#1: THE IMPORTANCE OF USING A PROFESSIONAL
When choosing your photographer, it’s
important to realize that wedding photography is different today than it was
twenty years ago. With the advances in photographic technology today, just
about anyone with a digital camera can claim themselves as a “professional
photographer”, even though they’ve never done more than point and shoot. They
may not know anything about the different styles, the different elements of a
wedding that must be captured on film, and they probably won’t be able to give
you any input or help on what would look best, and what wouldn’t.
Choosing to hire an individual who calls
themselves a professional, when really all they have is a standard digital
camera, is placing you memories in the hands of an amateur. And they’re
probably not going to end up anything like the final product you had
envisioned. So how do you make sure you’re hiring a professional? By visiting
their studio, looking through their portfolio of different weddings, and
getting testimonials and references from people. We’ll go into more detail on
the different things you’ll need to ask your professional photographer later on
in this report. But, before you start doing anything, or even considering the
kind of wedding photographer you want, you must make sure that you’re using a
professional – and not the guy down the street that just likes to take
pictures!
Remember that professional wedding
photographer book up pretty quickly, especially if you’re getting married in
the “wedding months”, (May through August). Usually you should plan on booking
your wedding photographer nine months before your wedding. Note that this
general rule of thumb is not set in stone and is not even always possible.
You can get a great photographer for your
wedding on shorter notice, but that is the typical amount of time in advance
that most photographers will want you to book. This might mean that you need to
start looking for your photographer a month or two before that, so you can be
ready to book at the nine-month mark. Of course, also keep in mind that if
you’re going for a certain photographer, or are only looking at very popular
photographers, you’ll probably even need more time than just the nine months.
Check back for updates.