You’re planning your wedding and you are about to hire a wedding photographer. Where do you start when it comes to finding out if they are the perfect fit for you and your fiancé? Today I want to talk about 5 questions to ask your wedding photographer that I haven’t touched on yet. The good news is that this is a frequent topic I talk about; you can read 15 Essential Questions to ask your Wedding Photographer as well as Questions to Ask your Wedding Photographer. Both are super helpful! And as couples change, as well as weddings, I always like to add to this topic.
5 Questions to Ask your Wedding Photographer
Is my Wedding Date Available?
The most important question you could ask if you specifically want the main photographer to capture your wedding. Some photographers have teams who work for them and you’re not always guaranteed to have the photographer you want. So if you have your heart set on the main photographer, make sure to ask if they specifically will be capturing your wedding.
What is Your Editing Style?
I want to preface this by saying editing style is part of the art that wedding photographers create. And it is not appropriate to ask your photographer to change how they edit. This is why asking your potential wedding photographer for full galleries is so important; you need to see how they edit in all lighting scenarios.
Now back to the topic at-hand. To simplify this, there are 3 main editing styles: dark and moody, clean and classic or light and airy. Dark and moody has a to of contrast, is more yellow/warm in tone, leans into shadows and can have a vintage feel to it. Colors are deeper and darker, and a darker wedding venue will capture beautifully with this style. A great example of the dark and moody look is Jamie Harden Photography.
My editing style is clean and classic. This style shows the day off as it looks. It is nice and bright, but the highlights are not blown out. The skin tones and colors of the linens and napkins are reflective of the wedding day. The images are not too yellow or blue, they simply look even and clean. There is a distinct effort to not lose any detail in these images, as they reflect the day as it was seen.
Lastly, there’s the light and airy editing style. This style is similar to clean and classic, but brighter. The highlights in these images are raised up, as well as the whites. The colors are muted a bit and contrast is lowered as well. A lot of film photographers lean in the the light and airy look. A lot of photographers I know who edit in this style prefer natural light to achieve their look and avoid using flash as much as possible. One of my favorite light and airy photographers are Eric and Jen Photography. Their work is a wonderful example of this style.
One last style I want to talk about is what I refer to as “Latte Style Editing”. This is a hybrid between dark and moody and clean and classic. The images are desaturated, skin tones lack color (they kind of make your skin light brown) and the colors in general look muted and strange. I will say the images look great with flash photography. Do I think this style will age well? I honestly don’t. If your photographer is making you look unlike yourself, then I worry about the longevity of that image aging well. A great example of this is Type & Timber.
Does the Price Include Retouching?
Let’s talk about retouching is before getting into this question. Retouching isn’t how the photographer edits their photos, this is whether they are going in and doing extra work to remove things like bruises, blemishes, wrinkles or making someone look thinner. This is something above and beyond and a lot of photographers charge extra for doing this (including myself). The thing is, is that your wedding day is being documented as-is, so for photographers to go in and smooth skin, remove wrinkles, etc it would be disingenuous to the day. Of course, you can ask your photographer to retouch certain photos, but be prepared for them to charge for these requests.
Do you Have a Travel Fee?
A lot of wedding vendors charge a travel fee. Make sure to ask where they are located and when the travel fee kicks in. There is no set standard for this, so every vendor will be different.
What is your Turnaround Time?
Just like a travel fee, the turnaround time for getting your full gallery doesn’t have a set standard in the industry. I know photographers who get them to you within 4 weeks or less, others are up to 12 weeks. More popular photographers have a higher likelihood of taking longer due to how many weddings they capture. My contract gives me up to 8 weeks to deliver the gallery, but I work my butt off to deliver well under that.
So in this 5 questions to ask your wedding photographer list, which one is your favorite? Or do you think is the most important?
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. 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!
