We’ve been meeting with lots of lovely prospective brides and grooms recently. We think it’s important for us to meet before a booking is made as we will be spending the most important day of their lives with them. We drink coffee (or wine…) and discuss their ideas and plans for their wedding day to ensure that it’s possible for us to take the photos that they want and equally that they feel comfortable with our style and approach.
Towards the end we always ask the couple if they have any questions to ask us. Most ‘um’ and ‘ah’ and say no… We like to think that is a sign that we have done a good job and covered everything that they might need to know!
Just in case, here are the top ten questions we’d advise you ask any prospective wedding photographer you meet with. If they’ve done a good job like us then hopefully they will already have answered them for you!
1. How does the photographer describe their style and approach?
It’s essential to make sure your wedding photographer fits in with your personal style and that you like the way they work. If you like a very natural, reportage approach, don’t hire someone who shoots in a formal and traditional way! Likewise, if you want lots of group shots, don’t hire someone who says they never shoot groups…
Us? We are experienced wedding photographers who generally take a reportage approach. We are storytellers and act as unobtrusive observers to capture the story of your day. We shoot in an informal style; combining spontaneous shots as events occur, with a selection of creative and dynamic directed portraits and group shots to achieve stunning yet natural photos.
2. How much do they charge?
If you’re interested, our base prices are on our Wedding Investments page. Please contact us for our full wedding brochure.
3. How long do they take photos for?
We’ve been known to be there for breakfast and still going well into the evening party… Will the photographer be there to cover all the key parts of your day or will they be watching the clock and running off once their time is up? When you hire us, you hire us to photograph your wedding and we won’t leave until we’re happy that we’ve captured everything you’ve asked for.
4. How many photos do you receive and in what format? Can you print them?
Most photographers will take well over 1000 photos on your wedding day but you won’t receive all of them. It’s important that you find out how many you will get. Depending on which of our collections you choose we supply our couples with at least 300 high quality, perfected digital images with a license to print as you wish. We even give you a set especially formatted for Facebook and posting online!
5. Is an album included and if so what is it like?
We love to show off our beautiful albums. It depends on which collection you choose as to whether an album is included or not. You can always choose to add on one (or more) after the wedding and some couple come back to us months after the wedding to get an album produced (additional charges will apply when adding on an album to your collection).
6. When do you get to see your wedding photos?
You don’t want to be waiting months… We deliver photos to our brides and grooms within four weeks of the wedding day. Plus we usually give you a little sneaky peep album on Facebook a day or so after!
7. What happens if the photographer is ill?
Is there a back-up plan? Just in case you were wondering… Check out our FAQ page to find out what happens if one of us is ill (hint, there are two of us…)
8. Does the photographer have a list of references? Can they provide any testimonials?
You wouldn’t be hired for any other job without having a reference… Have a look at what some of our lovely brides and grooms say about us here.
9. When do you pay?
A very important question when you are budgeting for a wedding. We ask for a 25% booking fee to secure our services and the balance is due four weeks before the wedding.
10. Does the photographer have insurance?
We do! In case we drop our camera and also in case Great Aunt Mavis trips over our tripod!
11. Can you see a whole wedding?
Ok we lied. There are 11 top questions. We saved the most important to last…
Why is this important? Most photographers showcase their best work in their portfolio, this may include only one or two images from any one wedding. Their sample albums are often their very best weddings and again will only include 30-50 of the 400+ photos they will have taken on the day. You want to be confident that they can photograph your whole day; getting ready in the morning; inside a darkly lit church; outside in bright sunshine, large group shots and the movement of the first dance.
We’re more than happy to show you one of our weddings in it’s entirety. In fact here is one for you to look at, from the getting ready right through to the bride and groom leaving through a tunnel of sparklers…
Interested? Want to know more about us and our wedding photography? Check out our FAQ page or give us a call to arrange to come and drink some wine with us and then we can tell you everything in person. And you get to see our lovely albums too.
