Hey Friends! Today we are sharing questions to ask your wedding day photographer. We have read tons and tons of blog posts about this very same topic. All of those other blog posts are helpful and we encourage you to check them out. However, it seems they are overloaded with questions that, quite honestly, can be answered with a little website. We want to save you time/energy and only share the most important questions you need to ask your wedding photographers. But first, let’s look at some items you may be able to leave out and why.

Are you available? What is your style?

It is obvious that an engaged couple would need to know if the photographer is available on their wedding day! Similarly, while we completely understand the importance of knowing your vendors’ level of experience, to ask how many weddings s/he has shot or for them to describe their style is all well and good, but do those answers really matter? Certainly, if you love what you read on their website and you adore the images you see on their social media outlets, then you will be familiar with their style, right? You are reaching out to them after all, so something about those vendors stuck out to you, and we’re betting their style, whether they can verbalize it or not, is one of those features that attracted you to that person in the first place.

How many weddings have you photographed?

Likewise, asking how many weddings a pro photographed is a legitimate question, but don’t get hung up on the number! There are hundreds of photographers out there who have crushed the one or two weddings under their belts professionally…and they are AMAZING at it! They have their timelines in order, show up early to get the lay of the land, provide their couples with stellar customer service and communication throughout the planning stages, ensure the shot list is ready to go, they capture all the beautiful moments of the day…they ROCK the wedding, even though it’s only their second or third one.

True, more veteran wedding photographers will have already gone through that trial and error stage, but that doesn’t always mean they will be any better or worse than that other photographer simply because there are more weddings on their schedules. Because the other side of that coin are the photographers who are shooting tons of weddings in a season and don’t have time to customize your entire experience and provide you with the service you deserve.

 If you find someone who (after all your background research and inquiry) when you meet to discuss your wedding day photography dreams, your energies connect and personalities align as if you’ve been friends your whole life, then you know you’ve found a winner! And in that case, you only need to ask a few important questions.

The MWP Experience

When couples book with MWP for example, they get to see the most recent work on our updated blog (so you don’t have to ask for a gallery) and we send over an investment guide for brides to review to make sure we are the perfect price point for their needs. Then we meet our couples and take turns sharing information.

First, we listen to their love story, how they met, how he popped the question, how wedding planning is going; and then we share what our experience looks like on a wedding day. We describe how we shoot, the shots we always capture, what we provide and what makes us unique in this wedding industry. Our goal is to tear down our walls, let you in to see our personalities first hand, and answer every question you might have before you ever need to think about asking it.

But … with that being said it is still always important to have this list of questions to ask your wedding day photographer so that you feel relaxed and one hundred percent confident in your decision when booking! 

Choosing your photographer shouldn’t be taken lightly, so whoever you decide to go with, make sure you take some time and do some of your own investigative work! If you love what you find, reach out and ask them the following questions:

 

PAYMENT OPTIONS: 

Do you offer payment plans?

How much needs to be put down for the retainer fee?

Do you have a refund or cancellation policy?

 

LIMITING STRESS:

Do you provide a wedding photography timeline that I can share with my other vendors ahead of time?

Who keeps us on track with the timeline?

Do you have a list of preferred vendors you enjoy working with (especially a videographer)?

UNDERSTANDING YOUR INVESTMENT: 

How many hours, shooters, albums, and high-resolution images are included in our investment?

Do we receive an engagement session with that price?

If you can’t shoot our wedding, who do you have as a backup?

Do you have a travel fee (if applicable)?

How much does it cost for additional hours, if needed?

How long will it take to receive digital images and prints?

Do you have liability insurance?

 

EXPECTATIONS:

Will you be the main photographer on our wedding day?

Do you stand back and capture candid moments, be up front and center making sure you capture every moment or be in control of all situations making it happen?

Are the images you provide retouched and color corrected?

 

We know this isn’t every question you could ask your photographers for your wedding day! But like we said, take some time to dive into a few different photographer’s websites, reach out to them and see what they offer in regards to information, meet with them, and then if they don’t answer the questions you have, dive right into the list above and make sure you are excited as a honeybee in spring when you decide to book!

 

Are you planning your wedding and need more tips and tricks!?! Check out our other helpful blog posts!

No. 1 | Professional Input for Your Wedding Day Timeline

No. 2 | MD Brides: Out Baltimore, MD Dream Team of Vendors

No. 3 | Should I Have a First Look?