13 Tips for Getting the Most Out of Your Wedding Photographer
Last Updated: February 14th, 2020
With all of the planning that goes into making a wedding day amazing, it’s easy to see why a couple would want to make sure they are getting the best possible photographs to memorialize the day.
As people who have gone through the process of planning a wedding (and getting married), and who also see the world as wedding photographers – we decided to put together this post to help out all the future bride and grooms as they look to get the most out of their wedding photographer.
Carefully vet your wedding photographer before booking.
Maybe the single most important thing in the process of finding a wedding photographer is checking out their portfolio of past work & make sure you get along.
Reviewing a wedding photographer’s portfolio should be easy enough.
Most photographers should have an online presence. It would be a red flag to us if they don’t!
You should be able to easily find a wedding photo gallery, as well as individual blog posts showing off a larger selection of images. Upon contacting the photographer, it’s totally normal to ask to see a couple full galleries as well.
If you can connect with the photographer’s style across multiple blog posts and galleries, you should feel confident you’re making the right decision.
As a part of this process, it’s also important to make sure you connect with the photographers working style. You don’t have to be best friends by any means, but you should feel confident in their abilities and comfortable being around them.
Remember: you’ll probably be closer to your wedding photographer at times on the big day more than your partner!
Understand what you are contracting your photographer for.
The actual terms of what your wedding photographer has been hired for should be in the contract you sign. If you have questions – ask!
In the desire to get the most out of your wedding photographer, it’s important to keep in mind what service they are actually being paid to provide.
You definitely should not expect them to work for 10 hours if you contracted them for 8. After all, wedding photographers run businesses and their time is valuable, so be sure you’re understanding how they are using their time.
On a better note: we sometimes receive emails with a lot of questions from couples who are about to sign their contracts, but just want some clarification on things.
Every time we say a variation of: “Thank you for asking, we’d rather you be 100% confident in your decision before signing. We’re happy to answer any and all questions you might have beforehand!”
Your wedding photographer should want to help you understand what they are signing up for. This is especially true when contracts can be filled with some legal jargon that even lawyers can be challenged by!
For wedding photographers: use Honeybook to send contracts so your clients can sign online!
Be responsive to messages.
Wedding photographers are used to being ghosted…
Sure, we don’t expect you to treat us like your family or fiancé, but it’s also not that hard to shoot a quick email or text.
One of the most important things to get the most out of your wedding photographer is communication. Sometimes, the wedding photographer isn’t doing enough communicating – but in our experience, since we are very on top of our messages, it sometimes is challenging to be asked a question, respond within 24 hours, then not hear back for a month. This happens with both prospective and paying clients!
Ultimately – we’re empathetic and understanding. We get people get busy. It’s not like we get mad or anything, but sometimes it’s a little frustrating – especially when we have to go sift through a bunch of emails from a month ago to remember what is even being talked about.
All we can ask is this: just try not to let your busy schedule get in the way of a decent response rate. 🙂
Bring questions & concerns up before the wedding.
Being proactive to ask questions and bring up concerns you may have is a great way to get on the same wavelength with your photographer. Any good wedding photographer will be happy to hear you out and provide feedback – but we can’t do that if we don’t know what’s going on in your mind.
The things you may have to talk about can range from pretty trivial (like…will this color table cloth look nice in reception photos??) to more significant (like…anxiety of being in front of the camera).
In practice, after shooting many, many weddings – we’ve encountered all types of questions and concerns. We want to layout a quick bullet point list of just some things we’ve talked about privately with our clients in the past – with hope it helps you to see it’s normal and actually a positive thing to have these conversations.
- Anxiety
- Body Dysmorphia
- Cultural/Religious wedding traditions
- How do you edit photos?
- Will we be able to take pictures with the llamas?
- Is it okay to do bridal boudoir photos while getting ready?
- How does a first look work?
- How long will family pictures take?
The list goes on and on.
Whatever you have on your mind – your wedding photographer should have your back!
Get to know your photographer.
Your wedding photographer is a person, too!
In our society, it’s quite easy to slip into the idea that a person providing a service is a “service provider” and not much more. It’s maybe the case that we don’t need to be all that close to our waiter at a restaurant or the gas station attendant pumping our gas. But – wedding photography is a different type of service. It is much more hands on and intimate.
As we mentioned earlier – you don’t need to be the best of friends (though: new friends are accepted), but building a rapport through mutual interests and conversations will help you 100% to have a better wedding photography experience.
These days – getting to know your wedding photographer is easy. Start by simply browsing their website About page – that should give some great insight. You can also stalk them on social media if you want. Even small things like how they talk about their clients when posting sneak peaks of the latest wedding or portrait shoot can give you an idea of what they are like.
Want to know more about us? Check out the following web pages for more…
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- Hand & Arrow Photography – About Us
- Hand & Arrow Photography – Instagram
- Hand & Arrow Photography – Facebook
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Have an engagement session.
Fun Fact: 95% of clients who book our wedding photography services also book an engagement session.
The main reason why we always suggest an engagement session for our couples is because it allows them to get comfortable being in front of the camera, see how we work, and get to know each other – all in a low stress and fun environment.
Facing reality here for a second – wedding days are often stressful. In the least, they usually involve more planning and logistics to move people around to get the shots needed. Just getting to know a photographer and being used to being photographed on this day is kind of rough for many people. Doable? Yes. But not what we’d call “easy”.
So – have an engagement shoot with your wedding photographer. It will make a world of difference – we can just about guarantee!
Related: 28 Engagement Photography Tips – Beautiful Portraits for Couples in Love!
Create a timeline with your photographer.
We have an obsession with timelines. For good reason!
Out of all the things we do before a wedding, putting together a wedding photography timeline is one of the most important.
If you are working with a photographer who has not approached you to put one together, we recommend reaching out to them directly. We’ve heard again and again from couples that seeing their day laid out in a timeline helps to reduce stress greatly, and shows them the day will flow nicely!
A good timeline will help you get the most out of your wedding photographer because it allows them to know how much time they have set aside for each part of the day. This is especially important when looking at bride & groom portraits, family formals, bridal party portraits, and so on. It will also help them to plan accordingly for when to setup their equipment and so on.
Share a reasonable shot list.
Not all couple’s have a shot list – but if there are any photos you’d like, it’s important to share this with your photographer in advance. Otherwise – how are they supposed to know you want those shots?
Your shot list may cover a couple different parts of the day:
- Specific poses you’d like for your solo portraits or couple’s portraits
- Family formal pairings
- Special ceremony shots
In general, the rule of thumb wedding photographers tend to agree on is that having a few shots in mind is totally fine. But, providing a long shot list can actually end up serving as a major distraction. If the photographer is focused on just getting these specific shots, they will probably end up missing out on other (often candid) things happening.
With the exception of family formal pairings and a specific pose or two, we normally recommend our couples to give us shot “inspiration” in the form of a Pinterest board. We recommend they pin a bunch of photos they like – and we’ll look through, take them into consideration, and fit at least a few things into our approach for the day. This might be a pose, or could be something as simple as how we compose a shot.
We find this is a better way to go about things – and ends up working as a compromise between a client asking for too much, and us as photographers wanting free reign.
Provide contact information for other wedding vendors.
Your wedding photographer will be working with a lot of other people throughout the wedding day. Sometimes these interactions are pretty indirect – like with florists who may just drop off flowers and get out of there. In other cases, such as with videographers and DJ’s, our work overlaps much more.
We find it extremely valuable to be given contact information for these other wedding vendors in advance so we can review their work and know what to expect. It also allows us to reach out to them and get in touch before the day to make sure we’re on the same page – such as on the timing of events.
Don’t focus on the pictures, focus on being in the moment.
It’s the wedding photographers job to take pictures and provide posing instructions. Unless you’re being asked to do something specific, your only focus should be on being in the moment with the love of your life!
We have seen time-and-again that the best photos we’ve captured occur in the “in between” moments. This is helped along heavily by using candid posing prompts!
We might get our couple into a pose, but then they burst out into song and start doing their own thing. They are being real and authentic with one another, and basically ignoring the fact that the camera is even around.
By having this mindset, it will help you to get better pictures because you will be much more relaxed in them. It will also let the photographer get their shots without the (unintentional) pressure of needing to bring you back down to Earth to just…relax… 🙂
Select photogenic spaces for pictures.
Your choice of venue will play a direct role in how your pictures look.
Yes – it’s absolutely true that a great photographer can make even shoddy looking environments look pretty good. But, being honest, nothing will compare to a naturally beautiful space.
The good news here is this: most wedding venues are good looking. They might not all look great in every nook-and-cranny, but there will be enough good, usable space in most places.
The one area where you can take control and help out your wedding photographer is in selecting a good prep location. So often, we shoot weddings where so much has been spent on the wedding venue, but then the bride & groom are cramped in small motel rooms to get ready. Many of these spaces are just not all that appealing – and it reflects in the finished online gallery.
Outside of this – most of the locations selected for photos will (likely) be hand picked by your photographer. They will be able to find the good looking spots on the big day.
Provide dinner for your photographer on the big day.
Most people working 8, 10, 12 hour shifts like to have a break – shouldn’t your photographer?
When we get to sit down for a bite to eat, it’s an amazing feeling. Shooting weddings can be tough, and being able to relax even for 10 minutes can make a world of difference. It’s also a very positive thing when our couples set aside space for us at a table – it helps it to feel more like a family vs. just being “the help” at the wedding.
As wedding photographers, this little boost plays a big role in helping us get through the rest of the photos happening during the reception.
Pro wedding photographer note: while dinner is appreciated, we actually make it a mandatory requirement in our contracts. This is very common in the wedding industry. Of course, when we end up not eating (due to time restraints or just plain not having a spot), we normally just roll with it. It’s not something we personally get worked up over – but if you’re a client and your photographer has this verbiage in their contract, it’s suggested to follow through on it!
Be supportive throughout the day.
A little positive reinforcement goes a long way for wedding photographers.
The best weddings are those filled with positivity – even when things don’t always go as planned. As wedding photographers, we always make it our aim to bring support and positivity to our couples. Outside of taking pictures, it’s one of our highest priorities.
As a client, offering similar support in more subtle ways is always welcomed. Even saying things like “I’m loving how your photos are turning out!” and complimenting our work ethic helps to keep things on the straight and narrow. These little mental boosts will help your photographer perform better and produce even more stunning results.
Need more? Check out our 27 Wedding Photography Tips for Brides.
