After the wedding is over, the food is gone, and the favours taken home, the photos will remain. The bride and groom will hopefully enjoy looking over these snapshot memories for decades to come but beware of spending too little and ending up with sub-par photos. The primary responsibility of a wedding photographer is to capture all those magnificent moments on your special day. Their duty is to merge professionalism with your ideas and make every camera click worth your investment. In many instances, people will rely on wedding photographers based on recommendations by friends and family. However, you must be certain about their quality of work and not just how affordable they might be. While a slightly burnt piece of fish from a caterer makes a heart-warming story, poor wedding photos can cause frustration for years to come. When you look at your wedding photos, you want them to represent the day in all its joy and elegance.
What Does a Wedding Photographer Do?
A wedding photographer is not just simply taking photos, but investing in state-of-the-art equipment and taking the time to develop a creative vision by getting to know you and your venue. Budgeting enough for the photographer is a crucial element to ensure smiles for a lifetime as you are looking to develop a personal relationship versus just a business transaction. Plan on allocating money to meet with the photographer a few sessions before the actual wedding day.
Value
Value means what you are willing to spend versus how you feel when you look at the photographer’s portfolio. All quality wedding photographers should have an on-line and physical portfolio for you to look at with a variety of styles and options. Take into account quality of photos, if any props or sets are provided, and the personality of the photographer.
Expenses
Photographers often have to travel to your venue and take this into account when offering you a quote. No photographer should have a set price without discussing the details of your big day. Working with someone who will deliver what you want means they have firm boundaries and will be honest with you. A huge red flag, as one unfortunate couple recounts, is a photographer who says “yes” to anything and is willing to do too much for too little. This photographer was only interested in money and never ended up delivering the wedding photos because he was overworked and overbooked.
References
Look for people in the area who have worked with the photographer you are interested in. References and reviews are key! A photographer should have written testimonies and an incorporated business with reviews and a ratings to back up their work. While working with a friend or family member may seem like a good idea to cut costs, you should have the agency to ask for what you want even if it means spending more. Avoid an experience of a couple from London who hired their childhood friend and ended up with a complete different colour-scheme than they wanted because they could not say no to her vision.
Weddings are not cheap but the photographs are what keep that day alive, so ensure that you adjust your budget to hire a quality photographer whose work brings you joy for a lifetime of wedded bliss!
