MY Top Ten Suggestions for Hiring a Wedding Photographer

Congratulations! My wish for you is that the fairy tale you dreamed of and probably practiced as a child comes true for you with your prince charming!

There are few portrait events that rival the importance of your wedding. For many brides, your wedding is the first time you will hire a professional photographer. With no prior experience in commissioning a professional photographer, you may be tempted to shop for a photographer as you shop for every other item for the wedding…solely based on price.

You may not realize that on your wedding day almost every professional involved in your wedding is licensed or regulated by a state agency except photographers. That includes your pastor, caterer, stylist, even the person who does your nails. Because of the lack of regulation, almost daily I hear another bride or mother of the bride’s wedding photography horror story.

So what has changed? Technology: digital photography has lowered the barrier for entry and the perceived skill sets in the photography industry. Five to ten years ago, you had to have a strong knowledge of posing, lighting and technical aspects of capturing beautiful images on film. Most wedding photographers would show up at your wedding with ten to thirty thousand of dollars of equipment. Today you can get a pretty good digital camera for $600 and you are now a “professional wedding photographer”. So how do you make the best investment in a professional wedding photographer?

Here are my TOP TEN suggestions for hiring a wedding photographer:

1) Establish a budget for photography. The industry average is 10% of the total wedding budget. Martha Stewart suggests 20%. (If your total wedding budget, dress, flowers, venue, food, beverages, entertainment, etc. is $15,000 then your photography budget should be $1,500 to $3,000)

2) Research your photographer…regardless of who refers you to your photographer. Ask for names and contact information of at least three recent brides. Call them and ask to see their completed wedding album. Ask questions about the photographer’s professionalism, including responsiveness to phone calls and emails prior to and after the wedding, and length of time it took to get the completed wedding album delivered. Many photographers provide “incentives” to other vendors for referrals. Even though you think you are getting an “honest” referral based on the photographer’s quality of work and past experience, this may not be the case.

3) Discuss their formal training in photography and years in business. (not how long they have been taking pictures) Keep in mind that 50% of small businesses in America fail in the first five years.

4) Ask if they are a member of a professional trade association, such as the Professional Photographers of America. (PPA requires its members to abide by a professional code of ethics and offers indemnification, mediation and other critical legal support which protects you, the consumer)

5) If they are a member of the PPA, find out if they are Certified by the PPA. (this volunteer certification validates that they at least have a critical technical knowledge of photography and that they take their trade seriously enough to voluntarily help raise the professional standards by becoming certified as a professional photographer)

6) Does your photographer have a storefront or professional office and maintain regular business hours? Often the biggest challenge comes from hiring a photographer with no permanent address and only a cell phone and yahoo or hotmail email account. Would you use a doctor, lawyer or other professional that worked out of a bedroom of their home? Anyone can make images look great on a web site. Website templates make it very easy for everyone to have a very professional looking website. Don’t be fooled by the perception of success.

7) Make certain your wedding package includes EVERYTHING you want, from photography of the wedding day to a completed wedding album. (57% of brides surveyed by Kodak in 2007 only received a high resolution DVD of images – NO PRINTED PICTURES AND NO WEDDING ALBUM) What they thought was a great deal turned quickly into a nightmare. Often these digital files are so large that most of the brides could not open them on a normal computer. The largest amount of time and often talent, in addition to capturing the photographs on your wedding day, occurs after the wedding. It is all the post production of the event including digital processing, color correction and retouching of the images and designing and printing a beautiful wedding album that require tremendous talent and TIME. Post production is NOT an option that is available at most one-hour photo labs – so you ARE NOT saving money trying to have your images printed yourself. Could you imagine going to a lawyer and after a very expensive hour of her time – she sends you home with a do it yourself kit to finish your legal documents?

How does your photographer archive your wedding files? Get a purchase option for your files in writing. If you do get a DVD of images, immediately make a copy to your hard drive and a second copy to place in your safe deposit box at your bank.

9) Get EVERYTHING in writing. Ask to review your contract overnight before signing. Get your attorney to review it. It will be well worth the money if something goes wrong.

10) Find out your photographer’s contingency plans. In the event of an illness, accident, or other event preventing your photographer from being able to photograph your wedding, learn their contingency plan to have your event photographed with equal or greater talent. Also, what is their equipment contingency plan? Do they have a back-up camera and back-up lighting equipment in case something is dropped and damaged in the middle of your wedding?

So how did your photographer score???

Don’t panic if they didn’t score a 10 of 10. This list has been comprised based on my 20+ years of experience in the photography industry and from the “stories” I keep hearing over and over from brides. Keep in mind that often the most talented artists may not have the strongest business and customer service skills. The process of hiring your photographer will most likely require some give and take but now you can make a more informed and educated decision.

Congratulations! My wish for you is that the fairy tale you dreamed of and probably practiced as a child comes true for you with your prince charming!

Lori Grice is an internationally recognized Master photographer. She has operated her successful photography business in downtown Statesboro for over 20 years. As Statesboro Herald’s photography expert, you can ask Lori more questions about wedding photography or other types of photography at www.StatesboroHerald.com on the Ask the Expert page. Learn more about Lori at lorigrice.com .