How many Togs do you meet before booking?

This is probably the wrong answer but we only met one! We had meetings set up for other togs but we loved Kerry our tog straight away, felt so comfortable with her.

We had to travel to meet the others around 20 miles away so ended up cancelling the appointments, couldn't see the point in driving all that way when we felt like we had met 'the one'! One of the togs we were going to meet ended up working at a wedding we went to a couple of weeks later. She was the most unprofessional tog I have ever seen, noisy during the ceremony, climbing over chairs. Me and my OH looked at each other and knew straight away we had made a good decision in not even meeting her.

We have tended to go with our heart though for every wedding decision, probably why our budget has spiralled so much out of control!

We only met 2 but we knew right away the first one wasnt for us. if you like him and like his work id say go for it

We only met one officially. Met a few at wedding fairs and such one in fact was soooo rude when I said I only want the ceremony photographing that I had to walk away! We found our photographer at the same wedding fair and at our meeting we just clicked and chatted for an hour!

We met a few, but once we met our TOGs we didn't bother with any others. I think you do 'click' (sorry!) with your suppliers and it is especially important with the TOG. I wouldn't worry too much as long as you are happy.

None! We haven't met ours as he lives 4 hours away! We get on well via email and will have an engagement shoot later on in the year so will meet then. He's truly amazing, featured in a lot of popular wedding blogs and has great reviews on facebook from past couples, in fact other than actually getting married, seeing our pictures is what's exciting me most! Go with your gut

We just met one - he and I had been following each other on Twitter for ages, chatted a lot when I started tweeting about venues. Eventually met at a wedding fair, then the three of us went for a pint a little while later to have a chat and look through his books. We booked him the next day.

I did look at a lot of other togs online, but didn't find anyone within budget whose photos I loved as much.

Thank you all for your advise and stories, it's really helpful to hear and you've reassured me loads.

My main stressy-ness has been that I keep trying to approach everything logically with a pro and con list and proper research and haven't been trusting my gut.

I did have that 'wow' moment when we walked into our venue and am so happy with the decision we made with that.

We also had a 'click' with this Tog and when we looked at his photos you could 'feel' the emotion of the day. We met him at a wedding fair and he said 'hi' to us and then brought us in for a chat.

We only met ours! My new husband does a lot of photography (all sorts of cycling) and has sold commercially. He knew our tog's work and insisted on him. I fell in love with his work too so it was not a difficult decision.

I reckon that if he hadn't been available for our date it could well have been a deal-breaker on that date!

We only met 1 TOG and booked him! If you like his work and the price is right go for it xx

I have met one who my mum wanted (she was paying) us to have but wasn't what we wanted at only 60 pictures in an album and £3000 no digital images and not our style (was very posh looking) I had to ask my mum kindly if we could choose a different tog instead.

i haven't actually met our tog yet as she is so busy and doesn't live that near us! We also get on great through email and I just love her style of photos! We also got a great deal compared to the above price as we payed in full! We will get to meet her personaly for our pre wedding shoot in August in brighton which in looking forward to!

it is a scary thought of not actually meeting our tog but it has been the same with a lot of things we booked for our wedding.

but I think when you find the tog you want you will just know and will be set on that particular one.

So many togs I meet before I booking.?

We only saw 1, but I spoke to 2 others on the phone, and check out many more online. The one we met was recommended and I'd seen her work at a friends house, so felt confident before meeting her.

We only met one, but I did some research online and also was in touch with two others by email. We booked the one that was my favourite from the beginning.

We only met one TOG officially. We met a few at wedding fayres, but when we met with ours we knew he was going to be perfect. I like to go with my gut a lot of the time, unless I'm not sure, in which case I'll do some research.

There's no correct figure, some meet loads until they find the right person and often the first person they meet and are happy with they book.

Here's some general pointers to save time:

Most photographers have an online portfolio. Go through it. If an average meeting with a photographer lasts an hour and you're prepared to give this time up, spend a good 20 minutes on each site reading their blog and going through their (hopefully extensive) portfolio. Most couples I meet don't even look at my work on the day, they've already done that and just want to meet me.

Find out the price to cover your day before arranging to meet. Some have their pricing online, some don't.

Decide quickly and don't waste time. I've upset a few couples this year because someone else took their date from them. There is no real reason why a contract and deposit can't be completed in 24 hours yet some take weeks to do this. A booking isn't a booking until we get that paperwork and deposit and often someone will email, book, and pay in 24 hours. Expecting the photographer to hang on is unfair. I did this in my first year and lost a couple of grand as a result.

Be very serious about those you meet, this isn't window shopping. Some couples meet 5-10+ togs just for the heck of it. I'll travel up to an hour to meet clients so I could easily lose three hours from a day doing so. I only want to meet people who already love my work and just want to make sure we get on and get each other.

Also, not completely related here but still it's worth saying. Be honest with your photographer from the outset. Don't send an ambiguous email saying stuff like 'the reception is in Reigate' honestly, WHAT IS THE VENUE NAME, we'll be able to look at it and in some cases tell you if it's not a fit for our style. We fully understand that to most couples this is completely brand new so ask us for help and we'll give it.

We only met the one, but she was the only one we both agreed on and she was lovely! Plus she was recommended from a bride on here who had gorgeous photos!

We met up with four and emailed many more.

We decided in the end to go with the one I wanted go with from the start. He’s an old friend of mine and his work is amazing so just had to make sure H2B loved him as much as I did. Turns out he did and I booked him the next day!

We got in touch with 3 we really liked and ended up only meeting one, who we booked straight afterwards.

I think really that there is so much you can do on line viewing work, because I tend to stay local I can usually even show a bride and groom a wedding at their venue and almost on the same date and they can view these at home and if you view enough samples that are relevant to your wedding and not just generic hand picked stuff then along with phone calls and emails and recommendations then the final meet if you even have one is just to dot the "i"s and cross the "t" s.

I have had instances where I get asked to meet when they dont even know the exact price yet which is a bit of a waste of time for everyone, so if you only end up seeing 1, so long as you have done all the other stuff then there is no issue.

I know that some photographers jump at the chance and want to see you straight away - my suspicions are that its more to to with them being good at selling and have a sales patter and some very big expensive books to show you that you would never be buying anyway.

We met one photographer formally after already meeting him briefly at a wedding fair. I met about four or five others at wedding fairs and got quotes from several others. Ultimately the one we went with was the guy who I met at the first wedding fair, I was just comparing all of the others to him without realising.

From my experience don't leave it too long to decide. We went to our first wedding fayre met a tog we both liked but decided to wait and go to another big wedding fayre to see a few more ! Then we decided we liked the first one best and I rang to book and our date had already gone so we couldn't have him.

My advice is if u like him book him otherwise someone else will

We did alot of research online looking through different websites, prices, blogs, galleries.

We have narrowed it down to 4 TOGs based on our budget and the photos we have seen on their website.

We have booked appointments with these TOGs in the last week of May so we can see who we like in person and have a look at some sample albums and work.. and we will decide once we have met them all.

Couldn't agree more with this, I know people think we are trying to get the booking but in reality there will always be a person who will make a quick decision and book which then means you have lost that photographer. I have lost count of the couples I am turning away because I am already booked☹️ Leaving weeks to meet a photographer is not a good idea, we have to take the first booking that comes along.

We met two, but emailed lots more! U only met the ones I was serious about potentially booking. For us it was essential to meet in person to make sure our personalities didn't clash! Luckily he's great and we booked very soon after.