But as each day gets closer to YOUR big day, you start to feel the pressure of all these decisions, and each one down to what color for your nail polish seems like a decision between life and death! This process of planning a wedding to celebrate your marriage can be seriously overwhelming! It isn’t that planning your wedding is actually a life and death decision, but it is important and you desire it to be a meaningful day!
I have always said it takes so many things to line up before two people get married. You have to meet, find each other attractive, have positive dating experiences, get through the trials of dating, be in compatible places in life, have the same goals and interests with enough difference you don’t get bored THEN you have to be at a certain emotional state in your life that you can commit to this one person for forever! I truly don’t know how to better describe this event other than to describe it as a miracle! I love thinking of two people getting married as a miracle because it sends my thoughts to the miracle that led to this new miracle! Having a baby commonly called a miracle and it is that miracle between your two parents that started the road to you arriving at this new miracle where you and your fiancé will say yes to “I do” for forever. Then this miracle continues as you bring into this world the next generation!
So yes! a wedding is important! and yes you are celebrating the continuation of so many miracles and more to come! But so often a wedding turns into a family feud of crazy pressure! The end of the day the Bride and Groom are just so happy it is over. This is the saddest thing to me as a wedding photographer! Especially when I can see areas that if different decisions were made some of that pressure and stress could have been reduced!
So this is my 3 tips for choosing YOUR perfect wedding photographer! These tips can also be applied when you are choosing your venue, caterer, florist, videographer, hair and makeup artist, officiator, etc, etc, etc. my hope is you will feel more and more surrounded by a team that is cheering you on and 100% holding you and your fiancé up in total support. When we feel supported and not alone we not only get through the rough spots in life but we also get to celebrate the big moments and create memories that help build the quality of life we all dream of!
Tip #1 HAVE A BUDGET AND PRIORITIZE
I am talking about the entire wedding day budget. Not just a budget for your wedding photography but for the entire day. Then list all the different areas you want to have for your wedding day. Hair and makeup, photographer, videographer, officiator, venue, decorator, florist, caterer etc. and put them in order of what you care about the most. If your wedding food is more important to the two of you than hiring an experienced wedding photographer than that will help guide you to find the photographers within your budget pool. I do like to point out that in the end, what you take home from a wedding is your ring, your groom, your video and your photos! Flowers, food, decorations are all meaningful to create the ambience of your day which help support the memories you will be creating but all of those things depreciate in value when the clock strikes midnight and your day is done, but your photos only gain in value as time goes by and your memories become foggier. One day when your 16-year-old asks what your wedding day was like you will be so grateful you can pull out or pull up photos you love and are filled with the memory of your day!
Tip # 2 DO YOUR RESEARCH
The Utah Wedding photography scene is so filled with AMAZING photographers! Even if you just look in Utah you can find 100s of talented togs that are 100% skilled and qualified to do the job! There are only a handful of things that set us apart from each other but those few things make all the difference!
Whether you collect photographer names from a Bridal Show, online googling, social media or the referrals of friends and family, start by going to the website of each of these photographers and go straight to their portfolio. Portfolios show you the eye behind the artist. When you hire a photographer you are hiring that particular artist. If you were to hire Picasso but expect Van Gogh it would hardly be the artist’s fault if you weren’t happy with the painting they provided.
Look through a handful and notice the things you find your eye is drawn to. Do you love the bright and airy or do you like the darker moodier style, or maybe you like a more classic look with vibrant colors! Knowing what type of photos you like helps you narrow which photographers you should keep in your option bucket and which ones you should let go.
Tip #3 PERSONALITIES CLICK
Who feels awkward getting their photos taken? Who has literal panic attacks from the idea of having to be in front of the camera in a pretty dress, kissing and hugging your sweetheart AND look natural at it? The BIGGEST way to comfort this concern is to find a photographer that you feel comfortable with. My goal is always to have a more friend to friend experience with my couples than a client and hired hand. Not to mention that your wedding photographer will be with you more than anyone else except the groom on your wedding day.
More important than budget, more important than the style of photos and more important than the popularity of the photographer is whether your personalities work together. No one, including the photographer, wants a bride & groom to remember how much they clashed with their photographer. When you look at your wedding photos 10 years down the road you don’t want to look at them and remember how much you hated your photographer, you want to remember the excitement, the sentiment and the love you were surrounded by from family and friends for one entire day!
So go ahead and choose your top 3 favorite photographers from your research, contact them providing the following information:
1. Your wedding date
2. The number of hours you need on the wedding day
3. What pre-wedding day photos you need/want (engagements, bridals, first look, etc)
4. Your budget
5. The print products or albums you might want
6. Ask them to tell you about who they are; what they value, how they spend their time; what their vices are, etc.
Even better schedule a face to face or phone call consultation! Talking to someone for 5 minutes can give you an idea of whether they are the type of person you can spend a day with. It is perfectly fine, in my opinion, to interview the photographers you are interested in and in an interview you ask about their skills, experience, values and who they believe they are. You are hiring this professional for one of the most meaningful days in your life, if you were having a baby you wouldn’t choose just any OBGYN to deliver your child.
You want one that will listen to your needs and care about you as well as be skilled and trained. Truthfully if at the end of your wedding journey you have beautiful, quality images, fun memories and maybe a new friend, you won’t care how much you spent on your wedding photographer, in fact, you probably will feel like you got an amazing ‘deal’ no matter what your cost was!
Bottom line? Choose the photographer you won’t regret.
If you love the style of their photos (the way they are posed – traditional looking at the camera or stiff posing vs. candid, etc) and they fit within a budget you don’t resent having to spend AND you feel more like friends than client and professional, you will not only experience the peace of mind that comes from trusting who you’ve hired but you will also receive a priceless gift that you can share with all those who couldn’t make your wedding, your future generations and with yourself as you age and forget all the details of the day that truly are meaningful!
If you would like to see more of my portfolio click HERE
My style is bright, colorful with natural, candid and romantic posing.
If you want to get to know me a little bit visit HERE or HERE.
If you would like more information about my wedding pricing and packages, sign up and download the free pricing brochure below this post
If you would like to contact and interview me for your wedding day photographer click Schedule my Call in the top corner of this page
