What to ask a Wedding Photographer
What to Ask a Wedding Photographer
Booking a wedding photographer can seem a little complicated. I completely understand there are so many options available. You firstly need to decide why ‘type’ of photographer you are looking for. Are you wanting a completely documentary photographer, a more posy photographer or something completely different? At Dave Waller Photography I like to say I will get stunning portraits but then also real natural moments. I like to sit somewhere in the middle, I like to think the best of both worlds. I will capture stunning portraits of you both that you can hang in your house and look back on your wedding day. I also like to capture those real moments, the interaction between your guest, those moments that only happen once the deep belly laughs, quirky smirks, the in-betweens, and the perfectly imperfect. I talk a little bit more about photography style in the article below, click the link to find out more.
Posed VS Documentary Photography
How long will we wait to receive our wedding day pictures?
This can varies so much between wedding photographers. Some photographers are not full time so respectfully will not have as much time available to them meaning your images will inevitably take a little longer than a full-time photographer. At Dave Waller photography most of the time images are delivered within a week of your wedding. Don’t worry tho they still go through an extensive editing proses of post production and colour correction to ensure your images look the very best. I also offer with select package same day delivery of select images, this is quite unique but means after your wedding breakfast you will be able to access any download a select number of images from your own password protected gallery and share them with family and friends.
What will the photographer and any assistance ware on the wedding day?
Its your wedding day last thing you want is your photographer to turn up in jeans and a t-shirt! This is something I have seen happen. I think its important to look the part, its a wedding after all. I will normally ware smart trousers, shirt, waist coat and smart shoes, I also request that any assistance of second photographer also dress appropriately. I want to be able to blend in to your wedding and not stand out or look odd.
How would you describe your style?
This is a really important question and is one of the first things I would ask not long the photographer but your selfs. What kind of photographer are you looking for. I spoke a little about how I work on a wedding day at the top of this article. The majority of my time is spend documenting your wedding day as it happens with all the little details, I also like to create some stunning portraits and these as you might expect require a little more engineering and posing. Don’t worry tho I always keep things super relaxed and chilled. You can find out more about how I work on a wedding day by taking a look at the article linked below.
What kind of back up do you have?
In my opinion, it’s so important that a wedding photographer has a really good back up. This is your wedding day it only happens once, if something happens with the photographer’s equipment they can’t ask you to walk down the aisle again because their camera broke. So how do I work and what back up do I have I hear you ask? On the wedding day itself, I always have cameras on me, normally these cameras will have different lenses on them meaning I can quickly change between lenses to capture different looks. Having two cameras on me also means if one was to malfunction I can quickly pick up the second and continue capturing your wedding day as if nothing happened. I also have a third back up meaning I can swap out the broken one and continue the day with two cameras. Each of my cameras is capable of saving images to two memory cards, meaning each picture is saved twice instantly. If something was to happen to a memory card all the images are backed up to a second. My back up on the day does not stop their when you are stitting down to your wedding breakfast I take this time to back up all the files to a external hard drive creating a additional back up.
Do you have insurance?
This is a very important questions to ask. All professional photographers should have insurance for their business. If they don’t have insurance I would question if they are taking their business seriously. As you might expect I do have insurance, just incase you were wondering.
Are they confident taking images in all weathers/the dark?
You spend so long organising and arranging your wedding day but one of the big things that you really can’t control is the weather. You might also be having a winter wedding meaning it gets dark at 4 pm. Is the photographer confident is the weather is not on their side? Is confidence in the winter months? To me, the rain means we can create something a little different as you see above. We might also need to move some images inside for example the group formal pictures. Truth be told I quite like a little rain on a wedding day so that we can create something a little different, it also gives us an excuse to explore the interior of the wedding venue. In terms of a winter wedding, I specialise in creating twilight images and am confident in creating something special in the dark. You can find out more about winter weddings in the article linked below.
Picking a photographer you like for your big day is tough, and I mean personality-wise and not just their work or price. Hopefully, the questions above have given you a bit more of an idea about how I work but also questions you might want to ask when looking for a wedding photographer. I would love to chat with you about your wedding plans, if you would like to book a free consultation where we can discuss your wedding plans in more detail please feel free to get in contact.
