8 important questions to ask wedding photographers to ensure that you’ll love your experience:
Choosing a wedding photographer is a daunting task. With so many photographers, prices and packages to choose from, how do you know they’ll do a great job capturing your memories? The last thing you want is to hire someone who will be a disappointment to you in service or quality.
Here’s a list of questions to ask every photographer to ensure you’ll get gorgeous images that you’ll love:
1. Do you have insurance?
It’s shocking how many people start photography businesses but never go through the steps to make it legal or get insurance. Professional wedding photographers should have the proper insurance for their business. Insurance protects the photographer against equipment theft, but more importantly, it provides liability protection in case one of your guests trips over the photographer’s bag and breaks their leg. If a wedding photographer does not have insurance, chances are they are new to the industry or are not taking their business seriously.
2. Do you provide a contract of the services? Can I get a copy?
There are a lot of studios that don’t create contracts for their wedding photography clients. You should require a contract from your photographer that details what services they will be providing, pricing, termination resolution terms, etc. A contract is created for your protection, and for the wedding photographer’s protection. It is best to hire a photographer that will build a contract with you, and be wary of photographers that “don’t typically create contracts for clients.”
3. Do you do wedding photography full time?
Many photographers have a full time job while doing photography on the weekends. I’ve found that I can respond to my clients faster and deliver images sooner when wedding photography is my main focus and full-time job.
4. What happens if you get sick on my wedding day?
This one is pretty obvious. Does your photographer have someone in place in case they cannot show up? Nobody should go through experience of having a wedding and no one to capture your best memories the way it deserves! For this highly unlikely event I have an emergency list of photographers that have very similar styles and personalities.
5. Do you carry professional backup equipment?
Hiring a photographer that does not carry back up equipment is like a skydiver that does not have an emergency parachute release. Nothing is worse than you being in the middle of pictures right before the ceremony and the photographer says, “Oh, bummer! My camera stopped working. Looks like I cannot finish your wedding. Have a good honeymoon!” It’s also important that their backup gear is professional grade equipment so your photo quality doesn’t suffer.
6. Are you comfortable using flash?
A good photographer will be very comfortable using a variety of lighting techniques, including off-camera flash. While some claim to specialize in natural light shooting, often the reality is that they simply have not learned how to use flash properly for gorgeous images when natural light is lacking (such as in a dark reception hall).
7. Can I see a full wedding gallery?
It’s easy to get a few nice shots from a wedding, but only skilled photographers can take quality photos the entire wedding day, especially in poor lighting conditions. I’m glad to give you access to a full wedding gallery to see that my quality extends throughout all of my images.
8. How long does it take to receive my photographs?
Each wedding photography studio varies in the time it takes to produce and deliver your pictures. Studios that do not do any post production or color correction may try to entice you by saying your photos will be ready within the week, or even the next day. However, most studios that develop and produce their images will take anywhere from 2 weeks to 6 months. I have developed a consistent production schedule in order to deliver an amazing product in an exceptionally quick manner (3-4 weeks).
