Photographers

Check out reviews, especially on social media (they have control of any that appear on their own website, so those aren't quite so valuable!)

Are they suspiciously cheap? Do they have a website as well as social media? If not, they might be very new/doing it as a side hustle.

Do they have a good range of photos, taken at all times of year/types of lighting? No point having a photographer who takes fab photos in sunshine if it's really grey and rainy on your wedding day! Ask to see whole wedding galleries, not just selected shots - it's easy to look good if you are just picking one or two good shots from each wedding!

Keep an eye on the brides and grooms too - I've seen one website where the 'weddings' were obviously staged photoshoots, because it was the same bride with a different dress and hairstyle at multiple 'wedding's! Also be suspicious of anyone claiming to have been photographing weddings for years but only has photos from one or two weddings showing online. Or ones where the angles look wrong - e.g. bride and groom never looking direct at the camera, being photographed from behind a pillar etc - anything that looks like the person taking the photo wasn't the official photographer.

If you're on social media, it might be worth putting a post on your local community page asking for recommendations. If multiple people are saying that x did an amazing job photographing their wedding, it's a fairly good indication they were ok!

Sorry I was too lazy to properly post but RGS has done all the work for me and is spot on with everything.

A couple of other things. "We have been involved in the industry x amount of years" - is not the same as been photographing weddings x amount of years. also if someone says been shooting weddings for 5 years you basically have to take 2 years off as almost nothing happened over covid.

All of those "as featured in" badges, just means that they have paid to advertise on that site which are basically wedding directories who make their money from advertisers. Another one is "multi award winning" these are usually from places known for giving everyone who pays to enter a regional finalist winner badge.

The thing with a facebook ask is that you will get 140 replies pretty much with different names, I can guarantee that there are not 140 professional wedding photographers on that list.

Also look out for ones willing to travel 3 hours to shoot your wedding, why do they need to travel that far for work, are they desperate to build a portfolio or desperate for your money. What happens when there is an accident on the 2 hour motorway journey and the road is blocked.

Other warning signs are - no contract, or asking for full payment in exchange for a discount.

Sometimes just googling their real name - not the name they work under can reveil a lot about someone perhaps saying that are a full time photographer yet linkedin says different.

"The thing with a facebook ask is that you will get 140 replies pretty much with different names, I can guarantee that there are not 140 professional wedding photographers on that list."

Good point - I was forgetting that a lot of people live in big towns or cities. The places I've lived tend to be more rural, with the local community page centred around a small market town. Ask for wedding photographer recommendations there and you'll get maybe a maximum of 10 different names and 3 or 4 will crop up multiple times. But I can see how that is not going to work in larger places!

I see its very much dependant on where you live, on my local one right now there are 90 recommendations.

Real reviews and honest recommendations is the only way. Sadly business can by reviews online too, especially on facebook, which makes it even more interesting and frustrating. I usually showcase my latest wedding I've photographed to couples, the whole thing, not just the highlights, this builds up trust and a complete understanding of what to expect - maybe you could ask potential photographer to do the same.