How did you choose your tog?

Ours was the through at my brothers wedding last year, we had such a laugh with him on the day and it was a man and wife couple, him doing the main stuff whilse she did the reportage shots....

When the wedding pics came through i knew there and then id want them....went to meet them and were at his house for 2hrs chatting, going through his work, his dvds, everyting under the sun!!

What swayed it for my was the TOGs personality.

We chose him at a wedding fayre and there were 2 clear "winners" in terms of quality of albums and around the same price too. But one was quite quiet and reserved and I wasn't confident he'd be happy with the banter my uncles will give while the one we chose was happy, chatty, and not afraid to have a good old fashioned joke!

Price didn't hugely come it to it - like Trickers - and we ended up spending nearly 3 times our original budget on the package alone, no doubt we will also purchase a number of extra prints too! We know we could have got a lot more for our money - mini albums for parents, extra prints etc but I'd rather be comfortable on the day and have faith that our album will look amazing.

We went to our first wedding fair and found our photographer. There were about 7 there but this particular guy really stood out to us - we liked his style, he was really friendly and happy, and we just sorta 'clicked'. He had a special offer on the day but we weren't in a position to decide there and then, but when I rang him the next day he remembered speaking to us and honoured his special deal.

One of the photographers there took one look at us and decided we weren't the type of people he wanted to photograph, and actually talked past us to a couple standing behind us in the queue when we got to the front of the queue - so we just walked away.

The photographer has to make you feel 'at ease' amid all the chaos of the wedding, and if they can't achieve that at a wedding fair (where there isn't that much pressure) what hope do they have on the day?

Mine is actually a guy I went to school with... (randomly about 5 old school friends are now wedding TOGs must have been a year for it!!) But I havent seen him for at least 12 years.. I am friends with him on facebook and noticed a couple of albulms he had of wedding photos. They are all in the style I love. nothing too posed and everyone having a laugh..

Showed OH the website and he agreed. so have paid a deposit to STD we will meet with him soon to talk more.

Hi!

We have booked our Tog based on recommendations. I know 2 people who have used them before. Even before we got engaged I said I wanted them for my wedding!

We too pushed the budget, £1,795 to be exact and this doesn't include an album! But we get all pics high res on a disc so we can make our own album/save up for one after the wedding/ask for it as a wedding present. We have 2 togs all day. We met them once and clicked.

They are called Lawsons if you want to check them out, they are based in the North West but do nationwide. There prices have gone up since we booked tho...

Hope this helps

Thanks for the advice guys and girls. Think this may well be one thing worth stretching the budget for then... Its just so scary as its the one thing your left with afterwards (well, apart from husband and ring lol) and I really don't want us to make a bum choice.

AJ - Thats so rude of them! You did well to just walk away, I would have given them a pretty verbal piece of my mind! At least the nice one made up for it ?

Ours was booked after they did my friends wedding. I just loved how professional the team were and the pictures were beautiful. They were also recommended through the venue we booked.

Sorry to crash your post/digress....

Just want to share excitement...your post got me thinking about my Tog (Lawsons, above) so just had another look on their webiste. It made me excited again!!

Eeeeek!!!

Emmamac - Just had a look at Lawsons and they're beautiful pictures! I'm not surprised you're excited hehe ? Sadly very (too) much above our budget since the increase - Looks like you got a good price!

Thats pretty poor, and possibly not leagal either

We have a policy

If they like our work, and they can pay the money, they agree to our tems on the contract, and we am realistically free on the date (and the days immediatally around the date), We will shoot or plan any wedding, anywhere (in the world).

As a business you cant refuse work based on "what type of couple" or "colour" or "demographics" etc..

We prefer couples dont book us at wedding fayres, because they have a lot to take in and we dont want to buldozer somone allong. Offers where you "can only book today" are cringeworthy

Equally, we wont ditch one couple for a better paying one on the same date

Sadly "fat prejudice" is very much still alive in the world, and there's absolutely nothing you can do about it as there is no legislation against it.

Best things to go on are quality of images, recommendations from others and how you feel with the photographer - meet up in person and have a chat with them to get a feel for them and their work. At the end of the day if you don't feel comfortable with a photographer they're not going to get the best out of you on the day.

I think Chris Gilbert covers Sussex - he is rebuilding his site at the moment, but here is a link to his current website and his facebook group.

http://www.chrisgilbertphotography.co.uk/

http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=94022758831&ref=ts

Good luck! Just make sure you go for what is right for you and H2B and you'll be fine! xx

Sussex? Ours in based in Portsmouth - http://www.snowdenphotography.co.uk/ - and we met him at a wedding fair at Fontwell Park so I'm sure he will cover your area too.

Quite sure, thankyou.

I think one of the biggest things is that you need to get on with them, and you need to be able to trust them to deliver what you want them to.

Think thats the most important thing that sets photographers apart from each other. HTH x

Like you, I love the reportage style and am getting married in Sussex too. I chose my photogrpaher from the photo journalist association (http://www.wpja.com/wedding-photographers/international/europe/england-photography.htm) as I knew that was the style I liked. We had a look at a few different albums within our price range and after meeting with our chosen one (we opted for David Hares), met up with him and liked him and his style and booked.

There are so many amazing photographers out there though - don't feel you need to spend more than you can afford (we almost did and then had a reality check!!) - just make sure you are comfortable with the photographer. Also, try and get rights to your photos so you can reproduce them yourselves (without the ridiculous price tag). For us, we weren't fussed about having albums made for us which helped reduce the cost.

x

Lillibet I am having the exact same dilema! There is so much choice out there that it's so hard to know which is best!!

Someone else advised me to pick the ones that you feel comfortable with but they all seem nice enough! So hard i really can't decide. We've got one more left to meet and i just hope that he stands out cos i'm just getting more confused!

Thanks for all your replies - Will just email them all, meet up with them all and cross my fingers that one stands out from the rest!

Excitedbee - That sounds exactly what I'll be like once I've met some of them! I'll feel really mean dismissing someone just cos of their personality, but I suppose it has to be done! How many have you met so far?

Mine is the partner of someone I know through work - I had a meeting with her about something and she happened to mention that she was really busy because she was helping her photographer boyfriend out with his admin in her spare time. I had a look at his website and loved the style, so arranged a meeting. Then I was ill so couldn't go to see him, but Mr Spoon did and loved him! I finally got to meet him a couple of weeks later and got on really well with him, so that was that decided.

He's not the cheapest tog we found - we don't get an album or anything cos we can't afford it - but it was his style and personality we loved, plus we get 1000 edited images on a CD so I reckon that shows quite a lot of dedication to his work if he's going to edit all that lot!

Plus I managed to persuade him to do us a bit of a deal seeing as I kknow his girlfriend ?

Some good photographers on there ?

It's really not as bad as it sounds - you'll find that there are some photographers you just seem to "like" more than others, possibly before you've even seen their portfolio or price list, and conversely there some you really just won't - we met one at a wedding fair who just seemed downright creepy to us. Oh, and then there's the rude one, etc.

We all make snap judgements every single day about people we've never met before, and it's just part of life... even more important when you might be spending upwards of £1000 on some of the "top of the range" packages.

We've looked at countless numbers online and dismissed some on prices. One guy attched his pricelist and said he would give us £1,000 discount becuase we're having a winter wedding (surprised me cos thats our rough total budget), so held my breath as attachment opened - he wanted £5,000!!! Needless to say i didn't bother emailing back!

We've met with 3 so far, one of whom did seem really nice and down to earth, so thought we had decided but when i went back to his website and looked at the portfolio it wasn't as good as i first thought, so back to square one. Meeting with 1 more next week then no others lined up, so hopefully he will be the one, otherwise we'll have to re-think or maybe up our budget (but god knows where the money will come from, plus i really don't think i'd feel happy about doing it). It's just soo much money, but i do want great pics!! As you can see i'm going round in circles!

I hope you can be more decisive than me!

On the subject of photographers turning down work...lucky them.

A wedding is a living breathing thing. Everything comes together on one day, after months of planning.

Expectations run high and everything needs to run smoothly. If the bride and groom lack confidence in the photographer, or if the photographer lacks confidence and is uncomfortable around the couple then it jeapordizes the photos, some togs see this happening at the initial meeting and turn the job down which is the responsible thing to do.

It's so important that you get on with your photographer(s), so if you don't like them then don't feel bad about dismissing them from your list because of it. At the end of the day they will be with you on one of the most important days of your life, and you want them to add to your day rather than get on your nerves ?

Once you've met with the photographers on your shortlist, if you still can't make your mind up you can always go and speak to some of them again. Your photographs are the one lasting reminder of your wedding day, so it's an important decision for you.

Hope that helps!

Ali x

We made a list based on those photographers whose style we liked. We arranged to visit them and new instantly that they were the ones for us. Pretty much all of our planning has gone this way, all fairly organic.

I'm with Chris Giles on the turning away work thing. In the same way a couple ought to go with a photographer they have faith in, a photographer (imho) ought to take into account the people approaching them. In my business, I won't work with people who I think might damage my brand, regardless of what they will pay me.

I do agree that in aj's case it sounds as if that photographer was just rude but then you get rude people in all professions and all walks of life.

I'm in the Teesside area and I just googled 'Teesside photographers' looked at tons of websites, marked down the ones the fit our budget and that I like the pictures of and arranged meetings with them all. I've only seen one, and have two more appointments in the next week.

Our budget is only around £800 and I want an album for that so I haven't got a massive selection to choose from.

I found it a very fustrating business too! Its my personal opinion that there is a lot of amatuers out there. (most of whom usually do titled photos - which I feel is some kind of techinique they use to make up for the poorness of their photography, and doesn't really work)

After looking at maybe a 100! photographers, I iniitally broke it down to those who offered a mix of the style and professional looking work that I was after.

From there I then filtered out those that were too expensive.

Then speaking to some of them, I got rid of those that gave me an awful hard sell, or didn't seem to know what they were talking about, or couldn't give me any real indication of their experience, or just had a personality I didn't like.

This just left me with two or 3 and I met only one, choosing the one who was clearly the most experienced and professional.

I'm very happy with my choice, I'm confident I've got a great photographer and everytime I visit his site and see the new work he'd put up, I'm always amazed by it. He put Geri Halliwell up a about 3 weeks ago, and I just read that he photographed Prince and Princess Michael of Kent.

You have to be confident with a photographer of that calibre, and he was extremly reasonably priced.

I can give you his link if you like.

Have a look at our site ... our family live in Teesside so we could cover your day, and have an album package in your budget x