5 Tips on Choosing A Wedding Photographer

My search for a brand designer and your hunt for the perfect wedding photographer have a lot in common.

If you’re a little intimidated by the dozens and dozens of options in the wedding photography world, this post is for you. Read on.

This is my story:

A few months ago, I started the search for a brand designer. We knew we needed to freshen up our brand to match where our business had gone, so the search began.

I know very little about the world of design. There are a gazillion brand designers out there. Which one is right for us? Is there a big quality difference between experienced professionals and those who are just starting out? Who is going to understand us and be able to turn that into our branding? And what is a normal price range? I had no idea if I should be expecting to spend $500 or $5000.

Are they going to make the process enjoyable? And how do I narrow down the options? Where do I even start?

Does that sound familiar? My guess is yes.

Choosing a photographer is hard. We totally get it! Today we’re going to share some insights on finding a photographer that’s going to be a good fit for you and your wedding day. 

 

1. Look for a photographer that clicks with your personality.

This is one of the big deciding factors for your decision!

You’re probably going to be spending more time with your photographer during your wedding day than any other single person. Not to mention the engagement session, timeline emails, and lots of other little touch points along the way.

That’s why its so important to find a photographer you can imagine yourself being friends with.

Do they seem to love wedding photography as more than just a job, but as a way to bless others and create beauty? Do you leave feeling even more excited about your wedding day, the photography, and each other?

You’re going to be really involved with your photographer during the entire experience, so this is our number one recommendation!

2. Check out your photographer’s presence on their website, blog, Facebook, and Instagram.

You’ve probably already visited the website. Go a step farther! Browse through their blog to see collections of recent work, personal posts, and wedding day tips. It’s a great way to get to know who they are as people and what they love!

Take the time to follow them on Facebook or Instagram. Don’t be afraid to interact with them – engage by making comments on their Facebook posts or blog posts! This will open up conversations (social media is social, remember?) and give you a chance to interact personally.

3. Find a photographer that consistently takes images you love.

This one is pretty obvious, but no less important. Find a photographer that takes images that you swoon over. There are so many places you can check out their images! Facebook, Instagram, the blog, their website. Professional photographers typically work hard to create a consistent style of their own. Every photographer is a little different – so find a style that really speaks to you!

Tip: Find someone who takes pictures you already love. It’s totally fine to have a couple specific picture requests, of course, but it doesn’t usually work well to ask someone to change their style. If you don’t love their posing, editing, or consistency enough to fully trust them to give you images you love, you might want to keep looking.

4. Look for a photographer that will give you a good experience.

This is something we’re passionate about. The pictures themselves are obviously very important, but I guarantee that you’ll love them so much more if you have the memories of an amazing experience to go with them. This ties in with #1 – find a photographer that you feel comfortable with and who is excited about you!

Ask any of our current or past J&A Couples, and they’ll tell you we’re all about the experience! From the moment a new couple walks into our front door for our first official J&A coffee date, we fill the entire journey with encouragement, valuable resources, recommendations, planning tips, customized timeline building, and a few little surprises along the way.

From J&A Coffee Days at local coffee shops to our annual summer picnic, our couples truly become part of a community. We believe that it makes the entire wedding experience so much richer, so it’s an important part of how we run our business!

Tip: Recommendations are also powerful! Ask your friends and family if they have any recommendations for you. Check out comments that past brides have made about their experiences. Read some of the reviews left by past brides. It’s a good place to start narrowing down  your options.

5. Decide on a flexible budget and how much you’re willing to spend for amazing pictures and an incredible experience.

This one is a tough one. It’s also an important one, because its one of the first questions we get. “Pricing, please!”

Budget is always something that needs to be balanced in wedding planning, and it’s hard to do! Before you decide on a photography budget (or a budget for any of your big items, really), do a little research. See which photographers you really love and what their prices are before you set a firm photography budget.

Everybody has different priorities for their wedding day dreams. Some people really care about photography because they want to make sure that they have beautiful and emotional pictures of high quality that they can share and cherish for the rest of their lives.

They want pictures that make them look and feel beautiful, ones that every day remind them of every emotion they felt that day. They want the experience to be one-of-a-kind. And splurging a little bit is totally worth it to them. Some people care more about other things.

Decide on your priorities, and remember that as you make decisions.

It makes me think of when we bought our first house. We had a budget in mind and starting looking at those houses. We pretty quickly discovered that we just couldn’t find what we were looking for. Then we realized that by stretching our budget and spending just a little bit more, we started finding houses we loved. Now, a year later, we still go home thinking “Aw! I love our house.”

Was it worth making some small sacrifices in other places to be able to buy a house that we’re still in love with? Absolutely. Sometimes just increasing your budget a little bit will open a whole new world of options.

Tip: Don’t just think in terms of budget and money. Also think in terms of what you really want for your wedding day. $1000 over your budget might seem like a lot now, but in 10 years you won’t remember that extra money you spent. You will remember all the memories that came along with your wedding day, though!

Because after the cake is eaten and the dress is packed away, you relive those moments every time you look at those pictures.

We’re passionate about wedding photography for many reasons, but one of them is to preserve the memories in a way that’s as beautiful as the memories themselves.

*hugs*

Amber

{P.S. If you found this post helpful, we think you’re also going to love our tips on submitting a vendor inquiry that makes you stand out in the crowd!}

Note: Original post updated January 2018