What to Ask Your Photographer Before You Hire Them for Your Wedding

Choosing your wedding photographer is the most important decision you will make when wedding planning. It may sound controversial, but after your wedding day, photos (and video) are all you will have left! 

It might feel daunting to figure out how exactly to vet the photographers you’re interested in working with, but it’s all about asking the right questions! 

Not sure what to ask your photographer? I’m here to help! Here’s 5 questions to get you started: 

1. Can we see a couple full galleries?

Seeing a full wedding gallery is the only way to make sure you like your photographer’s editing styles in a variety of lighting scenarios. Sunset portraits look quite different than speeches documented with flash. Often times, a photographer's social media features lots of beautiful, naturally lit images. These are important and a big part of your wedding gallery, but I would advise against hiring a photographer based solely on their highlight reel. 

You can view a full wedding gallery of mine here: Jess + Nick’s Wedding Day 

2. What’s your backup process?

Ensuring your wedding photos stay safe is pretty important. Technology is great, but it can sometimes fail us. Ask your photographer what their backup process is like, so that you know there are steps being taken to ensure you get all of your photos back!

In my opinion, the backup process should start on the wedding day. When I’m photographing a wedding (or any session), I always shoot on two SD cards. That way, if one corrupts, there is a copy of all the images. From there, I backup all the files onto two external hard drives, which are then backed up to the cloud. 

3. How do you document a wedding day?

Every photographer has a different approach to documenting sessions and wedding days! If you are hoping for a more hands-off, documentary approach, but end up hiring a photographer that directs all day long, you may be disappointed with how your day felt and/or how your photos turn out (and vice versa).

When couples ask me this, I explain that I consider myself a documentary style photographer and desire to capture their story as it naturally unfolds. I’ll also use prompts to get my couples interacting, so that I’m capturing real connection and emotion between them versus going down a list of still poses. I desire to leave lots of space for my couples to just be present, while also giving enough direction to make them feel comfortable and confident.

Another note on this topic: if you are hiring a videographer, make sure their shooting/directing style matches your photographer’s style. Having two competing methods will only result in frustration for your video/photo team and you may not get the photos and/or video you were hoping for. For example, if your photographer is documentary style, but your videographer is more hands on (having you do things more than once to get the shot, etc), one of the styles will suffer. 

4. When will we get our photos back?

Clear expectations make the world go round! Turnaround time for galleries can vary between photographers, so make sure to ask each photographer you’re considering. For example, I send sneak peeks within 72 hours and deliver full galleries 8-10 weeks after a wedding day. You’ll find photographers with shorter and longer turn around times. It’s also important that the turnaround time is listed in the contract you sign versus just having a conversation about it, to ensure you really do get your photos back in that timeframe. 

5. Do you charge a travel fee?

Depending on where your photographer is located in comparison to your venue, they may charge a travel fee. I am typically pretty upfront about this, but if you aren’t sure, just ask! The best case scenario is not to have any surprises when you get your invoice.

If there’s something that’s really important to you that I didn't list, make sure you ask those questions, too! It’s your wedding day and it’s important that you love your wedding photographer. 

Thanks for being here! Looking for some more planning tips? Check out my other blog “Wedding Tips for Brides.”