So you've got engaged? Congratulations!
Of course once you've toasted your engagement you will realise you
need to organise a wedding! Although this sounds simple, this is no simple task.
After all surely all you need is a venue to get married and a venue for the
reception. Right? If only things were that simple!
With weddings the devil really is in the details. Planning a wedding
can be a delight or a chore depending on how organised or not you are.
Here are a few things you'll need to think about:
If you want to get married in a church? If so which church? And this
limits where your reception can be as it shouldn't be too far away as
you don't want your guests to get lost en route!
Of course you're going to want a cake, flowers, maybe a sweetie table?
There really are so many options that you can go to town as much as
you want!
You'll notice that I've not mentioned something that is in the title
of the article so far - namely choosing a wedding photographer? Well
read on!
Long after all the flowers have died, cake has been eaten and the poor
jokes of the best man have been forgotten there are only a couple of
things that will remain from your wedding. One of these is your dress;
the other is your wedding photographs. What are you more likely to get
out and show your grandchildren?
A dress and say "Look, what a wonderful dress we had a lovely day"
of course we didn't hire a professional photographer so we haven't got
anything else to show for our day? OR "Look at this amazing album
what a beautiful record of our day, showing us both looking a million
dollars and so happy, look at how we're looking at each other as that
light really shows off my dress?". I know what I'd rather people say!
So now I've convinced you that you really want a professional
photographer to capture your day, you want someone who will be able
to react to any situation that happens on your day.
So here are the points to consider before committing to hire a
professional photographer.
You're going to spend a lot of time with this person before, after and
particularly on your wedding day so it's essential that you get on
with them. It's no good them having an amazing portfolio if you can't
imagine yourself working with them. So I'd say this is one of the most
important things, as you need to feel comfortable enough that you know
you will get the images you want and deserve!
Of course it goes without saying that you'll not only want to see some
examples of their work but also some full weddings, ideally some
finished albums as delivered to clients, but, complete wedding
galleries are also good. This gives you a much better understanding of
their work and ensures you don't just see a dozen lucky images plucked
from a few weddings.
Of course there is the usual questions of cost, you need to be clear
how much you can afford and to that end ensure you can accurately
gauge how much your complete wedding package will cost including any
extras.
That's it! Really it honestly is. If you get on with the photographer
and like their work (and you are happy you've seen enough depth) then
I say go for it! Sure there are lots of other questions that you can
ask that are listed in bridal magazines, but, these are designed to
sell bridal magazines rather than really help a bride decide on their
wedding photographer.
I'll leave you with one last thought, if you're on a budget (and who
isn't!), and you value having lasting memories of your wedding day
when you look your best then really look at spending as much as you
can on your wedding photography and not trying to cut corners. So I'd
always recommend going for as nice an album as you can afford and for
someone who is going to be able to capture those images that you'll be
proud to show your grandchildren!
Greg Thurtle is a Dorset based wedding photographer living in Tarrant
Hinton nr Blandford Forum and offers modern, contemporary and fun
wedding photography for his clients.