Article for Bride / Groom

Published:  September 26, 2014


   Style
The style of the photographer needs to capture your attention and your desires. The most current popular style of wedding photography is photojournalism. This mean sthat the photographer will be capturing natural, artfull images with an unobstrusive, hands off approach.

   Homework
Do some research to find wedding photographers in your location via Google or better yet, use the Professional Wedding Photographers of Canada directory. Read reviews or testimonials.

   Read website information
Most wedding photographers will spend a good number of hours to write important information on their website. They usually talk about their style, their approach, their values, their services and their collections. TAKE THE TIME to read all of their material if their portfolio interested you.

   Review blog
If you like a certain photographers style and portfolio, take the time to look and read a couple of their latest blog post. This will give you an idea of their potential in various condition and circumstances.

   Meet and Interview
Once you have found a top 2-3 wedding photographers that captured your interest. Take the time to contact them either via email or phone. Talk or exchange communication to talk about their collections, their availability and their pricing.

   Budget
If their wedding photography collections fit your needs and your budget, feel free to call them to schedule a personal meeting. Time to see if your personnality will mesh. The average photography budget for wedding is around 12-15% of total wedding cost. Remember that a good photographer can make your basic wedding dress look amazing but an average wedding photographer can make your unique and expensive wedding dress look pretty ordinary.

   Bond
It's pretty important to have a good bond with your wedding photographer. He'll be the only wedding vendor (other than your wedding videographer) that will be around you, in your personal space a big part of your day.

   Review of albums
Take the time to review some real wedding albums with your wedding photographer. It'll also show you how personal, intimate, genuine his style of wedding photography actually is.

   Needs and Collections
Will talking about the collections or packages, you will be able to better determine your needs and your desires. Most variations in collections will be in photography coverage time, inclusion or not of an album, inclusion or not of an engagement photography session and the inclusion of a second photographer. Do you need prints, an album, a second photographer, an engagement session or more? It's important to talk about all of these with your wedding photographer.

   Who
Always insure that the wedding photographer your are meeting, will be the one covering your wedding. Be careful with some studios sending "B" teams to cover your wedding celebration.

   Rights and use
You should discuss about your photography rights. Will you be able to print them? Do you actually want to print them or have them printed by your photographer? Are you allowed to post the pictures on Facebook?

   Post-production
What retouching and correction are included in the service that the photographer offers. Will he take the pimple out of the images? Are the images that will be used for the album more refined and retouched?

   Sleep on it
Always but always sleep on it. This insures you that you have taught about it and also took the time to meet other photographers to actually see and feel which will suit you better. Always check availability with the photographer and theirbooking policies. Usually it's first come first served.

   Confirm
Once you have reached a decision, contact the selected photographer to sign a contract and give a retainer fee to reserve their services for your wedding day.

Cheers,

Sébastien D'Amour,  Sébastien D'Amour  (Montreal | QC)