HOW TO HIRE THE PERFECT WEDDING PHOTOGRAPHER

Photo by Annie Shannon Co of Jordan Mitchell Photography

How to Find/Hire the Perfect Wedding Photographer

I made an Instagram post awhile back to help couples in their quest of not only finding a wedding photographer, but hiring the right photographer for YOU. Every wedding is unique and special, you are unique and special and you should have a wedding photographer who can best represent you and your special day through the art of imagery. I, myself, am a destination wedding photographer, but instead of screaming into the void “HIRE ME” I understand that it’s not about me, it’s about YOU. So I am writing this post to help you find and hire the perfect wedding photographer, whether or not it's me or Joey XYZ, you are the star of the show, not me.

Now without any further ado, here are the 5 steps to hiring the perfect wedding photographer.

Step 1: Find the photography style you like.

There are so many styles out there, and I know that it can get a little overwhelming, so here is a sample to help you discover what you like:

Photo by Lyndi Ruth Photography, All Rights Reserved

Photo by Annie Shannon Co, All Rights Reserved

Photo By T. Juliete Photography, All Rights Reserved

There Are Three Basic Editing Styles: Bright And Airy, Neutral/Film And Moody. 

What are you most attracted to as a viewer? Write it down on a sheet of paper because this will help you in the long run.

There Are 3 Shooting Styles: Traditional, Posed, And Photojournalistic.

These are better explained with their pictures.

Photo by Annie Shannon Co, All Rights Reserved

The traditional shooting style entails plenty of looking at the camera photos, maybe a few kissing and looking at each other shots and is perfect for the couple who is looking for just that. Traditional shooters may ask you to look at the camera throughout the day, or they may focus on getting those beautiful details and portraits and not so much on getting tons of candids. This type of shooting style is perfect for the bride who wants to see a photo of everyone smiling at the camera.

Photo by Annie Shannon Co, All Rights Reserved

The posed shooting style is just like it sounds. These photographers will direct you into those cute and or moody poses. They still capture the emotion of the day but are really stylistic with how they shoot. Many photographers who shoot this style use flash as a way to emphasize the mood of the shot, and are really good at capturing those show-stopping photos that you see hanging in galleries. They often will capture some traditional images but with a stylized twist. If you are wanting to look like vogue or GQ models, this is the style for you.

Photo by Annie Shannon Co, All Rights Reserved

The photojournalistic style is very much about not only capturing you and your partner, but also the little moments and anything they feel like tells a story. Although all photography styles are about telling your story, this one is more like a documentary. These photographers often give you prompts that allow you to interact with each other in your couple’s photo session, and will naturally invite you to look at the camera for a few photos that your grandma will want a couple of 5x7 prints of. Photojournalist wedding photographers are more likely to be a bit in the background and guide you when necessary. If you are wanting really fun adventurous and storytelling photos, this is the style for you. 

Once You Know What Style You Are Looking For, Then It Is Time To Start Looking For A Photographer!

You can start on Google or Bing and look up the key words like “photojournalist wedding photographer in DFW, Texas” and keep an eye out for the editing style you prefer or if you are bigger fan of Instagram you can look up # your area + Wedding photographer or # your area + elopement photographer (for example because I am in DFW, Texas, I am going to look up #DFWweddingphotographer or #DFWelopementphotographer). Instagram is a great place to start because now you know what you are looking for, you can scroll through and click on photos that match that style. Local Facebook groups are another way to find what you are looking for and you are more than welcome to share this blog post to help people understand what you are looking for. Just be sure when posting on Facebook to specify “no private messages” or you may get a slew of them in your inbox which is never fun and be sure to turn off your comments when you have a handful of replies. 

Step #2 - Read the photographer’s about page.

I know it may be easy to skip this step if you have fallen in love with their photography style, but take the time to read about them. This will help you figure out if you would get along with their personality. You want to work with someone who makes you feel comfortable, so only contact those who you think will meet that criteria. This is a good step to have in your process in order to ensure that you are not wasting your time and theirs.

Best Practices When Contacting A Wedding Photographer:

It is always best to reach out to them over their website if they have a form for you to fill out, or over email as that is how they are able to send you all the information you need without blowing up your phone with a bajillion text message characters and photos. They may ask you for your number once they have sent you the information you have asked for so they can communicate with you over text, but a lot of the time photographers are more on top of their email inbox than their text messages. 

PRO TIP!

If you don’t like having email on your phone but don’t want to miss any emails about your wedding, make a wedding email account! Email accounts are free and you could make it cute like yournameslovestory@emailplatform.com. That way everything is in one place and you only have to log into that one account on your phone if you want to be on top of things.

Step 3: Meet with your potential wedding or elopement photographer. 

You can meet in person or over zoom. You don’t want to book someone without finding out if you would work well together and if they can meet your needs. No one wants to work with someone you don’t get along with. 

(I wrote a blog post titled What to Ask Your Wedding Photographer to help you navigate that meeting!)

Step 4: Compare notes with your partner after your meeting.

Find out if you both get along with the photographer you just met, and talk about what package you are thinking would best fit your needs. You and your partner are a team, your photographer should get along with both of you.

Step 5: Book your Wedding Photographer!

Once you have selected the package you want and sign the agreement/ contract and pay any down payment shoot a message to your photographer sharing more details about your wedding! Now that you are officially a team you can bounce ideas off of them, and they can help you along the way.

Did you find this post helpful?

Please share it with someone you know is getting married, hiring a Wedding Photographer should not be as daunting as it is and this blog post is designed to help with that.

As always, you can leave a comment with your questions and I will be happy to help you and feel free to subscribe for more wedding planning tips and tricks!

Also, a big shout out to Lyndi Ruth Photography for her bright and airy example and to T. Juliete Photography for her dark and moody example, if you like their work, go check them out and give them a follow.