It can be overwhelming when picking the right photographer for your wedding. I have written a few times about what questions to ask your photographer before hiring them. In this blog post, we discuss how they approach posing, what it is like to work with them, among other things. And in this blog post, we discuss asking if your wedding date is available, what their editing style is and turnaround time. All very important things. Today I want to get into 5 questions to ask your wedding photographer in Houston. Yes we are getting geographically specific!
5 Questions to Ask Your Wedding Photographer in Houston
Do you have any Experience with Crowded Locations?
Houston has a lot of places to do engagement photos, and a lot of them are crowded on weekends. From the roof on Saks Garage to parks like Hermann Park or McGovern Centennial Gardens, these places are busy for sessions on weekends. Your wedding photographer needs to know secret spots at these places for great photos, or know how to remove people from their photos in post-processing. Ask the photographer how they deal with crowds and ask for galleries in places like these to see what they have delivered in the past.
What is your Plan for Getting Around Multiple Locations?
Houston is huge. Most weddings that are in a church and a reception somewhere else mean there has to be a travel plan on the wedding photographer’s end. Ask about it! Does the second photographer leave the church early to capture reception details? Do they know about events happening in the city that weekend and have a travel plan for it? Do both photographers travel together to the church and reception? Ask them to walk you through a similar wedding scenario so you can gage their past history and confidence in executing it on your wedding day.
How do you handle capturing weddings in the summer heat?
If your wedding in Houston happens between the end of April to October, chances are your wedding day is going to get hot. June to September, your wedding could see triple-digit heat. If your wedding has any portion of it outdoors, your photographer needs to have a plan. Does their gear overheat? If it does, how do they deal with it? What if your photographer or one of their team members overheats? What’s the plan for them? I seasoned photographer will have experienced the Houston heat, learned from it and has a plan to deal with it. My hot summer plan includes things like frozen water bottles, cold comresses and insulated bags. As well as electrolytes so that no one gets dehydrated or passes out.
What is your plan if a hurricane hits the weekend of our wedding?
Ooooohhhh boy. This one is a doozy. Having lived through Harvey and Beryl, I know how tough hurricanes are to predict and how dangerous they can be. This is an unfair question, if I am being honest. In a perfect world, the wedding would be postponed no questions asked for the health and safety of everyone involved. BUT! There are a ton of emotions when it comes to a wedding, and that isn’t as easy a choice as you would think. Even when the couple has wedding insurance, it is so hard to postpone the wedding when you have absolutely no idea how intense the storm will be. It sucks!
What I can tell you is that during Harvey, one of my photographer friends captured a wedding that still happened and they had a really terrible experience. Less than 20 people attended the wedding and the photographer got stranded at the venue for days. With no food. They tried to drive home and had to turn back because of how fast the water was rising. It was one of the worst experiences of their life and had PTSD from the experience.
My advice is to ask if the photographer has had a wedding when a hurricane has hit and what learning lessons they have from it. If you are looking for someone who will risk their lives to capture your wedding like my friend did, I caution you. These vendors have families and this is the reason why you invest in wedding insurance. I would look for a wedding photographer who would be upset but have common sense to keep themselves alive so they can capture your wedding on the postponed date.
What Is Your Favorite Part of a Wedding Day?
One question that isn’t geographically specific but is important. What is it that gets your wedding photographer jazzed about a wedding day? It’s critical to know their favorite part, as it reveals their passion and storytelling approach. Here are some moments that might be their favorite:
- Capturing candid emotions during the vows.
- The energy of the reception dance floor.
- Intimate moments between family and friends.
Understanding what excites them can help you gauge compatibility, particularly in terms of shared values and wedding traditions. Whether they thrive on the quiet beauty of a ceremony or the lively chaos of a party, their enthusiasm will translate into images that will knock your socks off during that particular moment of the day. So if it is important for you to have gorgeous, incredible ceremony photos filled with emotion, then look for that as one of their favorite parts of the day. Are you liking these 5 Questions to ask your wedding photographer in Houston? Are there any you feel I missed? Bonus points if you tell me what part of your wedding day you are most looking forward to in the comments!
Want me to Capture your Wedding?
Love my work? Want me to capture you and yours? Let’s talk!! It’s easy, my email address is [Christine@swishnclick.com](mailto:Christine@swishnclick.com). Let’s have a heart-to-heart, get excited about the possibilities of your wedding or session and come up with a plan that is uniquely you! I want to hear from you.
