Planning a wedding is hard work, and there are so many small, little details to work out. So you have good reason to be fearful of hiring a wedding photographer. Chances are you have read the horror stories of photographers not showing up, canceling at the last minute, etc.
Well let me put you at ease by addressing your fears.
If you’re hiring a professional wedding photographer chances are they have a second shooter built into their base collection. I know I do. I show up at least 1 hour early so I can spend time photographing the bridal details. Then my attention is solely focused on the bride & her girls. Then my attention gets redirected to focusing solely on the bride & groom during the ceremony, and my second shooter will capture expressions of the bridal party & family members in the crowd. Before the ceremony my 2nd shooter helps to capture ceremony site details, & we both work on reception details.
If you want all your special details captured, make sure your photographer has a second shooter in the base collection, & will provide you with a wedding timeline. Timelines are crucial to capturing detail images.
I still can’t believe I’ve witnessed stories like that. If you’re hiring a professional, they will show up. If they have an extreme emergency come up, such as they are in the hospital, they should have their systems set up to have someone else cover your wedding.
Make sure to ask your photographer if they have someone who could cover them in case of an extreme emergency.
This is why looking at websites is so important. You want to make sure the work you are receiving is quality work. After all this is YOUR big day, and you want to look back on your big day with love, not regret.
This is just one reason why I love meeting brides in person. I love to be able to show them full galleries of my wedding work.
For me this is so so so important! Planning a wedding is stressful enough, so don’t work with someone that you are not 100% comfortable around. Before you book, make sure to check out their social media accounts, and their about me page on their website.
You want to find connection points. For example, a lot of my brides connect with me over my love for sweet tea, and Gilmore Girls. 🙂
This is a big fear of mine too. I can’t speak for other photographers, but I can tell you what I do to prevent this from happening. I come home & upload all images straight away to my computer, then I back everything up on my External Hard Drive, & I never delete the wedding images off my SD card until I have delivered the full gallery to my clients.
Malfunctions do happen, but if you have great back-up systems in place, this shouldn’t be a problem at all.
I really hope this blog has helped ease some of your fears about hiring a wedding photographer. Having someone else who is in your corner is the most peaceful feeling in the world.
Love,
Hope*