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Wedding Articles and Information - Articles Main Page |
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You
are engaged and one of the most important days in your life is fast
approaching. Your wedding day will be filled with happiness and emotion.
Family and friends will be there; some you have not seen in many years.
It will be a wonderful day for you to remember and share. There will be
so many things going on of which most you will not even know about until
you look at the wedding photographs. Choosing
a photographer may be a difficult and daunting task; and affording it
may be even more cumbersome. You may be apt to ask a friend or relative
to photograph it for you; this is surely to be a bad idea for many
reasons. A professional wedding photographer knows how to capture all
the moments of your wedding day with the best results by having years of
experience and photography knowledge. Finding
a wedding photographer is not difficult because there are so many. There
are many ways to go about finding one and many things you should know.
The best way of course is to be referred from another wedding couple
that recently had their wedding photographed by a specific photographer.
Notice I said “photographer” not business or studio. Your decision
should be based off of one photographer’s work; not the work of a
group or large wedding photography studio with multiple photographers.
Always check who will be photographing your wedding. There
are many other ways to find wedding photographers including the phone
book, newspapers, billboards, and of course the internet. Over 70% of
all brides and grooms search for wedding professionals online. There are
a few things you should know about searching on the internet. Take
your time - The first photographers you will find are mostly because of
large advertising budgets. This is not a bad thing but you should see
all options available to you. Be
specific - When using a search engine search for your “state” and
“professional wedding photographer”. Your search may look like this:
Ok,
so know you know how to find a wedding photographer. Now which one to
choose? There are three primary factors that come into play when
choosing a photographer; style, price, and personality. Style and price
can usually be found on their website so we will start there. Style
– There are many styles such as traditional, photojournalism, candid,
formal, etc. Some photographers offer only one style, but the best
photographers can offer all of the styles and would normally incorporate
them all into your wedding day coverage. It all depends on what you
want. When viewing a photographer’s portfolio, remember these are
their best shots. Always ask to see a full wedding. Price
– You can spend from $500 to $10,000 on a wedding photographer. The
norm is to spend about 10% of your entire wedding budget on the
photographer. Most photographers have packages that will include
everything from the coverage to the album and final prints. Some
photographers have complete al la carte pricing; if you are on a small
budget this is the best way to go. You will be able select just what you
want. There are two things you need, the coverage and the ability to
purchase the negatives or high resolution digital images. Watch out with
the coverage; many photographers will charge an hourly fee beyond their
normal time offered. When you receive your negatives or digitals images
you can print what you want when you want wherever you like. Of course
as a professional I recommend using a professional photography lab for
your prints but you could certainly use Wal-Mart and save a bundle. Just
keep in mind that the quality would be slightly lower. As for your
wedding album buy it yourself and put it together yourself. The cost of
buying an album from the photographer is usually double the actual cost.
Then of course doing it this way you can get it when you want and when
you have the money. Visit www.albumsinc.com to view many albums and
you can purchase them right online. Considering
style and price select three top choices and schedule a meeting with
them. There should be no cost for this. Before you meet with them you
should pretty much want to hire them from what you learned about their
style and price. Personality
- You want to meet with them to see how they present themselves and if
your personalities match. You want someone that is personable and nice
so that they will get along well with you, your family, and friends.
Never make the decision at the meeting always go home and think about it
and wait until you have met with all three. The best in the business
will let their work, pricing, and personality do all the talking. The
meeting should be a casual conversation to get to know each other and
discuss your wedding day in general. There is no need to go into great
detail now. Some photographer will try to “sell” you their services;
never get sold on something. Remember you already decided you like the
work and price before you got there so what are they trying to sell?
Just meet with them to get to know them. Once
you make your decision contact the photographer and let them know. Also,
be sure to contact the other two and thank them for their time but you
have decided to use another photographer. They should be considerate and
not try to continue selling you their services; if they do you made a
good choice to go with the other photographer. With the photographer you
chose go over the details on the phone and have them right up a wedding
contract for you to review and sign. Do not pay a deposit until you have
read and signed the contract (the photographer should sign the contract
also). Read the contract thoroughly; everything you are supposed to
receive should be written down and have the price and payment schedule.
Always make note of their cancellation policy. Congratulations
you found a photographer and have one scheduled. You should now schedule
to meet with them about a month before your wedding date to go over the
details again. Have
a great wedding day!
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