what questions should I ask a prospective wedding photographer?

Here are some questions every potential wedding photographer should be asked:

  • Why are you so cheap? With the advent of digital photography and good, accessible digital SLR cameras, many can take a good photo and many do, offering low prices for photographing your wedding. Ask yourselves how much your wedding photos will be worth to you and how much of a risk you want to take on them. Ask cheaper photographers a lot of questions and ask to see lots of their work. If you're still not sure, ask for the contact details of some previous clients. Low priced photographers may not be insured properly, they may be unprofessional and they may have little experience or talent, make sure these aren't the case before you book yours.
  • Can I have some photos with that? Wedding packages are generally annoyingly complicated, not very transparent and often don't include things that shouldn't be extras, like photos of your wedding. Find out what you're actually being quoted by asking these:
    • How many hours are you photographing for?
    • What kind of album do we get?
    • How many photos are in the album?
    • Roughly how many photos will we get to see?
    • Do we get all the photos in full resolution on a DVD?
    • How many prints do we get?
    • How much do subsequent prints bought by our friends and family cost?
    • How much do subsequent albums for our parents cost if they want them?
  • What happens if I have to cancel x weeks before the wedding? Wedding photographers should use a thorough, detailed contract written in plain English to cover foreseeable and unforeseeable problems. Ask for a copy of the contract and you will find out exactly what you get, what insurance measures they have and what happens during things like cancellations on either side.
  • Can I see some photos please? The most important thing to find out is of course whether your wedding photographer takes good photos. There may be some good photos on the photographer's website but you have to ask yourself if this is an accurate representation of what you're going to get. If a wedding photographer has been working for 5 years, has done 25 weddings a year and has a photo gallery of their 30 best photos then even if you're not good at maths it should be obvious that you should ask to see more! They may be a wonderful photographer but conversely it may hide them being an average photographer who takes a great photo every few weddings.

    Try asking to see photos from a recent wedding. If asked nicely they may give you access to all of a recent wedding, for instance I give couples access on-line to around 400+ photos from their wedding and if the couple didn't mind I can make this available to someone interested in seeing exactly what you get. I'm happy to stand by all the photos from any of my weddings and relish the chance to prove I have consistently high standards.
  • Why have you chosen to be a wedding photographer? This may be an unusual question to ask a wedding photographer at first glance, it's not like you ask your plumber what motivates them before asking for a quote on stopping the water reaching your knees. But I think it's valid if you're really looking for the best photographer you can get because photography is creative.

    Are you hiring someone for your happy event that is talented but would rather be somewhere else and is just going through the motions to pay the bills? Or are you hiring someone who is talented, creative and passionate about capturing your day in the best way that they can? I love all sorts of photography but capturing natural moments on happy days is something very special to me and something that I really enjoy. Henri Cartier Bresson is many people's favourite photographer and one of the most important in photographic history, not because he took beautiful posed photos of people but because he found people in beautiful moments. Finding those moments motivates me and hopefully the photographer you choose has a similar passion.

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