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How to Find, Select, and Afford a Wedding Photographer
by:
Dain H. Binder
You are engaged and one of the most important days in your life
is fast approaching. Your wedding day will be filled with
happiness and emotion. Family and friends will be there; some
you have not seen in many years. It will be a wonderful day for
you to remember and share. There will be so many things going on
of which most you will not even know about until you look at the
wedding photographs.
Choosing a photographer may be a difficult and daunting task;
and affording it may be even more cumbersome. You may be apt to
ask a friend or relative to photograph it for you; this is
surely to be a bad idea for many reasons. A professional wedding
photographer knows how to capture all the moments of your
wedding day with the best results by having years of experience
and photography knowledge.
Finding a wedding photographer is not difficult because there
are so many. There are many ways to go about finding one and
many things you should know. The best way of course is to be
referred from another wedding couple that recently had their
wedding photographed by a specific photographer. Notice I said
“photographer” not business or studio. Your decision should be
based off of one photographer’s work; not the work of a group or
large wedding photography studio with multiple photographers.
Always check who will be photographing your wedding.
There are many other ways to find wedding photographers
including the phone book, newspapers, billboards, and of course
the internet. Over 70% of all brides and grooms search for
wedding professionals online. There are a few things you should
know about searching on the internet.
Take your time - The first photographers you will find are
mostly because of large advertising budgets. This is not a bad
thing but you should see all options available to you.
Be specific - When using a search engine search for your “state”
and “professional wedding photographer”. Your search may look
like this: Massachusetts “professional wedding photographer”.
(Use everything that is italicized.) The part in quotes will
eliminate all general photographers and just focus on wedding
ones. You could even add your city/town for just local results.
(Add the town after the state; do not put in the quoted part.) I
recommend using Google (www.google.com).
Ok, so know you know how to find a wedding photographer. Now
which one to choose? There are three primary factors that come
into play when choosing a photographer; style, price, and
personality. Style and price can usually be found on their
website so we will start there.
Style – There are many styles such as traditional,
photojournalism, candid, formal, etc. Some photographers offer
only one style, but the best photographers can offer all of the
styles and would normally incorporate them all into your wedding
day coverage. It all depends on what you want. When viewing a
photographer’s portfolio, remember these are their best shots.
Always ask to see a full wedding.
Price – You can spend from $500 to $10,000 on a wedding
photographer. The norm is to spend about 10% of your entire
wedding budget on the photographer. Most photographers have
packages that will include everything from the coverage to the
album and final prints. Some photographers have complete al la
carte pricing; if you are on a small budget this is the best way
to go. You will be able select just what you want. There are two
things you need, the coverage and the ability to purchase the
negatives or high resolution digital images. Watch out with the
coverage; many photographers will charge an hourly fee beyond
their normal time offered. When you receive your negatives or
digitals images you can print what you want when you want
wherever you like. Of course as a professional I recommend using
a professional photography lab for your prints but you could
certainly use Wal-Mart and save a bundle. Just keep in mind that
the quality would be slightly lower. As for your wedding album
buy it yourself and put it together yourself. The cost of buying
an album from the photographer is usually double the actual
cost. Then of course doing it this way you can get it when you
want and when you have the money. Visit
www.albumsinc.com to view many albums and you can
purchase them right online.
Considering style and price select three top choices and
schedule a meeting with them. There should be no cost for this.
Before you meet with them you should pretty much want to hire
them from what you learned about their style and price.
Personality - You want to meet with them to see how they present
themselves and if your personalities match. You want someone
that is personable and nice so that they will get along well
with you, your family, and friends. Never make the decision at
the meeting always go home and think about it and wait until you
have met with all three. The best in the business will let their
work, pricing, and personality do all the talking. The meeting
should be a casual conversation to get to know each other and
discuss your wedding day in general. There is no need to go into
great detail now. Some photographer will try to “sell” you their
services; never get sold on something. Remember you already
decided you like the work and price before you got there so what
are they trying to sell? Just meet with them to get to know
them.
Once you make your decision contact the photographer and let
them know. Also, be sure to contact the other two and thank them
for their time but you have decided to use another photographer.
They should be considerate and not try to continue selling you
their services; if they do you made a good choice to go with the
other photographer. With the photographer you chose go over the
details on the phone and have them right up a wedding contract
for you to review and sign. Do not pay a deposit until you have
read and signed the contract (the photographer should sign the
contract also). Read the contract thoroughly; everything you are
supposed to receive should be written down and have the price
and payment schedule. Always make note of their cancellation
policy.
Congratulations you found a photographer and have one scheduled.
You should now schedule to meet with them about a month before
your wedding date to go over the details again.
Have a great wedding day!
Dain H. Binder, DHB Photography
www.dhbphotography.com
info@dhbphotography.com
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