will charge travel expenses.  Once you have figured that piece out, it's time to hit up Google for a quick search of "Photographers in _______ city".   This is going to get you started with some names of people you can start looking into.  Don't forget to ask your friends and family for referrals as well, they may have someone that they have loved working with and you may also love their work.  This would make choosing your wedding photographer a breeze!

Once you start seeing their work, you will be able to notice the locations they each shoot at and this will give you an idea of some of the pictures you may want for your own special day.  Take note of those locations, poses or styles and head over to Pinterest.  Pro tip: Pinterest is an amazing platform for finding photo ideas, locations or poses and putting them on a new "Wedding Photo Ideas" board.  After choosing a wedding photographer, you can share this board with them and start brainstorming.  Once you have your style, poses and location ideas narrowed down a bit, it's time to take another look at those photographer's porfolios.

I know that price will always be a factor when choosing a photographer, but I suggest that you put that on the back burner for now and try to focus on the style of images you want.  You can always move some other budgets around to make some more room for your picture budget.  After all, it's your images that last a life time.  You can always negotiate with photographers or ask them recommendations for a lower priced photographer that has a similar style.  You may be pleasantly surprised at the outcome of this kind of conversation. 

After all, it's your images that last a life time.

So hopefully, after doing some of those initial tasks above, you are ready for some additional ways of finding a photographer.  By the way, if you already found someone you love, is available and in your budget during those first steps, that's awesome.  Just reach out and book the date!  The next thing you could do includes searching for photography vendor recommendations on websites like theknot.com, weddingwire.com or snapknot.com.  You can also look at wedding portfolio websites like 500px.  Other things you can do in person include going to Bridal Shows in your area or picking up some bridal magazines and looking through them for vendor information, as well as get more ideas for photo ideas and poses.

At this point, you should have a really good idea of who or what you are looking for and choosing a wedding photographer will be an easy final step.  Just reach out to see if they are available, if so, book them and you're done!  Woohoo!!!  

Now all of this information can be hard to keep track of, and that's why I created that checklist that I mentioned earlier.  It's completely free so, be sure to click below and download it, so you can stay organized and have all the URLs, portfolio links, and photographer's contact information all in one place.

Happy Hunting!