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Picking a wedding photographer isn’t easy. We spent quite a long time looking, in contrast to how we found our photographer for our pre-engagement “engagement photos.”
B-Roll Footage / Photo by Frank Dalton and Lucian McAfee
You wade your way through dozens of websites, mostly Flash (so they don’t open on your iPad) and often with music (so you have to listen to classical love songs until you can find the mute button hidden somewhere on the page). You normally have to make wild guesses about three important things:
Obviously, you need to know more about those three things. You need to know the price in order to see if the photographer works in your budget. You need to know the quality of the pictures in order to see if that price is worth it. You need to know the personality of the photographer in order to see if he or she is someone with whom you can work (and be around for 6–12 hours).
Figuring out those three things becomes even more difficult when you are planning a destination wedding. After all, you can’t always just arrange to meet a couple of different photographers at your local Starbucks on an otherwise lazy Sunday to get to know them better. And it’s less likely that your cousin or your college roommate or your neighbor’s daughter’s friend’s sorority sister’s nephew can give you any insider information on the photographer that you are thinking about hiring. So here are some tips that I learned along the way:
Another option is to see if a local photographer will travel to your destination wedding. You will normally have to pay these travel costs and sometimes even travel time, but it might be worthwhile if it means that you will have a photographer who you know and trust to shoot your wedding. Our Milwaukee party is going to be photographed by a “friendor,” whom we are paying to travel from Chicago. He photographed our friends’ wedding last May, and we really like his work.
Four above photos by Gavin Gould
How did you find your wedding photographer? What tips would you give to newly engaged couples who are currently looking for one?
A friend of ours will be our photographer - we started working with him when he offered to to our e-pics as a gift if we hired him for the wedding. It sounded great, and we love the way our e-pics turned out! The one down side is, though, that we later realized that even though he is just starting up his business, he is much more expensive than some of the other photographers we know. Our DJ has a joint DJ-photo business, and we could get both of them for the price we’re paying for photography alone. I’d say, don’t make commitments to use a friend for something until you’ve settled on a price! It won’t always be cheaper to go with a friend… even if you love their photography, it might burst your budget!
From what you’ve said, I just have to comment on how I HATE sites that play music. Drives me insane and I usually don’t bother going any further. Also, I hate when they don’t post their prices. For me, price is important so if they won’t tell me up front and I have to email them, it’s not likely I’ll be bothering to email them because I probably can’t afford it.
These are all great tips! Even though we weren’t having a destination wedding, we did pick out our photographers while we were still in New York, so we encountered a lot of the things you did. It helped that we already knew we wanted this particular studio, but they also really stood out to us because 1) in their early emails, they asked a lot of personal questions and shared a lot of personal information, so it felt like we were getting a sense of who we all were and 2) they suggested we meet via Skype! It was perfect! We had a nice hour-long conversation just talking about ourselves and our wedding with the main photographer we were going to work with, and it was perfect. We knew that she would be a great person to have around on our wedding day.
@Flower Fairy: That’s a great tip! Thanks for adding it!
@gmcurtis: I agree. I think that photographers should post at least a range for their services: something like “packages begin at 1500.” Even if that’s the bare bones, most minimal package, at least you have a good starting point.
@Mrs. Parasol: Sounds like you found a great photographer! It’s definitely true that the little things with vendors — those personal touches that they might include — really go along way in terms of convincing you to book them!
Good tips! I didn’t have to find my way through this maze, but I have a niece who is a talented wedding photographer and she does a lot of destination weddings. I’m always amazed over how people find her and where she ends up.
Here is her Web site: Studio Noveau http://www.studionoveau.com/
I’m excited that she agreed to be my wedding photographer. I wasn’t going to ask her as I’m sure she’d much rather be a guest at my wedding than a vendor, but I just couldn’t resist because I love her work.
@Chery_L: That’s great that you have such a talented niece to shoot your wedding!
Good suggestions. I want more photographers to put pricing on their pages too. Why waste my time and yours if you are out of my budget? Geez.
We would love to be at your destination wedding! http://www.foreverphotographystudio.com We have been photographing destination weddings for years and love it! Here’s what one of our couples had to say about us. Thanks! :
Jona and Jerry of Forever Photography are beyond amazing!! My husband and I chose to get married in Positano, Italy. We first thought we would just hire photographers in Italy, however after a girls day at the Bridal Extravaganza in Austin, we ran into Jona and Jerry’s booth. We immediately fell in love with not only their amazing pictures but fell in love with them!
Long story short, we decided that it was worth every penny to fly them to Italy in order for us to have the very best photos of one of the most important days of our lives. Before the wedding, we met in Austin to discuss details. During this meeting, Jona and Jerry told us they maintain some distance in order to stay a bit objective and focused on their photography. I wasn’t sure what that would look like… Well, Jona and Jerry fit seamlessly in with our family. They were able to be photographers, yet they became part of our family. Every single guest at our wedding literally fell in love with them. They are just so precious, you want to box them up and save them for a rainy day!
My husband Tim was a little anxious about having Jerry spend the morning of our wedding day with him and his boys, but later on he felt like Jerry was always supposed to be there. Jerry captured the mood perfectly and took some photos of my husband that everyone says epitomize him. These pictures are priceless. Similarly, Jona captured tender moments with my sister, mother, and niece as well as sexy shots of me getting ready. I love the timeless essence of Jona’s pictures. When I look at the pictures of me getting ready, I feel sexy and beautiful all over again. It’s so nice to have photographs of myself, especially on my wedding day, that capture everything I am.
I love that they are a husband and wife team! Something about that makes it so special. They even have a behind the scenes competition of who can take the better picture. It is so cute! When you meet them you immediately sense their kind, calming, genuine nature. Their creativity is ingenious and they are not afraid to step out of the box to get a great shot. Jona and Jerry arrived a day before us and were able to walk around the town to get ideas of great shots. They had so many ideas and so many different poses for us. Some of our favorite photos are in the most original places or involve authentic elements of Positano… one picture is in front of a bright Italian fuscia bathroom door. It was beautiful!! (Our colors were navy and fuscia) Another was of us holding Positano beach pebbles with our rings nestled among them. We love it so much we chose it for the cover of our album. We had a little over forty guest at our wedding and some of them can get a little wild but Jona and Jerry captured our group wonderfully. I am most impressed with their ability to combine both their taste and ours. I know some couples who look at their photos and don’t see themselves. Not the case for us; I see a better version of ourselves in the photos!!
I could go on and on about how close to perfect they are. I could not be any happier with the photos… really!! And the ultimate compliment… my brother and his recently engaged to fiance were so impressed with not only their photos but with them, so much so that they are flying them to Hawaii next summer for their wedding!!
- Rebecca and Tim ( Positano, Italy)
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WOW! There are simply no words to express how incredibly amazing Jona and Jerry are as both people and photographers! We have already done 3 photo sessions with them, including our wedding and could not be happier! Not only do they take phenomenal photos, they are incredibly professional and such a joy to work with. Our families and friends adored them and most of the time, didn’t even notice they were there! They were able to completely capture every wonderful element of the day and the true love my husband and I share. Our wedding would not have been the same without them. We will definitely be using them in future and highly recommend them to anyone who is looking for the most perfect photographers ever!
- Caitlin and Matt ( San Diego, Ca)
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@Cecilia: I agree. But I feel like I’ve wasted a lot of time on this wedding. Haha. 
@Jerry {Forever Photography Studio}: I have someone already, but thanks.
I went way too fast into this process. I love my photog…but I sometimes wonder if I should have negotiated or slowed down so I didn’t get a package with too many things in it.
@Miss Mink: I think we might have booked a bit too fast too — even though it worked out in the end. We spent only one day researching photographers, and we booked within the week. We ended up loving our photographers, but we very well could have been not so lucky. Rushing into that decision definitely made me slow down with others.
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Mrs. Mole, Los Angeles/Las Vegas Age and Occupation: 29, Test Prep Instructor Fiance's Age and Occupation: 31, User Experience Architect Engagement Date: April 2011 Wedding Date: January 2012 Venue: Wynn Las Vegas/Bouchon Bistro About Me: I’m a Wisconsinite-turned-Angeleno who is planning a destination wedding in Las Vegas. I am passionate about education: I spent 23 (!) consecutive years in school, and now I work to help other people get into graduate programs. I love running on the treadmill, buying bath products from Lush, learning new moves in step aerobics, and exploring my neighborhood on foot. I am sometimes snobby about food, but I am rarely snobby about books. I read everything from Geoffrey Chaucer to Iris Murdoch to Chuck Klosterman to Candace Bushnell. My fiance and I are getting married on our third anniversary!
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