Wedding Photography Top 10 Tips for Brides

Hello all,

Have been looking though forums and seen so many people who are confused or worried about how their wedding photography will turn out, if they have paid too much, how much they should pay and so on. So I thought what better than to do a thread on wedding photography. Expose the myths and make sure you all end up with the wedding photographs you want to show off forever instead of hide behind the biscuit barrel.

This is an actual quote for a lady who called me "Stewart we saw you on the internet and wondered if you could help. Our wedding photos were terrible, what is worse the photographer has gone out of business and has left us with a CD of images and nothing else."

Now I don’t want this to be a scare story and to worry you, with half the dreams I imagine you are having at present you don’t need any nightmares!So how can we make sure that you get great photographs at a great price and a great photographer?

Well follow these tips and advice and you will. For your interest I will answer any question on this or on any other wedding photography or general photography question, please either reply here or text me and I will aim to get back to you ASAP. So on to the first piece of advice.

1. Before you even look at a photographer set your budget, if you can only afford £200 for a photographer, you can only afford £200. Don’t you cutting back on other things as you have found a £1000 photographer otherwise you will be holding your wedding breakfast in MacDonald’s as that will be all that is left in the wedding fund.

2. Once you have your budget, STICK to it, don’t be frightened about contacting a photographer and saying I can afford this much. A professional photographer knows the score and will try and help you out, be honest if you can afford £400 and you want a £600 package tell them. I will guarantee they will try and help you out. Maybe they will have to cut the size of the album down a little but you can have that photographer and the photos you love rather than settling for a photographer that you aren’t sure about.

3. That brings me onto a very important field, make sure that the person you see is your photographer; some large companies send salespeople to get the booking and the photographer you see is someone different and that you also get on with them. If you don't then the photographs will not work as you won’t work subconsciously with the photographer.

4. Make sure you see a good variety of work and make sure that it is all theirs. You would be surprised but certain firms will show you photographs from their collection and not one will have been taken by the photographer that you book.

5. Look for qualifications, The LBPPA, LSWPP, LMPA, LBIPP are a good standard and mean the photographer has been judged by a panel of professionals to be of a standard that is both professional and ethical in their photography.

6. Get a contract and a receipt. If you have a contract make sure it say's what you will get. If you need the photographer their at a certain time state it, that way if they turn up late you have proof for your wedding insurance.

7. Expect to pay more for better photographers. You’re not paying for experience but paying for the work that they will put in on the day and after. Think of it this way would someone getting £115 for a day be willing to put themselves out for it? no they will do standard shots for two reasons one is they have no knowledge of how to get the better shots and creative shots and two for that money they cant be bothered to get their suit dirty as it would cost more in dry cleaning! Lol

8. Once you have short listed your photographer, still have a look around before you book. I always tell brides who come to see me to go and look elsewhere if they see a photographer that is better book them as they will have better photographs. You can’t offend a photographer by saying that you found someone better who offered more for the same money. Why would we be offended? It’s your wedding, and you want the best.

9. Once you book the photographer, give them as much information as possible, ask the vicar/minister/rabbi if the photographer can take photos during the service, and if not then let them know. Also if you have anything special planned for example you have booked as a surprise the batman car to bring the groom to the church, let the photographer know they can keep secrets plus they will be at the church to get the photograph of your groom smiling and leaping about.

10. Relax, you pay the photographer to be the professional, if you follow the tips above you will have no worries.

In fact if you follow the tips you won’t notice your photographer and that’s the best part when you get your photographs and say."Wow they are breathtaking I didn’t even see you take this one" now that is what we all want to hear it’s so much better than the first statement.All the best for your wedding days