A wedding photographer should be your highest priority when planning your wedding. (& I’m not just saying that because I am a wedding photographer). Truly. Your wedding day will only happen once. I know you know that, but really think about it. After the morning mimoas are gone, the flowers are dried and the cake is cut. You will only have your wedding photos to look back on. You do not want any regrets when looking back on your photos.

Do not just go based off price

I know this might be hard to say because maybe you and your partner have a budget. BUT trust me coming from someone who wishes they did things different DO NOT just go with the cheapest option because 9/10 times that photographer might not have that much experience. Which don’t get me wrong everyone has to start somewhere but do you want the person with no experience or very little photographing your wedding? No.

If you go with someone that is new or just starting out they don’t know all the tips & tricks of being in the business for awhile. You do not want to go with someone who is still learning because you do not want grainy photos that aren’t in focus. You will never be able to redo your wedding so I do not want you to look back on your photos with regret.

Find a wedding photographer you vibe with

This seems obvious, however there are so many friends of mine that didn’t feel connected with their wedding photographer. Your wedding photographer is going to be with you the whole day of your wedding during some of the most important moments of your life. You want to be comfortable with your wedding photographer it will make your wedding day if you have someone that you could be friends with there photographing it.

The advice I can give you is have a phone call, zoom call, or even meet for coffee with your wedding photographer. Do not just email and book someone! You will know from one of those talks if the wedding photographer is someone you could be friends with. If you just simply look at a photographers photos and love them that is NOT enough. I am sure you know there are so many photographers out there and many take beautiful photos. It is not enough to just take beautiful photos because I have met photographers that take the prettiest photos but then they would never be someone I would want for my wedding because they are stuck up and rude to family members.

Follow them on social media

You can learn so much from a person from their social media. If they are a good at keeping up the social media they will post about their family, friends dogs or cats. This way you can get to know them better and see if they are similar to you.

Ask for a full gallery

Don’t be shy, ask whomever you are thinking for your wedding photographer for a full gallery of a wedding they have done. Social media as we know shows the best of the best of everyones photos. This way if you ask for a full wedding gallery you will really see a glimpse of what your wedding day could look like if you choose them to be your wedding photographer.

Ask about how they back up their photos

This is so important. You can also weed out new photographers that might not know what they are doing by doing this as well. Listen, life happens so in the event that something happens to the photographers camera or equipment you should want to know how your photos are being protected.

For my weddings I have two cameras just incase one malfunctions I have a backup. Both of my cameras have a dual slot sd card holder because if anything were to happen to one of the sd cards I have another one backed up with all their photos from the night. Immediately when I go home from any wedding I back up their photos to my computer. Now I have their photos on two sd cards and my computer. From there, I put their sd cards aside until I am finished editing their wedding. When I am done editing all their photos I back up their photos to two external hard drives. Just incase one breaks again I have a back up.

This is the type of photographer you want. One that truly cares about your wedding photos as if they are their own.

In conclusion

Please don’t choose the wedding photographer your mom picked out because this is the family photographer and you hate their photos. Do not pick someone just because they are 800 dollars and are just starting out. Do not pick someone without speaking with them first.

I hope that you use everything of what I said when booking your wedding photographer. Remember you will not be able to get to redo this day so pick someone that has the experience and you would laugh over coffee with.

I am a wedding photographer based in North Carolina and I am willing to travel anywhere feel free to reach out to me if you think we would be a good fit.

Enjoy your wedding day, and Congratulations enjoy every part of the wedding process.