20 Questions to Ask When Choosing Your Wedding Photographer
1. Do you do this for a living?
You may want to be sure that the photographer is professional, has insurance, registered for tax etc, as well as making sure that they have the time needed to work on your photographs afterwards. The majority of a photographers’ time is spent working on photographs after the event and if they have a full-time job as well then you may find that you are waiting a long time to provide your finished photographs
3. Will it be yourself as the photographer?
You may think that you are booking a photographer with a great reputation, but as a family member of ours found out, it can sometimes be a different, less experienced photographer who turns up on the day. It is really important to meet with your actual photographer to get to know them and view their own portfolio, to ensure that they are producing work of the quality that you are looking for.
5. What is your back-up plan in-case of illness or other emergency?
You should ask if they have specific back-up photographers and are they experienced at photographing weddings?
7. What package can you offer us for our budget?
Many photographers put together packages and display these with their prices on their website. This is to make it easier for couples to identify their requirements and make a choice. A lot of photographers would be open to doing something different to their packages if you have something particular in mind, such as an elopement or twilight wedding. Also, if all of the packages included albums or prints and you only wanted digital copies, then feel free to ask for a quote. It is always worth asking for a bespoke price in these cases. The standard packages prices should give you an indication of how much most of their couples are paying, as a guideline.
9. Do you offer pre-wedding photo sessions and are they included in your packages?
All photographers should offer these sessions as a service, whether included or not in their packages. Pre-wedding shoots are a great way for us to get to know our couples (and their children if they have any) and for couples to practice standing before a large camera or two, how to pose to look their best, and finding great places at their venue for those romantic photographs. This allows the couple to not be nervous of their photography on their big day, knowing exactly what will happen during the portrait session.
11. My future spouse is shy of being photographed. How would you approach this to help them on the day?
A pre-wedding photo shoot, preferably at the venue itself, will help. Also, reassurance that they will not need to look at the camera for every shot. Some of our best portrait photos are of the couple looking at each other, both with big happy smiles, forgetting that we are there for a moment.
13. I want to be on time for my wedding ceremony. If we hire you to include photographing the morning pr question?
An experienced bridal-prep photographer would be able to, if you wish, prompt you on when the bridesmaids should be getting dressed or when you should be getting dressed. This is to ensure that there will be time for group photographs once everyone is ready before your transport arrives or before the venue wedding coordinator arrives to lead you to the ceremony room. We have known venues to collect the bridal party as early as 45 minutes before the ceremony begins, so it is good to find out this timing from our venue wedding coordinator at one of your planning meetings. The bridal preparation time is the longest part of the day and yet the last 2 hours before your ceremony goes by so quickly due to the amount of activity happening to get everyone ready.
15. How do you approach group shots and family formals?
If you have an idea of the numbers of day-guests at your wedding then ask how the photographer would handle the big all-guest group shot, for example, do they have a second shooter or an assistant, or will they ask you to provide someone to help? They can then let you know the order that they work through the group shot, family formals and couple portraits, and how long this will take out of your afternoon. Depending upon the number of family photos requested, it may be advisable to move some or all of the couple portraits to the evening, after the meal. Some venues will organise a confetti-throwing with guests in two lines that the couple walk down, and some will dictate the timing of portraits and group shots at particular places in their groups, especially if they have other functions or another wedding on the same day. Where possible, we like to provide the couple with the first 15 minutes of their married life together, to have time to speak with their family and friends for those initial congratulations over their first drink. Photos would then follow on, starting with the all-guest group shot
17. Do you require to be fed the wedding meal?
From speaking with other professionals, we are not aware of anyone who expects to get wedding meal as a requirement in their contract. A photographer will be working with you for between 4 and 12 hours, depending upon your booking and so they will need to eat at some point. You will want them to be energised for the evening portraits and first dance pictures and so offering them a course of hot food to be taken whilst you are enjoying your wedding meal would be welcomed very much. It is common for venues to charge meals for any cancelled guests and some venues may suggest that these meals be given to the photographers and videographer. On this, if you have a DJ or live band, you may wish to offer them a plate for your evening buffet. Evening entertainment providers will not assume and take food without being offered it directly and many of these people are working beyond midnight and will need to keep their energy levels up.
19. Is an album or prints included in the packages?
One of the decisions relating to your wedding which has more to do with the future rather than the wedding day itself is your wedding day photography and what the physical products will be for you to cherish for the decades ahead and possible pass down through the generations of your family. You should find out from your photographer if the package price includes any physical albums and. Ask to see examples so that you can check the quality and enquire about personalisation options, such as the colour of the album, if a presentation box is included, is there a USB with the gallery collection. Some photographers offer prints instead of an album and so you should enquire regarding if these are mounted or boxed for you to keep them in good condition prior to framing. When we started our business, we were putting the digital images onto CD-ROMs, and later moved to USBs. Because of changing of digital formats over the years (and who knows how they may change again in our lifetimes, it is the physical albums and prints that will remain precious keep-sakes of the memories of your wedding day. Often it is the guests themselves who we need to remember in the years ahead, more than the details of the wedding, as life moves on.
21. How would our guests order prints? Would we need to manage the order and payments?
Ask your photographer what this process is and consider whether you would want to be involved. Some photographers, such as ourselves, have an online store built into their gallery website where they and guests can simply order prints online directly to the photographer. This way the couple do not need to be handling orders and payments on behalf of others.
23. Can we meet you before we decide whether to book you?
Absolutely. At the end of the day, you are hiring someone who will be with you for most of your wedding day, and so you need to be sure that you have found the right person who you are comfortable. Meeting up in person whilst you consider the decision is a good start to this relationship. We will always meet with couples at around a month before the wedding to work through all the details and expectations and to build further trust in our service before the big day.
2. Where can we see your portfolio to see if we like your style?
Photographers should be able to provide a portfolio on their website or on social media, as well as sample prints or albums of their work. Keep in mind that each wedding was photographed according to the clients’ wishes which may be different from your own: the photographer should be flexible enough to meet your needs as well.
4. Do you provide a second shooter for the wedding day?
This one is a personal decision. A second shooter is useful for getting those additional shots from different angles at the ceremony (where the lead photographer often has very little room for manoeuvre, and also if you want morning preparations for both of you to be covered, or more commonly, bridal preparations and guest arrivals both to be photographed at the same time.
6. How would you handle equipment-failure on the day?
You should expect a professional photographer to have multiple back-up cameras and lenses either on their harness or in their bag, as well as pockets full of spare memory cards for when they fill them and spare batteries for when they are used up, ready to swap over for the next shot. If you are booking a photographer with a second-shooter, then you effectively have a back-up photographer, if one of them becomes ill or injured during the day. (I’m looking at you, flying golf balls!)
8. Would you take a booking with a discount for a week-day/winter/short-notice wedding?
Like wedding venues, some photographers will provide discounts for short-notice, winter or mid-week weddings. Check their regular prices for a guideline and then ask if they would be willing to reduce their price somewhat for these types of weddings.
10. Have you photographed a wedding at our venue, and if not, what will you do to prepare to make the best out of the location?
A professional photographer will prepare for every wedding as a unique event and will take time to research the venue beforehand. Some photographers will arrive a few hours early on the day to get to know the place and to identify potential spots for shooting. We love a new venue, and with the venue’s permission, we would conduct a pre-shoot just ourselves to generate ideas and recommendations for you and then at around a month before the wedding, if possible, arrange to meet the couple at the venue to hold a pre-wedding shoot to work through these photography shots so that it can all be planned in advance of the wedding day.
12. How do you manage travel expenses for weddings? Do we need to pay extra for a longer distance?
It’s best to know this up-front. Depending on travel distance, some photographers may charge extra outside of a certain region, or charge additionally for an early start or late finish. If a photographer is based hundreds of miles away from your wedding venue then they may need to stay overnight, which they may ask you to contribute to. That being said, sometimes we choose to stay overnight, either before or after the wedding, and that is simply our personal preference with no additional cost to the couple. There are many fantastic venues out there that occasionally we simply cannot resist booking a night or two ourselves meaning that we would be available to work earlier or later than normal.
14. Do you bring your own lighting and can you photograph the ceremony without using flash?
If you are getting married in a church then the minister or priest will likely not permit flash photography. Also, for any wedding, the experience for yourselves and your guests will be better if flash is not used.
16. Can we suggest photos for the family formals and couple portraits?
This is your wedding day and the photographer should take on board what is important to you especially for the formal family photography. You should also consider the wishes of your parents, if they are still around, as they may have particular traditional expectations in this regard. That being said, if you come up with a long list of groups of people, then this will reduce your time to speak with your guests during the afternoon drinks reception. A very long list might mean moving straight from photographs to the wedding breakfast, which unfortunately does not give the couple any chance to relax with their nearest and dearest. A balance needs to be found and letting people know in advance that they will be included in the formal photographs can help in their participation on the day, so that we can conclude this more quickly. For couple portraits, if you have seen any particular shots at the venue from other weddings that you would like the photographer to emulate then please discuss this in advance of the wedding day. Each shot might take 10-20 minutes to set up, and a particular amount of lighting equipment or props to achieve the desired image. Time will also be taken to lay out the bride’s dress for every portrait shot, if it is a longer one, which flows behind and around the beautiful bride. Although we want to provide everything you wish, a professional photographer will keep in mind set timings plan for your day.
18. How long should we expect to wait for our digital gallery?
For this one you just want an honest answer from your photographer, especially given the time of year that you are getting married. During the busy “wedding season” and shortly afterwards they might have developed a queue of work waiting to be done so you would need to wait longer before your photographs will be ready.
20. Can we choose the photos for our album?
Back in the day of albums containing physical prints, it was normal for the photographer to choose which pictures ended up in a wedding album. Basically, all the good ones! These days, with photographers regularly walking away with 1000-2500 photos from each wedding, before a photographer can start processing these images, they first need to select the combination of photos which tell the story of your day. You can ask how many photos to expect in your digital gallery, which could be 300-900 images (depending upon the photographer, size of the wedding, number of hours shot etc). With digital albums, because we all want to see some of these images as much larger (including what we provide as the obligatory group shot across two pages) a more suitable number of images for the album might be, say 40-80 (again, just ask). As such, we believe that it is more appropriate for the couple to select the final images for the album, so doing the final edit themselves. We also ask the couple to approve the proof before it is sent away for printing, ensuring that they are truly happy with the final product.
22. What is your cancellation and refund policy if our wedding needs to be delayed for some reason?
Again, you just need an honest answer from your photographer on this one. They should be able to show you a template terms and conditions before you agree to book them. For ourselves, having worked through the pandemic where the majority of couples delayed their weddings, sometimes several times as the rules were changing, we are understanding that hard decisions sometimes need to be made within families to delay a wedding. As such with unforeseen circumstances such as serious family health issues, we will transfer your booking and deposit to your new date if we have that date available. If we’re already booked for your new wedding date then we would refund your deposit and recommend a number of other professional photographers for you to consider instead.
and finally...
I hope this list gives you confidence in finding the perfect photographer for your wedding. If you're wondering why this list is titled 20 questions, but we gave you 23 questions, then please remember, photographers can't count. When they way "just one more photo" they really mean maybe three more, or maybe another five.
We wish you well in your wedding planning journey. If you wish to find out more about Duet Photography, call Keith on 07711 111901 or visit our website at www.duet.photography.
