How to pick a wedding photographer - selecting the best photographer for your wedding

How should you go about selecting a photographer for your wedding? Your wedding will be fast paced and full of once in a lifetime memories – it's extremely important that you select a professional wedding photographer that will capture these special moments exactly the way you want them. Here are some of the major things you should consider.

How many weddings has the photographer done?

Not surprisingly, the more experience the photographer has, the more you can expect to pay. Selecting a more experienced wedding photographer can help ensure that the person you hire will known the ropes of photographing a wedding, but it's certainly not a guarantee that you will end up with good pictures. I've seen plenty of "experienced" wedding photographers that take awful pictures, and plenty of brand new photography amateurs that take stunning pictures. The best way to judge a photographer is on their portfolio and that gut feeling you get when you talk to them, not on years of experience. See below.

Does the photographer have a portfolio of pictures that you really like?

As mentioned above, it's nice to have an experienced photographer that will know what to do on your wedding day, but it's more important to find a photographer that takes the kind of pictures that you like. Ask to see a portfolio, and beware of photographers that bring 10,000 pictures for you to look at (or send you a link to a huge online gallery) – they're probably just trying to impress you with how many pictures they've taken. What you really want is someone to show you a few dozen great pictures that show their creative style and ability to take great pictures. And YOU get to decide what a great picture is, because YOU are the one paying!

What about the different styles I keep hearing about? Photojournalistic? Artistic? Posed? Are they important?

The photography style that a photographer follows is important, but you'll rarely find a good pro that wants to associate themselves with one style. These words really are more of a marketing angle than anything else. You KNOW the style of photography that you like (and want), even if you can't put a name on it. Find a photographer that takes pictures that make you go wow, and you'll be in good hands. Leave the marketing buzz-words alone.

How does the photographer handle the digital originals (the "negatives")?

Do you want a "full service" wedding photographer that provides a nice album and charges you for every print? Or do you want a photographer that mails you a CD with the high resolution digital negatives of all of your pictures so that you can print them and make an album without additional charges? In the "old days" of film negatives, most every wedding photographer would charge on a per-print basis. Today, most photographers that grew up in the digital age will structure their pricing model to compensate them for their time, and the bride and groom get to keep the digital negatives. You need to decide what is more important to you, and select a photographer that meets your needs. Today, most couples are looking to end up with a CD of their images. They already take hundreds of digital pictures every year and know how to get them printed, and maybe even edit or crop the pictures on their computers! If this is you, then lean towards a CD and make the album yourself.

Does the photographer have the right equipment?

A good way to judge this is to ask how much money in equipment they expect to bring to your wedding. You can shoot a wedding with around $5,000 in equipment, and do a good job. Someone that tells you they bring $15,000 or more is a serious photographer that has truly invested in their equipment. Again, just like the experience paragraph above, more is not always better. It's the whole pie you are selecting, not just one piece of the pie. I've seen people with $1000 cameras take amazing pictures, and people with $8000 cameras take awful pictures! But as a general rule, amateurs typically won't show up with $15k in equipment.