I have been a professional photographer since 1990 and a wedding photographer since 2005. In all those years I have seen and experience things that have forged my way of doing business and see the world around me., my business and photography vision. I also, review my business practices, accomplishments, errors, failures frequently to find ways to become better and offer the best service and products I can.

One of those things I have learn is that I need to be the right photographer for the wedding. To accomplish that I have tried to establish mechanism that allow the bride as well as me determine if we are a right match. I think that is the most important service I can provide each bride that contact me.

When the rightness of the photographer is established you have satisfied, happy brides with Wedding books that reflect what they expected and wanted – and paid for.

We have to start with the realization that not every photographer is right for you and that price is the worst factor to determine rightness. Expensive photographers are not necessarily better nor cheap photographers a good deal.

So, how can you determine rightness? Here are some advice based on what I have learned from my experience and in speaking with brides.

Determining Rightness

1. Style and Vision

First, carefully and critically look at the photographer body of work as it is in his or her website, blog and wedding albums. Speak with them over the phone or in person (better). Explain to them what you expect, what your vision is, what you are looking for. Try to understand his or her vision, the way they see the world around them. That is his ir her visual identity, who they are.

Speak about your wedding, your dream. I am not talking just about details of what will happen, schedules, type of flowers, venues, etc. All that is important, but talk about how you see your wedding, what it means to you, what is important for you to remember. And most importantly, watch and listen how he or she reacts. His demeanor and answers will help you see how he or she feels about  your wedding. Remember, is one of the most important days in your life, a new beginning and one day you are spending tons of money. You need the right wedding photographer.

Once you do this you  will be able to determine if  the photographer candidate  vision resonates with yours.

Stay away from “jack of all trades”, photographers that will tell you that they will deliver whatever you want or you show them. Those are soulless photographers. They are visual whores.

You need a photographer with vision, with a particular way to see the world, with its own style. With a visual soul. Then you need to determine if their particular vision, style, matches yours.

This is only the first step to the Right Photographer.

2. Price and Budgets

One of the first thing you decided when your started planning your wedding was your budget. Budgets are important because we all have to live and do things within our financial limits.

But avoid at all cost to decide on your wedding photographer based solely on price. That can and often lead to disaster.

Consider that wedding photography is really your most important investment for your wedding. Yes, I know, you have probably heard this before and coming form a wedding photographers it is obvious that we would think that what we do is the most important. But think about this: It is the ONLY visual record you will have for the rest of your life of your wedding day.

After all your efforts, all the expenses, all the planning, and after the wedding day is over, what do you have to preserve and help you remember that day? Isn’t it your wedding photography? Your wedding album?

So, how important this decision should be to you?

Budget are important, or course, but making sure that you commission the right photographer is more important. Look carefully and see if you can bring the two as close as possible. An expensive photographer is not necessarily the best as a budget photographer is not necessarily a good deal. You need to look deeper.

Try to stay within your established budget while looking for the right photographer. You may find one within your budget or you may find that you need to revise your budget. But do not settle for just good enough. Your wedding day memories are too important to just settle.

3. Quality

Thirdly, look carefully at what services and products the photographer offers you. Every photographer you interview will tell you that we use the best products in the market, but are they?

Our perception of “Quality” is relative to our preferences, taste, experience, and expectations.  We each give it different meaning. Some find discount store quality good while some will not settle for nothing less for designer quality products.

Of course, they are good products at all price points, and your idea of quality is relative to what you are willing to pay.

For example, every photographer offer leather bound book, but are all leathers equal? No, not all leather are the same and each binding company offer different grade leather based on the cost to them and if they can make a profit at the price they choose to sell. Same thing with photographers. They wil choose books that fit their price point and allow them to make a profit in their price point. So their product line is the best within their price point, is relative to how much they charge.

Make sure you discuss with your Photographer Candidate his or her products and determine if they are of the quality you expect and demand.

Conclusion

Hope these tips help you decide who is the right photographer for you. In our studio we discuss all this with our prospective bride because we know that an informe bride make the best decision. To hear this from a wedding photographer may be a shocker but we know that we are not the right photographer for every bride that knocks on our studio door. We want you to find the right one for you, be us or someone else. That is why you do not get sales pitches from us nor we pressure anyone into booking by forcing deadlines or “special bonuses”. You get the real deal, the honest truth, the bare bones. And we wont accept a wedding day commission unless we are certain that we are the right one for you.

Have a great day