Choosing a wedding photographer

Harvey_nikon

Harvey_nikon

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if you had to tell someone what to look for when choosing a wedding tog what would you say?

I've read so many articles written from a point of view that shows no knowledge of photography, including ones saying, "just get the cheapest" or "just go with the one the venue recommends" that I got wondering what you lot would look for yourselves?

The obvious things that spring to mind for me are:

1) The cheapest are usually cheap for a reason but being expensive doesn't mean they are good. get a complete price list up front, including prints, canvases, albums etc.

2) Find a style that you like.

3) Make sure you see a complete wedding shoot, not just the best of shots and ask if they are model shots.

4) Make sure they have professional indemnity and public liability insurance.

5) Letters after the name, in a most cases mean very little as they can be purchased by simply paying to join a club.

6) Make sure you get on with them, if you aren't comfortable then it will show in your photos.

7) Ask about their experience, how many weddings, what venues.

8) Check out their website gallery and facebook page if they have one.

9) Search online for "their name + review" and see what comes up.

10) Are you dealing with the photographer or an agency that handle multiple weddings at the same time?

Anything else to add to this?
 
That's pretty much the tick list, for when we got our photographer. He was also flexible about the hours spent shooting, so that despite having him and his assistant all day, we didn't pay for the time during the meal, so we could keep the bill lower.
 
its pretty much the tick list, but I don't see what you're adding new?
 
I wasn't looking at adding anything new, just making sure it was all of the basics because many of the guides I have read have lots of missing info.

I just thought I would ask here in case anyone else can think of something.
 
:) Just want to make sure I am hitting all of the points myself as a tog, then I can have a "how to guide" on my website, shows that I care that you get a good quality service :)
 
I would add to that to ask friends/family who have married about their photographers... what impressed them and what did the opposite... for many, their wedding day is the first and last day that they will be the subject/star/model for the day and so they don't know what to expect. If they ask a friend who says "we had no idea we'd have to put aside 2hrs between the ceremony and meal to get all the group shots we asked for" it starts to set some expectations (of course a decent tog would have explained all that in advance!
 
Timing is a good idea, and I forgot to add "cake gets eaten, flowers die in a week but photographs last for ever" :)
 
Which is very cheesy.

Assuming the photographer is doing it properly it's straightforward.

1. Do you like the photography? Don't worry about why. If you do, you do.
2. Is he or she within budget?
3. Do you like the photographer?

A yes to all three is a yes.

The rest is fluff.
 
Radiohead said:
Which is very cheesy.

Assuming the photographer is doing it properly it's straightforward.

1. Do you like the photography? Don't worry about why. If you do, you do.
2. Is he or she within budget?
3. Do you like the photographer?

A yes to all three is a yes.

The rest is fluff.
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job done :p
 
It might be fluff to you, but I think making sure a tog has proper insurance it definitely worth while in case you need to make a claim. And when it comes to a wedding, you can't be too careful :)
 
Get one that comes recommended by a friend.

Make sure they don't try and control the reception themselves. I was at a wedding recently where the photographer took over 2 hours to do photographs, and we ended up late for the meal. He then wouldn't allow them to have the first dance because he wanted to move them around to take more photographs. It is the B&Gs day, not the photographers.
 
only other item to possibly add is "do they have backup kit/second tog"

Having been through this myself very recently I have found myself asking all of the above.
 
Harvey_nikon said:
It might be fluff to you, but I think making sure a tog has proper insurance it definitely worth while in case you need to make a claim. And when it comes to a wedding, you can't be too careful :)
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It's important, but it's fluff. That's why I started my post by saying:

Assuming the photographer is doing it properly it's straightforward.

That therefore assumes he/she is insured, has backup etc. I'd say I get asked about 10% of the time anyway.
 
Ask what format they shoot in, if they shoot digital.

Ask how many lenses and cameras they'll take. (The answer doesn't matter all that much so long as they don't say "one" :lol: )

See a range of shots, indoors, outdoors, weddings and potraits - especially those of the age groups of your guests.
 
a lot of **** is fairly irrelevant to people, you need to like the photographer, like their work and have a way to afford it

what format, you like the work so why care

if you're worried about whether they can do it then you don't like them that much

keep it simple stupid :D
 
Radiohead said:
Which is very cheesy.

Assuming the photographer is doing it properly it's straightforward.

1. Do you like the photography? Don't worry about why. If you do, you do.
2. Is he or she within budget?
3. Do you like the photographer?

A yes to all three is a yes.

The rest is fluff.
Click to expand...

I actually agree completely with this. Some of the things on that list aren't too important to me.

Having a look at their gallery, that's not a pointer, it's surely something EVERYONE is going to do before booking a tog? I don't know of anyone who would book without having seen examples of their work.

Insurance - Not my problems, if a tog does a job for me and ends up getting sued due to his/her negligence and hasn't got insurance in place, it's more fool them.

Letters after the name - Nothing I'd go looking into, to be fair. It certainly wouldn't be something I'd factor in when booking a wedding tog.

My list would be in the exact order that Guy's put his pointers in.

Do you like the work? Well, you're never going to book anyone if you don't, so that's always the first thing I'd be looking at.

Does it fit into my budget? That depends on how good the work is, if it really stands out, I'd be prepared to go a bit further if needed.

Is the tog a complete bore? Actually, this doesn't concern me too much, as long as he can do the job, that's all I care about, it's not as though I'm looking to go out for a few beers with him after.

Of course, some people are going to look into every fine detail, but for me, as long as I like the work and it's affordable, then it's game on.
 
Dman said:
Having a look at their gallery, that's not a pointer, it's surely something EVERYONE is going to do before booking a tog? I don't know of anyone who would book without having seen examples of their work.
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I personally know several people who have booked photographers without seeing the photographers work TBH. Scares me!
 
dseered said:
Sorry for cutting a load of the post out but insurance will become a problem if a venue asks to see it !
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But that's the photographers problem surely? Not the B&G's - insurance only becomes important to the B&G when they make a claim against you? I'm not the kind of guy that constantly worries if all other road users are correctly insured, or any shop that I walk into. I have to hope that they're doing the right thing and it'll only become important if something terrible happens. I wouldn't get out of bed if I had to start risk assessing on that level.

As pro's it's easy for us to start to differentiate ourselves from happy snappers by thinking of all the professional measures we have in place to run a business 'properly', insurance, tax, NI regular servicing of gear, backup gear, licenced software, backup systems for our images etc. However the simple reality for a customer is about performance and price as Guy has pointed out.

We need to educate our clients that our professional attitude / experience / benefits them, but to be fair that can only be done subtly. The only obvious evidence is our work, so we have to ensure that whilst we're showing great and consistent work that separates us from Joe Bloggs we can instil confidence in our services.
 
Phil V said:
But that's the photographers problem surely? Not the B&G's - insurance only becomes important to the B&G when they make a claim against you? I'm not the kind of guy that constantly worries if all other road users are correctly insured, or any shop that I walk into. I have to hope that they're doing the right thing and it'll only become important if something terrible happens. I wouldn't get out of bed if I had to start risk assessing on that level.

As pro's it's easy for us to start to differentiate ourselves from happy snappers by thinking of all the professional measures we have in place to run a business 'properly', insurance, tax, NI regular servicing of gear, backup gear, licenced software, backup systems for our images etc. However the simple reality for a customer is about performance and price as Guy has pointed out.

We need to educate our clients that our professional attitude / experience / benefits them, but to be fair that can only be done subtly. The only obvious evidence is our work, so we have to ensure that whilst we're showing great and consistent work that separates us from Joe Bloggs we can instil confidence in our services.
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Tell the B&G it's the photographer's problem when the venue refuse to allow him in without insurance.
There are also some Wedding Insurance policies taken out by B&G's that now insist anyone hired to do photos, flowers, DJ etc. have the required insurance otherwise the Wedding Insurance policy itself is void!
 
haggis said:
Tell the B&G it's the photographer's problem when the venue refuse to allow him in without insurance.
There are also some Wedding Insurance policies taken out by B&G's that now insist anyone hired to do photos, flowers, DJ etc. have the required insurance otherwise the Wedding Insurance policy itself is void!
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I don't quite understand the tone of this.:shrug: I'm in no way suggesting that insurance is unimportant to a professional business. I merely pointed out that it's hardly likely to be near the forefront of a customers mind when choosing a photographer (like I sad in my post:shake:).

I understand why it's important to me, and to some venues, but frankly as I said previously, only a very risk averse couple would consider asking the question, unless the venue had prompted them to do so.

Therefore in answer to the OP. What is a customer looking for when choosing a wedding photographer? All you appear to have added is an assertion that insurance might be important! I'm afraid that doesn't even answer whether you believe it's important to the potential customer - only that you're certain that I'm wrong!;)
 
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If you go to wedding fairs the majority of brides and grooms generally are interested in looking at your albums and studying the photos to see what people are wearing!! They don't really even look at technical ability but I suppose that is up to us to prove that we can take decent photos.

Add in a bit about timings and liking the photographer and I think the list pretty much covers everything.
 
Phil V said:
I don't quite understand the tone of this.:shrug: I'm in no way suggesting that insurance is unimportant to a professional business. I merely pointed out that it's hardly likely to be near the forefront of a customers mind when choosing a photographer (like I sad in my post:shake:).

I understand why it's important to me, and to some venues, but frankly as I said previously, only a very risk averse couple would consider asking the question, unless the venue had prompted them to do so.

Therefore in answer to the OP. What is a customer looking for when choosing a wedding photographer? All you appear to have added is an assertion that insurance might be important! I'm afraid that doesn't even answer whether you believe it's important to the potential customer - only that you're certain that I'm wrong!;)
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Hi Phil - apologies if I took it the wrong way but I did have a bride ask about insurance at our initial meeting as the insurer they had for their wedding had made it quite clear that everyone associated with providing some form of service on the big day must have the appropriate insurance otherwise their wedding insurance policy would be void. I agree it shouldn't have to be at the forefront of a bride's mind but in this sad age of litigation society people get scared into anticipating the worst.

I was also told recently by a bride that the venue would need to see our insurance (fortunately before the actual wedding day). At least that would allow anyone without to get cover.

Sad that society is tending to deflect from the real needs/wishes and use fear to sell protection. I heard of a photographer who also used insurance as a fear factor. Annoys me when I have to talk about such things rather than
the photos they want from their big day.
 
haggis said:
Hi Phil - apologies if I took it the wrong way but I did have a bride ask about insurance at our initial meeting as the insurer they had for their wedding had made it quite clear that everyone associated with providing some form of service on the big day must have the appropriate insurance otherwise their wedding insurance policy would be void. I agree it shouldn't have to be at the forefront of a bride's mind but in this sad age of litigation society people get scared into anticipating the worst.

I was also told recently by a bride that the venue would need to see our insurance (fortunately before the actual wedding day). At least that would allow anyone without to get cover.

Sad that society is tending to deflect from the real needs/wishes and use fear to sell protection. I heard of a photographer who also used insurance as a fear factor. Annoys me when I have to talk about such things rather than
the photos they want from their big day.
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I didn't really take it personally:) it's just that the discussion had headed sideways and although to us insurance, backup, gear redundancy etc. are important ingredients in running a reliable business it isn't, nor should it be, something for our customers to be concerned about.

I know that it's a question we'll get asked sometimes, but hopefully that's after they've decided we can produce great images at a price they are happy to pay. After all, we don't ask to see the insurance doc's of our taxi drivers, or the supermarkets where we shop? We choose them because of their price / availability / quality and generally we trust that they're being professional about how they supply the services / goods.
 
Spot on Phil but there are so many "weekend warriors" out there who might not have the necessary cover I thought it worth mentioning.
 
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