How did you choose your photographer?

Twenty one isn't narrow; I'd really try to winnow it down because you can't possibly interview 21 of anything without getting shell shock.

"Clicking" is important, but the most important thing is that you love the photos and can afford them. Their outlook needs to match what you want; lots of posed/styled shoot photos or true photo journalism? What is their outlook? Who has worked at your venue before?

@Celia I know I'm really trying to narrow things down. It went down from 58 potential photographers.. I did think about maybe I should go by photographers that worked at the venue previously or see if they have a second photographer? I'm expecting 100-150 guests so I'm not sure if second photographer would be as important?

21 is a high number. My final decision came down to style, budget, and that he has worked at our venue tons of times. He knows where to go. So there won't be any "wasted time" during the group pictures, etc. If I were you, I'd remove some that you are having second thoughts about and someone who hasn't worked at your venue before.

Style, cost, chemistry.

You don't NEED two shooters for a wedding that size. I'm choosing to have two shooters because we'll be getting ready pics and we'll be at two different locations. Also, during the ceremony I'm interested in getting two different angles for the pics.

Wow that's a lot of photographers! My venue is pretty big and has a lot of hidden opportunities for unique pictures

I made sure to hire someone who knows the venue

My rule is that if I email them and they take more than two days to respond they're automatically off the list. Them narrow it down from there.

One of my really good friends is an amazing photographer, naturally I wanted her. the only draw back, is I wanted her there as a guest too. so, I have in my contract that she won't need to shoot anything after dinner, that way she can enjoy herself.

I was going to say "Where do you live that 21 is "narrowed" down and you had 58 options to start with?!", then I saw you live in Maryland... DMV area, lol.

Well, obviously loving their photos and feeling passionate about them is most important. Being within your budget is also important. Clicking with and getting along well with your photographer is one of the most important factors, I believe. You said you're having your wedding in a different state, but you can still talk with them on the phone to get a feel for their personality. Have you emailed or talked with any of them, or did you go by online submission forms/availability forms? Make sure to communicate with them - either call or email. You can still tell a lot by a person in the way he or she communicates... Do they respond in a timely manner? Are they detailed in what they say or ask? Do they ask you questions or only give you answers for what you ask? Do they make more of an effort to get to know you and what you're looking for, or do they seemed rushed just to respond and not really see/value you as an individual customer?

You can probably tell communication is important to me. It is. I find it to be the most important aspect of customer service So hopefully you can get a feel for these photographers' customer service and communication and narrow it down even more.

As a wedding gift to me she's bringing a second shooter, providing a printed album, and giving me the platinum package, for the bronze package price.

I looked at styles. Then I looked at pricing. I loved one in particular, stalked her IG and then decided it was worth being over budget for. I'm very happy with our choice especially after our mini session.

I narrowed it down to a small group that I liked, and then I had my sister who's an artist look at them to tell me what she thought. I knew she'd see things that I didn't. We ended up agreeing on our favorite, I liked her at our meeting, and we booked her right after it. Having a second shooter was important to me for the getting ready photos and having different angles at the ceremony, so I definitely looked for that.

The more options there are, the more overwhelming it is. You just need to go with your gut and narrow your list down even further since 21 people would only make things more confusing - not to mention you would waste so much time!

As @baranpartyof2 said, look at the ones on your list who have done weddings at your venue before. That was one of the main reasons we chose our photographer. We were having both ceremony and reception at our winery venue and knew our photographer knew of the best places to take photos on the property. That way we would not have to scout out spots ourselves.

I narrowed them down to 3 photographers and the sent the websites to my parents. My dad has always been into photography and has an eye for it. I trust his judgement and he helped me pick based on aesthetics.

I looked at a ton of photographers online, saved the ones I liked, then kept trimming down that list. I ended with 6 photographers that I reached out to about pricing and package information. It's definitely a combination of style, price, and how you click with your photographer!

Good lord there aren't even 21 photographers even remotely close to my area and within my price range. I started with 10, I think. I emailed those 10. I got 4 or 5 saying they were booked/unavailable. 3 never replied. The last 2 were just between who FH and I preferred. We ended up going with my choice, though lol

Could you ask your venue what photographers they recommend? Have checked reviews of all of the photographers on your list? Ultimately, we chose our because we connected instantly. She felt more like a friend than my photographer. It was also a bonus that my venue highly recommended her! Good luck!!!

ETA: Spelling

Lol yes that's the thing. I live in NYC where I thought we had many choices but to find out DMV area has massive number of photographers as well! Thanks for all the tips. Definitely I'll sit down, look at their portfolios, pricing, see if they worked at our venue and narrow down as much as I can. And hopefully from there I can toss the list to my FH and my sister to help me out.

Wow 21 is a lot. I narrowed it down to 2 based off of the style we were looking for and the cost. From there, we talked to both over the phone and decided which one would be the best fit.

WOW I couldn't even find 5 vendors I really liked, let alone 21. For me... I would always go with the least expensive, if you really like all of them that much. I mean, you gotta start narrowing it down methodically at this point.

I would ask which ones have worked with your other vendors before. My officiant and DJ have worked together which is really helpful, and my photographer had worked at my venue before so they knew all the good spots to take photos in... stuff like that. Ask more specific questions, like, see which ones will be really flexible. Read their reviews and just drop off the lowest 10.

IDK I think you're overthinking it, chica.