Choosing a wedding photographer is one of the most fun parts of wedding planning! You and your partner get to look at wedding albums and products, scroll through your favorite Instagram tags, and gaze at beautiful images for hours.
SEARCH FOR LGBTQ+ FRIENDLY PHOTOGRAPHERS IN YOUR AREA
There’s a lot of preparation involved in this decision, though. You want to be absolutely thrilled with your wedding photos, and you don’t want to walk away from the special occasion with any regrets.
Here’s a list of questions you should ask your prospective wedding photographers while you’re interviewing them (and you should be interviewing any potentials you’re serious about!) before you make the final choice.
- Do you have my date available? Would this be the only wedding you’re shooting that day/weekend and/or when is the next event you’d be shooting after my wedding?
- Will you have any assistants with you?
- Will you be the one photographing my wedding? (Some photographers work in a studio with others, and if your photographer owns their business, they may employ others.)
- How long have you been a wedding photographer?
- How much of your business is comprised of weddings?
- Have you photographed any weddings that are similar in size and style to ours?
- Have you photographed any LGBTQ+ weddings or LGBTQ+ couples?
- Can we see a full gallery of a past wedding that is similar in size and style to ours?
- Have you ever shot a wedding at our venue?
- Have you ever worked with any of my other vendors (especially if you also have a videographer)?
- How many weddings per year do you typically shoot?
- What’s your price range, and do you offer any special packages or discounts at specific times of the year? Do you offer custom packages if what I’m looking for isn’t included?
- How many high-resolution digital images will we receive? How many prints? How much do additional images or prints cost?
- How many hours are included in each package? How much does it cost to add additional hours?
- What is the usual wait time before we’ll receive our photos?
- Do you charge a travel fee, and how much is it?
- May we have a list of references?
- Do you offer any sneak preview photos before we can see the full gallery?
- Do you offer an engagement session or any other packages we might be interested in beyond just the day of the wedding? (Some couples do honeymoon photos, a separate day of photos with the wedding party, save the date photos, or other countdowns.)
- How do you describe your working style? Do you like to blend into the background or do you prefer to offer suggestions, pose people, etc.?
- How do you describe the style of your photos?
- How will you (and any assistants) be dressed on the day of the wedding?
- What type of equipment do you use?
- Will you carry backup equipment with you to our wedding?
- Do you shoot with flash, natural light, or both?
- Do you offer any retouching on your photos, and is that included or is it an extra fee?
- Can we order print products, albums, canvases, etc. from you and do you have a price list available? Do you include any print credit in your packages?
- Will we have rights to the images?
- Will you be submitting our images to any publications, such as wedding magazines, or posting them online anywhere?
- How much do you require for a deposit, and when do we need to pay that?
- What is your refund policy?
- Do you have liability insurance?
- Can we request a specific shot list of photos that we would like you to capture?
