How to pick the perfect wedding photographer
Just got engaged? Is it time to look for the perfect wedding photographer? In this article we are going to share with you how to research wedding photographers and decide which one is the right fit for you. Harvest Creative Media is dedicated to helping brides and grooms have a stress free wedding day.
In this article we are going today to discuss research. How to research all the photographers out there and narrow it down to your top three. The very first thing that you have to do before deciding which photographer to meet with is see if they even have a website? If they don’t, go find somebody else.
That lets you know that they’re not serious about their craft or that they are brand new at what they’re doing and probably aren’t quite ready to handle the stress and rigors of a wedding day. Now that you’ve crossed part one off the list let’s onto part two.
Make sure that as you’re doing your research and looking through different websites, check to see if they have reviews on Google. Do they have reviews on social media? Are they quality reviews or are they negative? Understand that even the best photographer out there may have one or two slightly less than glowing reviews. That’s normal, we’re all human. If all of their reviews are negative, that’s a big red flag. The next thing to look at is websites like The Knot or Wedding Wire. These are great places to search and see if they have reviews there.
After you’ve looked through their reviews and you found their website, go ahead and look through their portfolio. It is recommended that you look not only at their portfolio on their website, but also on their social media channels. This will give you the most well-rounded idea of whether or not they’re a good fit for your style of photography that you like.
You want to make sure that you check their blog, this will give you a good insight into their personality, if they are still an active photographer, and how they like to talk about their clients. It will also let you see some of their most recent work that they have shot and photographed.
Lastly, before ever contacting a wedding photographer you want to make sure that you check their pricing. Typically as a rule of hand most photographers in the wedding industry will either put a general idea of what their starting or middle package is or they won’t put anything at all. So, you may not be able to find this information, but we at least encourage you to check it out before contacting them so that you don’t have sticker shock.
After you’ve checked their pricing you will want to go ahead and make sure that you check with your wedding venue. Some venues have a policy that only allows certain photographers to photograph there. And we would hate for you to waste your time if there are photographers on your list that may not be on your venue’s list. This is rare but it does happen, so make sure that you check with your venue first before ever booking a photographer.
Now that you’ve done all the research, you checked the website, you’ve checked their reviews, and you’ve checked to see if they’re a good fit, that they’re allowed to photograph at your venue. Go ahead and match your list to the list that you’ve made looking at the reviews. Go ahead and whittle it down to three or four possible photographers.
Reach out to those top three or four photographers that you absolutely love their style and that were a good fit based on the research that you have done.
If you’d like to know more about Harvest Creative Media and whether we would be that “right fit” contact us today and let’s have a chat.