How to Choose the Best Wedding Photographer for You

Once your last song is played and you exit your reception, all the food, florals, and details will be packed up, but you’ll have your wedding photos to remember your beautiful celebration. This post will cover 6 tips for finding the wedding photographer that's best for you during your inquiries, the one that will capture your story in a way that feels authentic to you.

How to find the perfect wedding photographer in San Francisco Bay Area

1. Know your Style

Look beyond the current trends to discover what you truly love. Find what appeals to you now, but will also appeal to you for generations to come. Make a collection of your favorite wedding photos and ask yourself why they’re your favorite. Is it the composition? The editing? The emotion captured? Maybe you love the candid photos that capture the fleeting moments throughout the day, or maybe you love the high-glam and posed portraits.

Make a collection of your favorite wedding photos and ask yourself why they’re your favorite. Noting how the photographer's photos make you feel is the first step to ensuring the photographer will be a great fit.

2. Look at Full Galleries

A full gallery will showcase how the photographer will handle different lighting scenarios throughout the day and night. Reviewing a full gallery will also give you insight into what the photographer prioritizes capturing, and will help you determine if they will capture the moments that matter most to you.

Look for truth and emotional connection in their work. Life, as we come to view it, is a string of moments that impact us on an emotional level. Photography captures those moments, immortalizes them, and if we're good enough as photographers, brings out the emotion of that single point in time, every time you look at that photo.

3. Find Someone you Connect with, With a Meeting

It’s hard to get a sense of a photographer’s personality and energy until you schedule a meeting with them. During the meeting, look for an open and honest photographer that you trust and feel comfortable talking with, because that’s who will be spending the big day by your side. A wedding photographer with a personality that matches your own is essential to the overall experience of your wedding, and is directly correlated to how the photos will turn out.

After the meeting, ask yourself these questions: Did I enjoy the company of this person? Can I let my guard down and be my authentic self around them? Your photographer should feel like a friend with your best interest at heart.

4. Ask All your Questions

There are so many questions you want to ask your photographer, and every photographer structures their business differently so there are no dumb questions. To get a good understanding for what to expect from your photographer, here are some essential questions to ask:

When working with couples, what do you value the most?

How would you describe your wedding photography style?

What's your approach to capturing a wedding day? Have you shot at our venue before? If not, how do you approach shooting at a new venue?

What do your wedding packages include (Engagement session? Second shooter? Albums? etc.)

How do you handle unforeseen circumstances?

When will we receive our wedding photos?

What are the next steps if we want to book with you?

5. Finalize your Budget

If you felt good about your initial meeting, the next thing to consider is your budget. Some photographers have an hourly rate, then charge à la carte for any pictures or albums you want. Some photographers will offer an engagement session and a second shooter, while others will offer to plan out your timeline and do a venue walk-through with you prior to the wedding. Make sure that you understand what's included.

Get informed about all the services your photographer will provide. If you're slightly flexible with your budget, question why good photographers often charge what they charge.

Reputable wedding photographers will listen and put your needs first, help plan your timeline, provide education and wedding planning resources, connect you to other amazing wedding vendors, and more. Find a wedding photographer that takes pride in providing exceptional service in this service-based industry.

6. Have an Internal Gut Check

When it's time to make your decision, remember that you'll be spending the entire wedding day with this person, so you want to make sure you feel completely comfortable with the photographer. If you and your fiancé(e) genuinely like this person and their values, that's a good sign. If you're still on the fence and can't decide, schedule an engagement session as a trial run. An initial or mini shoot with a photographer will let you meet each other in person, gauge chemistry, and see how they work firsthand.

Final Thoughts

As you’re searching for a photographer, you will come across photographers that you won’t vibe with, but when you do, your photographer will capture the most beautiful and true sides of you and your story, and this is valuable beyond estimation. When you have a genuine connection with your photographer, they’ll do a better job at posing you in your most flattering angles and capturing your emotions…your love, your joy, your stillness, and your movements. Years from now, your photos will be all you have to relive and reflect back on this whirlwind of activity, and you’ll thank yourself time and again for investing in them.