#90 On [Wedding] Photographers

I guess before I start talking to photographers, I should do some research into photography. My sister was always the photographer in our family. She has her own fancy camera and tripod and ... err ... things! I never had to worry too much about photos being taken, because my sister was all over it like a cheap suit.

Cue Pachabell's Cannon in D on Bagpipes. My sister is my MOH and will be a bit busy during our wedding to bother with silly things like, oh, I don't know, my photography. So, now I need to figure that out on my own. I wish I could ask her for recommendations for photogs in Milwaukee, but she lives in Michigan, so she doesn't really have connections down here.

Alas, that brings me to my interwebs searches. I came up with about a million different photographers in the area. So, I e-mailed about 50 of them. Over half came back WAY above my budget for photographer (like 3x as much). Two came back with with with my ENTIRE wedding budget.

So, after major sticker shock, I have narrowed my search for photographers in Milwaukee to 3. I think this is a suitable number considering the one million I had to e-mail and search through just to come up with 3 that I actually liked.

That then lead me to another interwebs search trying to figure out what I need to ask my potential photographer. I haven't had professional pictures taken of me since 2012 and even at that, my sister did the research and talking. Before that, it was senior portraits (mom chose), dance portraits (studio chose), and the list goes on. In a quick Google search, I came up with 11,600,000 results on "questions to ask photographers". I quit.

I've narrowed down the list a bit from the one I found from Brides.com. It seemed completely overwhelming to me, but I've already asked my 3 potentials the basics: are you available, where are you based, would you personally be photographing my wedding, references, etc. So, here we go:

Click picture for link to List

• How many other weddings will you photography that weekend
• Will you have any assistants
• How will you be dressed
• How long have you been shooting weddings
• Have you shot any weddings at my ceremony/venue
• If not, do you plan on checking them out in advance
• Ask for a portfolio
• Describe wedding-photography style
• i.e. traditional, photo-journalistic, artistic
• Describe working style
• Does he/she blend into the background and shoot what comes naturally or be visible and take charge of shots
• What do you think makes a shot distinct
• Do you shoot digitally or with film
• What type of equipment do you use
• Do you shoot in color, black/white, sepia
• Can I give a list of specific shot I want
• What do you charge for travel
• Can I customize my package to our needs
• Do you provide retouching, color adjustment, other corrective services
• How long after our wedding to get proofs
• How will they be available to us (online, CD, thumb drive)
• Will you be posting our photos to any social media sites
• Including blogs, magazines, FB, Instagram, Twitter
• How long can I order prints/albums after wedding
• How long will it take to get prints/albums in
• When will I receive a written contract
• If I pay in full at the time of the contract, will there be any discounts
• Do you have liability insurance
• Do you have back-up equipment
• Do you have a back-up plan if you are unable to shoot my wedding for some reason
• Is it okay of people take photos while  you're taking photos
• If my even runs longer or we would like you to stay longer, can you, charge

So. There it is. The list of questions. I have adapted it to my needs. You can find the entire list in all of its glory on the link I provided above. I feel like that's a lot of questions, but I also feel like it's necessary.  Let's be honest: aside from catering, this is the biggest investment in our wedding. It's incredible important to ask everything. Even if you think it's not that important. When it comes to the Big Day, you want to make sure you have all of your bases covered.