photographer coming next week...

It's normal to meet your photographer before you book them. Getting on with your tog is important.

Yes you will be spending most of the day with your photographer, if you don't actually like your photographer then the pictures will suffer, as your expression will give it away. If you like the photographer then the day will also be more enjoyable.

Apart from looking at examples of their work and talking about the options they are offering in terms of cost, amounts of shots and types of shots they can achieve, the most important questions we ask the togs we are currently seeing are about what backup do they have in place in the event of them being ill or indisposed in some way on the day, do they have other togs they can call on to step in?

The other is about what techincal backup do they have? spare camera - do they spread the photos over several memory cards just in case one errors for some reason, the last thing you want is to lose all your photos!

Yes this is fairly standard, I met a 1 in a pub, 1 at their studio and another came to my home.

See their portfolio, good idea to see a full album of a wedding as well as a selection of their best shots.

Discuss the locations and times you want them to cover as well as their style of photography and how they operate on the day.

Do they have a 2nd tog working with them? Backup equipment etc?

Payment plan.

Digital packages vs albums, if you go with digital can you get albums after the wedding through them?

Most of all though I found meeting them in person showed me who we got on with best and whether they'd be intrusive on the day or just blend into the background allowing us to enjoy our day whilst also capturing the special moments.

Pretty much what has been said already.

Insist you see FULL examples of work as presented to the bride and groom, not just hand picked images.

It's not really important that the tog has covered your venue before and it isn't essential that there is two of them nor is an album which can be ordered later.

What is important though is that they deliver you the images in the style you want and that they fit in with you and your guests.

Watch out for special 'extras' or for togs who usually charge £1000 but will 'cut you a special offer if you book now' along with those who seem to offer silly discounts to seal a booking. It's not to say these guys are bad but don't be forced into a decision, you may regret it later.

Have fun!

Yes as above. It is really important that you get along with the photographer and like their approach. Make sure you plan for the images you want and allow time for posed pictures even if you are mainly seeking a reportage style. Talk about style of shots and have examples of the look you are gong for if you have a clear idea but listen to what they offer too and see their style through their work. Do they batch edit or edit shots individually, do they offer full resolution, fulledits as part of the package or charge extra for a cd if wanting to use them later when budget allows. Do they offer a pre-shoot - lifestyle / engagement to egt an idea of how they work with you. Cheapest might not always be best but could be if you like their work and persoanlity and they offer the reassurance and confidence you need to have in them.

I met ours recently and had no clue as to what to ask, etc., but he was so lovely and really eased us into it and let me have full rein as to what I liked and what I didn't like. He told us lots about himself and gave me a receipt for our deposit (20% of the total fee).

All of the above, if you are spending most of your special day with a photographer then you must be able to get on with them

Nothing worse than having someone there all day that you do not get on with

I know this sounds a little off the wall, but if I were looking for a wedding photographer, I would ask to see two things in particular:

1.)A wedding taken in rainy weather.

2.) A complete wedding (every single shot taken by the photographer)

Why would you need to see these? Well, the first because it may just rain on your wedding day, don't you want to see how capable your photographer is in the worst conditions, rather than the best?I would!

As for the complete wedding, well, this is more important if you're having the disc, but to cherry pick 30 pictures out of a thousand, that is relatively easy. It also means that in essence you're paying for 30 good pictures, and 970 fair/mediocre/rubbish ones! I would like to see every picture a photographer has taken so I can see what percentage is good, then you can gauge true value for money.

That's what I'd be looking for...

PK xx

+1

I agree with the above poster, especially point no.2, if you see a whole album you can gauge consistency and therefore have a good idea of what to expect on your actual wedding. X number of cherry picked images over 10's of thousands of images isn't really a true representation, and can actually be very misleading.