Are you overwhelmed with so many options as you shop for a wedding photographer? Scrolling through all these amazing portfolios or Instagram feeds.

When it comes to choosing your wedding photographer you want to ask a few questions too. Like, How do you make sure the photos of the photographer align with your vision for your wedding is? You want to get a photographer who will be reliable and deliver what you pay for. Your wedding photos are the only tangible things that will stay with you way after your wedding and that for reason selecting the correct photographer is the most important task of your wedding planning task list.

Here are a few tips to help you choose your wedding photographer.

Question 1: Are they licensed, registered, and insured?

All legitimate businesses are licensed, registered, and insured. When shortlisting your photographer check for these three things as you want someone who is running a legitimate business and has insurance if things don’t go according to the plan.

Question 2: How many weddings they have shot and how many years they have been shooting weddings?

It is quite important to know that your photographer has had a photographer quite a lot and different types of weddings, as photographing weddings takes a special kind of skill and it develops over time by being exposed to different challenges a wedding throws at you. In some instance, your photographer will all be your guide through the wedding day so having a photographer who knows what he or she are doing and are in control of any situation is very important

Question 3: Portfolio

Now I know all photographers love to curate their Instagram with the best photos and make sure the grid is consistent.

When you talk to your photographer make sure you are able to see an entire wedding gallery so you can see if their style of shooting and editing is consistent. A lot of photographers will make sales based on a handful of decent photos from a wedding but remember even a broken clock is correct twice a day. I personally take immense care and approach each part of the wedding with the same level of creativity so when my couples get their photos they are overwhelmed with joy viewing their entire gallery. Here is a link to my Portfolio http://aroha.com.au/portfolio

Question 4: What about backup?

Nobody is spared by the curse of technology, all forms of technology fail. Ask your photographer how you protect yourself from gear failure. I personally have 2 backup cameras. For the cameras, I have dual card slots so I am copying your photos on 2 memory cards at the same time. I also have a backup for my flashes, lenses,  memory cards, and lots of batteries.

To make sure your photos are secure. I follow a triple backup procedure. During the wedding, the photos are saved on 2 memory cards simultaneously. When I finish your wedding before I head home I download all the photos to a rugged hard drive which is kept separate from the camera gear, just in case someone ends up mugging me and stealing all my camera gear. When I get home I load all the photos onto my PC and onto Dropbox. All these three backups are not deleted until the whole wedding gallery is delivered to you. Once the gallery is deleted. One copy of all the raw and edited images is archived on a Solid-state hard drive.

Question 5: When do you get to see your photos, Turn Around time?

It is such an important question. Some photographers tend to deliver photos after 6 weeks, some deliver whenever. You don’t want to wait 6 months before you view your gallery. So make sure you ask your photographer these questions:

Do we get next-day sneak peeks?

When do we get the entire gallery?

When do we get the album?

Question 6: Stalk them

Now you want to see what the world is saying about the photographer you shortlist. Check for Google and Facebook reviews, obviously, you want to stay clear of photographers with negative reviews. Notice the different keywords that have been used in all the reviews to get a feel of what the photographer does well or does not do well. You can always ask for reference checks and if you notice that the photographer you have chosen doesn’t have a review section then please by all means avoid them

Links to my business and personal insta: https://www.instagram.com/aroha.stories

All about the vibes.

I think this is quite important. Do you get along with him or her? Does the photographer understand your vision for your wedding? Your wedding photographer is going to be with you pretty much from the time you are getting ready to the end of the day. So make sure you have a friend, supporter, encourager, and helper by your side. 

Lastly, See if they are passionate about wedding photography.

You don’t want someone who is in it just for the money. You want a photographer who is in it for the love of the art, the love of people, and capturing connections. Ask your photographer why do they love shooting weddings and listen to their answer. Ask them why and how did they start and see if their answer reflects a passion for the art.

If you would ask me what I love about photographing weddings you will hear something like this:

For me capturing your wedding is a matter of pride and honor. You bought me within your circle of loved ones and gave me the opportunity to capture the connection, the emotion you hold with all your loved ones. For me capturing your wedding brings immense joy. When I deliver you the photos and see a smile on your face makes it all worth it. Also knowing that I have created something that is going to be used as a window by your future generations to peek back on these days way after I am gone. Leaving behind my legacy within your family’s life brings me peace and a great sense of humility.