Questions to ask your wedding photographer

Hello! So today we are going to talk about questions to ask your wedding photographer.

So, when we first start chatting with a couple, there’s usually two groups of people. The first group, when we ask “so what kind of questions can we answer for you”, they usually say “umm, uhh, what questions are we supposed to ask?”. And then the second group of people have this laundry list they’ve taken off of pinterest of all the questions to ask your wedding photographer.

And both are correct!

Absolutely. And we really get everything in between. Feel free to ask all the questions you want, But what we thought we’d do is take one of the most popular sets of questions, which is from the knot, and just go ahead and answer them for you. So that’s what we are going to do today!

Yeah!

Background – Questions to ask your wedding photographer:

What style(s) do you specialize in?  Bright, fun, natural

Will the photos be retouched and color balanced? Is that done before I see the proofs? Yes!  Your full gallery gets edited before you see anything.  Advanced retouching is an additional option.

How many weddings have you shot, and how many do you do in a year?  We’ve been shooting since 2012 and limit our weddings to around 10 each year.

Also, what’s your favorite part of a wedding day, and time of year to shoot? We LOVE first looks (we just did an audio blog on this!!!) and fall weddings.

Do you shoot both digital and film? Digital!  We can take as many pictures as we want.. and we always take A. LOT.

If you shoot film, do you usually shoot in both color and black and white? If you’ll do both, what percentage of each do you recommend? We shoot digital and choose which images to edit in black and white.

Packages – Questions to ask your wedding photographer:

What exactly is included in your packages? Our base package is 8 hours of coverage, two photographers, fully edited online gallery, and an engagement session.

How many hours of coverage do we get? What is the charge for overtime? 8 hours is the sweet spot.  Additional hours can always be added

What is the deposit and total fee? After we chat with our couples, we will send over a quote and contract for them to look over.  Once we receive a signed contract and 50% retainer we are official!

Logistics:

Will you be my actual photographer, or will it be one of your associates? It will be us!  We call it Michael & Laura Photography for a reason.  We don’t work with associates. It will be us talking and working with you every step of the way.

Do you have backup photographers who will shoot the wedding if you’re sick? We have an excellent network of photographers who are ready and willing to step in for us if needed (note: this has NEVER had to happen in all our years of shooting).

Will there be a second shooter or any assistants? Is there an additional fee for each? You will always get both Michael and Laura without any additional fees.

How long after the wedding do we get to see the photos? We will post a sneak peek, some to social media, a blog post, and then your full gallery will be delivered within 4 weeks of your wedding day.

How will you coordinate with my videographer? How do you envision working together? We usually email with your videographer before the wedding day, and then spend the first part of the day chatting out how we will work together.  We love working with videographers!

How many weddings do you do a weekend?  One! Occasionally we shoot double-headers, but it’s very rare.

Have you ever shot at my venue(s) before? Maybe.  We’ve shot at many different venues, but we also LOVE shooting in new places.  If for some reason we haven’t been to your venue, we show up early on the wedding day so we can get a good feel of it before we start shooting.

Details:

Will you follow a shot list? Or do you prefer to have free reign to capture the festivities how you see fit? Both! We will ask for family formals and any “special” images you want.  Otherwise, we have a mental list we try to capture on every wedding day.

If you provide print albums, what type of paper will you use? Our albums are beautiful, high quality, lay-flat books.  All books are printed on luster paper to show off your story with deep, crisp colors.

What are the restrictions for sharing photos online or for publication? Do you own the copyright to the photos? None!  The images are for you to use as you’d like.  We also have the rights to share images in our portfolio and to potential clients.

Do you bring your own lighting? Yes!  We have a full flash set up we bring to every wedding.

What will you wear? Michael will be in his signature bowtie.  Laura will be in a dress or jumpsuit.  We try to blend in as guests.