Questions to ask photographers/videographer?

Ooh who are you going to see?

I didn't really have many q's for ours as we booked her because she did a friend of ours' wedding and we loved their album!

But I guess the things to ask are, what happens if your tog is ill on the day - who will cover. How many photo's do you get? How long will they be there for on the day? How long will it take to get your pics after the wedding? Ask to look at some previous work, and have they been to your venue before? Cost of different packages? Will you be able to view your images in an online gallery?

I'll try think of more!

Thanks hun. I will make a note of what you suggested and make sure I ask them.

Its a company called LBC Solutions, do Photography & Videography & DJing, they are coming round to discuss prices & show us some more of there work.

Kelly x

Hi Kelly,

I have another post on this forum with some info to ask a potential photographer, however let me write a quick `cheat sheet` for you and if you need embellishment on any of the points mentioned then feel free to ask. I am a BIPP qualified professional wedding photographer but not intending to use these forums for self-promotion - more over to help couples out who are finding increasing difficult trying to pick a good photographer in amongst all the cowboys out there.. of which there are a lot!!

1. Coverage - How long do they offer? Ideally you book them for a day you get them for a day, 4, 6 or 8 hours is fine if you work in an office, but not ideal for a wedding photographer if you want them to catch the whole day.. rule of thumb is to see if they will stay for at least an hour after the first dance.. by then everything should of happened - however if you are having fireworks ask if they will stay to captue them as well.

2. Travel fees - make sure you dont get stung, some photographers will charge upto £1 per mile (after the first 25 miles for example), it might not sound a lot, but once you factor in the return journey it can soon mount up, and its another bill after the wedding you could really do without. either pick a photographer who includes all travel in the price or agree a price upfront.

3. Insurances - make sure they have at least £1 million of public liability insurance and at least £25,000 professional indemnity insurance. They wont mind showing you if you ask them for proof. Dont just take their word for it.

4. Ask if they are a member of one of the recognised trade bodies. The main 3 in the UK are (in order of preference) BIPP, MPA and SWPP -again, ask them for proof or alternatively visit the trade orgs website and you should be able to check them out on there.

5. Ask to see examples of their previous work - remember on their website they will put their very best stuff, so if you hook up with them ask to see an album or slideshow of work from a single wedding, not a mish-mash of all their `best bits` (yes, my website has all my bestest shots in the gallery.. although there were a lot to choose from

6. Ask if you can see references from previous weddings. Obviously a bit of a gray area as any of us could put one together but you can usually tell the `words of thanks` from the `works of fiction`.

7. After sale service - ask how long it will take to get your photos online, prints delivered, album designed etc

8. Backup - what happens if they fall ill - have they got any failsafes in place in the eventuallity they have to pull out due to illness etc..

Next up, dont book them for the sake of it. There are a lot of photographers out there, you really do have oodles of choice, see at least 3 or 4 before making a decision.

Price - yes wedding photography does seem expensive when all we are doing is `pressing a button` But at the end of the day you could easily spend £500 on a cake, £1000+ on a dress and lord knows how much on food and drink, and to be honest thats all gone by the end of the night (expect the dress of course), but your photography - good photography - should last a lifetime, which is why you should consider your photographer very carefully, because even bad photos will last a lifetime, but who wants to show them to your children and grandchildren? Going back to that `pressing the button` stuff, I would say 40% of the time dedicated to each wedding is photography - the rest is sorting the images, touching them up, designing the album, scouting out the venues beforehand (oh, make sure your photographer will meet you at the venue before the wedding, so you can scout out good locations for those formal shots, you will also feel a lot more comfortble with your photographer on the day then as you fell you have already `got to know him/her` and gone through a few shots). - Remember you can pay anything from £99 on ebay for a photographer (seriously go check it out!) to more than £5000 - the rule here is - if you pay peanuts, you will get monkeys.

Hope some of this helps.. my typing fingers ache now so I hope some of it is useful!!

Warm regards, Mark Simms LBIPP - www.eyecandyphotographic.co.uk

Just a word of advice - If it's a company who has more than one photographer/videographer, make sure you see the actual persons work who will be covering your wedding, not just general work the company have carried out.

Let us know how you get on!

Videographers need extra questions to the above as they are capturing sound and vision.

If there are to be any surprises planned, please let the video crew know 'before' they happen. Pro crews can anticipate most things, but if the 'secret' surprise is secret from them too, it can get missed if they are covering other scenes.

Make sure they have filming licences for both Church and reception. There have been instances where video crews have been turned away from Church without these.

It's also worth mentioning that many reception venues now need £5 million public liability coverage as a minimum.

p.s. I'm not aware of the company in question. That's not to say they're not proficient in what they do, so please check a full wedding DVD thoroughly and not just the best bits from the highlights.

2 cameras? Colours should match.

Sound? all audio should be clear during ceremony and speeches.

There are many other aspects of a good DVD to be aware of, and these, like good photographs, should be obvious.

Slick websites can be misleading as one hitcher is already aware and is still waiting for her DVD, 9 months later, which has many missed scenes, mismatched colours and from her description, a huge disappointment despite paying £1200.

Checking thoroughly now can ensure you have the confidence in their abilities on your wedding day.