ADVICE TIME

Pick a Shooter

Here are some valuable notes thanks to Carrie Brown via WED2B who worked as a wedding planner before becoming a writer, working with hundreds of couples. She learnt lots of insider tips to take the stress out of your wedding, some of which she used to plan her own wedding day in 2021. Have a read, make some notes and if you still struggle either have a look at my recommended list or reach out.

Carrie’s advice:

Congratulations! You’re engaged and in the planning stages for your big day. You’ve started ticking things off your list, and now you’re beginning the search for your photographer. The photographer is a vital part of any wedding – they help to shape lasting memories of the day, so it’s really important that you find the right person for you. We know it can be overwhelming at first, so we’ve broken down a few things you should consider.

Artistic style

A great place to start is by looking at various wedding photos to figure out what kind of style you like. Perhaps you’ve seen family or friend’s wedding images but if not Pinterest can be great for this – you can create a board and pin your favourite photos, making it easy to get an overview of the kinds of styles you saved. Whether it’s vintage, dark and moody, bright and sunshiny, traditional or editorial, you know where to start your search. It can narrow down the options quite a bit, helping to make the process less overwhelming.

Note: Take care not to lose your life in Pinterest! Not everything we see in Pinterest is from a real wedding so do make sure to ask your suppliers for their professional opinion.

Budget

Before you get too excited and set your mind on a photographer, it’s important to consider how much you want to spend. If you haven’t yet created a budget, it can be really helpful to decide on an amount for each item on the agenda ahead of time. Wedding photography prices can vary quite a lot, typically ranging from £1600 - £2000 in the UK, so it’s good to get an idea of where you sit on the spectrum. Of course, this will depend on several other factors, e.g. the location, the number of hours you need them for etc. If you have a large wedding it might be that you need a ‘second shooter’ so this will naturally bump the price up.

Packages

Wedding photographers will all work in slightly different ways, with each offering their own unique style. It’s important to get information about this upfront to ensure that they will provide you with what you’re looking for. For example, the fee for some photographers will cover editing and digital copies of all of your images, but others may only offer you a limited number of images. You might be able to pay extra to receive all of them, but these costs could impact your decision. Photographers can also print them for you and display images in a beautiful album too for an additional cost.

Often, as part of the package a photographer will offer a photo shoot before the big day. This could be used as an engagement shoot and is a fantastic opportunity to get comfortable in front of the camera and really get to know you photographer and for them to get to know you! If you are both naturally confident then you might not need to do this so do ask your photographer if you can have a package without it if you prefer.

Check out the reviews

Reading reviews on any prospective purchase is always a wise decision. It can help you to learn about first-hand experiences with the photographer and discover any common issues. The last thing you want is for them to act unprofessionally, or even worse, to drop out at the last minute. Making sure to do your research can give you much more peace of mind during your day. Your photographer will be with you at some very intimate moments, it’s important you like them and feel comfortable around them so take some time to read the reviews and make an appointment to meet them if you are concerned at all before booking.

Snap up your photographer

We recommend starting the hunt for your photographer as soon as possible. The most popular ones tend to be booked up for months, sometimes even a year or more. This is particularly important if your wedding is during a peak time, e.g. May to August or during school holidays as these dates get taken extremely quickly.

The sooner you find the right person and put down your deposit, the sooner you can start to relax and enjoy the next stage in the planning…

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I feel there is a lot to get your head round there but it should help tick off that box! Still pondering?! Then just drop us a line.

Happy planning!

A x

Images - Thanks to Lauren May Photos, Delamere Creative, Velvet Cow Photography & Helen Whitaker at Calthwaite Hall

ADVICE TIME - Photographer