Your wedding day should be a day full of friends, family, laughs, and maybe a little bit of nervousness. On the actual day when you get married, all of your preparation and planning should allow you to sit back and not worry about the small stuff. However the prep work in finding venues, vendors, accessories, and the general planning of the wedding day could drive a bride batty!
Selecting most vendors requires that both time and place come together as one. You need your desired venue to be available on the same date as your caterer, photographer, DJ/band, florist, etc… Aside from the timing and coordination, you need to find one of each of those vendors from a very wide variety of packages, prices, and offers!! So how do you pick? In the following I will outline some general rules and ideas for selecting your Wedding Day Photographer.
Friend With A Camera – I just mentioned above that one of the things you need to select is a ‘wedding day photographer’ but that’s only partially true. What you really need to find is someone who get to know both you and your fiance. What exactly does that mean? Capturing beautiful and moving images which bring tears of joy to your eyes do not only come from the photographer. They come from within you…and it’s the responsibility of the photographer to then capture those fleeting moments…a look, a touch, a wink, or a smile which only a handful of people understand the true meaning of. That’s where the difference comes into play between a photo which just looks good and one which speaks volumes to the viewer and they can see the true emotion behind the image. In order to accomplish this, you absolutely MUST know and trust your photographer. They should be more than just “your photographer” but should instead be someone who you can consider a friend and establish a rapport with.
Engagement Session – If you don’t initially know your photographer personally…then one of the most important things to do is to make sure you have an engagement session with them. If not an engagement session, then at the very least some other type of portrait session. It’s important to see how your photographer captures you and express to them what you like or don’t like from your engagement photos. This way, once your wedding day arrives, your lead photographer and the rest of the photo crew walk in and have a very good understanding of what you like. Your engagement session should be photographed ideally 6-9 months prior to the day of your wedding. There are many reasons for this including the fact that you may enjoy seeing a different season in your engagement images than your wedding, you have plenty of time to relax and have alternate dates in case of weather issues, and you also don’t have the pressure of the big day being a month or two away which can often be a very busy time.
Investment – Years ago when I first heard a photographer say the word ‘investment’ instead of ‘price’ I actually rolled my eyes as they explained their wedding collection to a friend of mine. But it wasn’t until much later that I realized that it actually IS an investment. Sounds cheesy, I know. But in reality it’s a one time opportunity to capture your memories from a day where people from all over come together to celebrate a beginning of your journey through life with your partner. The moments and memories captured on the day of your wedding cannot be recreated, so you actually are investing in beautiful art and images which you will look back on years and years after your wedding day. With that said, the prices on wedding photography range from $100 to $20,000. How do you know who or what to go with? While the dollar amount is not always an indicator of quality, it is typically a solid indicator of what you will received. Your more budget oriented packages often fall into the $2000 or less category. Some people have said that it’s often better to just let a friend photograph your wedding than to spend $1000, but on the contrary the studios that are in this price range will still very likely be better than a friend who simply has a camera and offers to capture a few images. Once you go into the $2500-$5000 area of the market, this is where the bulk of your solid and established studios are where you will begin finding unique albums, creative images, multiple photographers and assistants working on your wedding, and additional items in your packages such as wedding albums and engagement sessions which are already included. This is a bit of a stretch if your budget is $1000 for a photographer, but it all depends on how important your photographs are to you. If they are very important, then you have to factor in what the investment is over the course of years and years which you will enjoy your images and not just as a one time cost. When you break above the $5000 mark and go into the $10,000 range, at this point your photographers should have a very unique look which you are seeking to have as your memories. Their customer service is second to none and you will are guaranteed nothing short of a world class experience.
Customer Service – Your wedding day is yours. It’s not that of the photographer, DJ, or anyone else. It’s a time for you and your friends and family to have an amazing experience. With that in mind, my responsibility as a photographer is to make sure that the images which are delivered to you either bring the biggest smile to your face or tears of joy (if you’re the teary kind of gal or guy). It is critical for a photographer to listen and respond to their client so that their needs are met. Remember that I am there for you as a professional and you should not only be able to put your full trust in me that the entire team will get the job done, but that it will be done to your expectations.
Photography is something which is far from a job and much closer to being a passion. It’s something which I and other professional wedding photographers take very seriously. The day after your wedding the flowers and food are gone, and the guests have gone home…the venue is hosting a different event. That one day of shared excitement, nervous smiles, laughs, and memories will all be captured in your photographs for you to enjoy and pass down from generation to generation.
For any additional questions feel free to contact me at: mike@novophotography.com
