Where Is You 1st Port Of Call For....

The first way I looked is by googling 'wedding photography at <insert venue name here>'. Firstly it was because I was so excited about my venue that I wanted (ha ha - well NEEDED) to see pictures of other weddings there.

This led me to see lots of photographers websites who had previously shot a wedding there. I also googled 'wedding photographer <insert location of venue here>' to find local photographers.

The TOG I ended up with was one who had shot a wedding at my venue and when he asked how we had found him, he said he was glad to hear it as he had spent a lot of time and some money on getting their website just right so that they would come up in venue searches. That is also how they said they got a lot of their traffic.

Hope that helps.

I also ever looked at Bridal fayres, as I could instantly see if they were close enough at meeting my 2 main requirements before either finding out more, or walking away.

The two requirements being - Do I like them? and Are their albums/photographs good enough?

Recommendations.

I also googled photographers and my venue to see who had shot there before.

Between the annihilating fierceness of personal ambition and those who clutter its path, there is only one possible mediator, and that is love.

WTF?!

Sorry - back to OP - I would say Google, I went online and typed in "photographers for Glasgow" and came up with loads there. I also checked out the recommendations on my venue's site and found my TOG there ?

We got ours from the business cards left at the registry office - we looked online but there's just too many to sort through!

looking at the cards - first impressions are a must! has to have quality picture, quality card, and a website and contact info that works! you'd be surprised how many we picked up just lead to dead end.

so then googled and looked at websites for togs and went from there

x

Interesting to see a lot of you use google and not magazine or at least magazines are the last place you look..

Anymore for anymore.

Do you all rule out photographers over a particular price or are you flexible if you really like the images?

Definitely Google for me. Magazine adverts wouldn't even register to be honest.

Like someone else said I Googled "wedding photographers Surrey" to get a shortlist, but was also given a list of recommended photographers from our venue, and went with one of those in the end (after checking out their website of course).

I think you would get the most return for your marketing spend by investing in Google ads, but getting yourself known to venues so that they have you on their supplier list will be very valuable.

Good luck

We set a budget and ruled out anyone who's basic package was more than our budget. We were willing to spend a huge chunk on photography though so there was very few TOGs we ruled out. As it happens, we origially booked the Silver package with our TOG which was within our original budget but eventually upgraded to his Platinum product when we knew we could afford it.

I met ours at a Wedding Fayre and we stood talking for ages. I got to see a lot of their work at the same time which was really what made my decision.

I did a load of research on google, and also looked at forums to see who other people were using where I was getting married. I then checked out their website and any press covergade about them. If they had a shabby website I discounted them immediately. I based it mainly on the style of photos they took. In the end I shortlisted it to three and met them all.

We did discount one lady that was 5k, as this was out of our budget!!!!

Out of interest, how many actually "google" and how many use other search engines? The way the website is SEO'd can affect where you appear in the rankings from search engine to search engine.

Google. Always.

Wedding fayres initially for me and then I look at their web-sites. It's good to meet the person themselves as you'll be spending a long time with them.

Peter - Google all the way! My work computer has a Bing search box in Internet Explorer and I can always tell from the quality of the search results that I have forgotten to use Google.

I found ours through a wedding blog. We are having a untraditional wedding so it was very important that our tog "got" the wedding rather than trying to make the wedding fit around something it really isn't. It has been a bit of a leap of faith because we are her third wedding but she has been fantastic. Because of this we never thought to ask our venue or check around vendors.

Yeh, Bing has never really gotten going IMO. Yahoo was the leader although google seems now to be the preferred search engine...

A couple of years back I did some work with Vint Cerf, deemed the father of Googles internet site ranking algorhythms, although failed to get him to divulge any sure fire short cuts to a first page guaranteed position!!!!!damn.....?

Not photography, but anyway, I have wasted far too much money over the years on advertising which doesn't work, magazines are a big no for me now and don't ever be tempted to try a Facebook ad.

Google ads not too bad.

Yeah.

I have always been reluctant to do magazine ads having not heard good things, then I think to myself they might just work. I think it's possibly sucker after sucker running the ads...I nearly became one. Called a mag to just check prices and things to be sent a contract to sign to advertise, next thing he got in a strop with me because I said I was only checking prices...Literally. A Stroppy email...

Yes I try not speak to anyone if I can help it because they are such good sales people and they never give up. They always have another special offer to tempt you with if you refuse the first one.

Wedding Exhibitions are my best source followed by word of mouth/recommendations and then Hitched. I know a few suppliers who don't like exhibitions because they are work hard and mean you need to put a lot of effort and thought into them beforehand (samples and equipment for example) but for me they have been the best investment of my time and money. I've always broke even at them even for my first one but I really see the benefits now and have brides coming back 2 years on and saying 'I am so pleased you are back' because I wanted to order in person. I assumed everyone would order online so I'm surprised so many actually wait until I'm back exhibiting to order.

Wedding Exhibitions are my best source followed by word of mouth/recommendations and then Hitched. I know a few suppliers who don't like exhibitions because they are work hard and mean you need to put a lot of effort and thought into them beforehand (samples and equipment for example) but for me they have been the best investment of my time and money. I've always broke even at them even for my first one but I really see the benefits now and have brides coming back 2 years on and saying 'I am so pleased you are back' because I wanted to order in person. I assumed everyone would order online so I'm surprised so many actually wait until I'm back exhibiting to order.

My TOG lives in my village and i found her through my local village link and her website too. her photos were amazing and she is sooo nice. we also got a fab deal too, my OH did some bartering. but before i found my TOG i spent ages trawling through websites, yell and mags and some togs where really expensive.

Karina xx

Taking a break from x factor to reply. To find my photographer I used google (I never use any other search engines). I specifically searched out people that had covered my venue, so on your site definitely list everywhere you have ever covered. I also googled to see if there were reviews, though that was often not that helpful. Several photographers I considered, and other suppliers actually, had facebook pages. Quite liked that - the facebook stuff is often more up to date than websites. And you could see where the positive feedback really came from. For the photographer, more than any other supplier, the quality of the website was really really important. Both because I could see their photos, and also because I see photography as being about having a good eye for how things look, so if your site looks bad, that's not v impressive. It also told me a lot about how people approached their business - what did the write etc? I basically selected my photographer by using the internet. They would have had to be total nightmare when I met them for me not to go with them. They weren't and every time I look at their pics of past weddings on line I get excited about it again - they have exactly the style I wanted. Good luck with it all.

Just thought I'd get some more views if possible...

Lovely..

I agree with what a lot of the others have said. Wedding fayres are a great idea as you actually get to meet the tog and see their work. My tog was a personal recommendation and also had done many weddings at our venue.

Also advertising on wedding brochures for venues is quite a good idea. Also having a good website I think is important.