Photography questions!

We booked ours 9 months in advance but I’d recommend doing it about a year ahead if possible. (We are having a Sunday wedding so vendors were less busy on our day in general). We are paying $2000 for 2 photographers for 5 hours, and we live in New Jersey (most quotes that I got in our area were like 5k 😩)

I would ask what type of photography style they would identify as (there’s a lot of different styles so you should do some research on that too to figure out what you like!), ask if you’ll have the full rights to the photos, when you’ll receive your photos back, if they’ll need a meal at the reception, how many photos they will give you back (ours said they guarantee at least 100 per hour but usually more), if they charge a travel fee.

Thats all I can think of at the moment!

We paid $1500 for ours. This includes all day coverage, including getting ready time, ceremony, and reception, travel (ceremony is 2.5 hours away), rights to all photos and and engagement shoot. We are in Ohio if that helps. We booked ours about 7 months in advance but our engagement is less than a year. I think most people book most of the vendors further out than that since their engagements are longer. Our photographer went to high school with my FH but before we decided to go with him, I was looking at reviews and their photo galleries. There was one that I loved all of her photos and was set on using her. Then we found ours, who I also love his photos and has great reviews plus my FH knows him. Make sure you ask them what is included (engagement shoot, printing rights or have to purchase prints through them), how many hours of photography they provide, their availability for your wedding day. You’ll find as you talk to vendors you kind of pick up on who you get along with and you don’t too. So make sure you meet with them or at least talk on the phone. Hope that helps! Good luck!

Most packages run $4,000-25,000. Yes area depends on price, as does the amount of time and photos/albums you get back, as well as experience of photographer.

You can look at colleges and modeling websites for Photogs. A lot of them are stunning! Trust me- I model and have had many many wonderful shots from ModelMayhem guys/girls.

Photographer was first vendor I booked. Sometimes they book out a year or more. My photographer is 2000. We have her from 11am-around 8 or 9pm. We have a 2nd photographer from 1230pm-5pm. That included an engagement session. We get all rights to our pictures. We get a 20 page album and all prints on a USB or media gallery. I would ask their style, how many photographers will be there, prices, experience. Ask to see their actual work. Reviews. How long will they be available. Time line long editing and actually receiving your pictures. Plus how do they make you feel.

I contacted my photographer 2 days after I got engaged. Booked her 5 days after we got engaged.
We set our date by her. But I ABSOLUTELY wanted her.
We booked 1 year and 1 month in advance.
Look up their work.
Most photographers have packages. So ask then about their packages and pricing. How many photographers and how many hours of coverage.
I'd also recommend doing your engagement photos with them so you can get comfortable with each other.

I just found a package for photography, video and DJ all for $3000. Photo and video are there from hair and makeup until the last dance and then DJ during ceremony, cocktail hour and reception with no time limit. They edit the photos then mail a tablet with all of them on it. I’m planning to book soon and it’ll be a little more than a year away. I’m booking everything as early as I can so I can get the vendors I really want!

I booked m photographer soon after I got engaged...so a little more than a year out. She’s 3400 for two photographers and 7 hrs. It definitely varies by your area. I’ve seen a range between ****$. I was set on it being under 3500.

Mine is going to be $1100 for 8 hrs, a second shooter, engagement session, and print release for all photos (400+). But this is in central IL. I've seen some packages going upwards of $5000 but I would never pay that much. I would definitely check out their portfolios, Instagrams, Facebook pages, WW pages, and reviews. I already knew my photographer personally so I didn't ask many questions (sorry thats not helpful!). She only allows booking 1 year in advance but many others book up pretty fast, especially if they're popular. So basically, if you find someone you really like, book them ASAP!

I live in California and we payed about 2-3k but it came with an engagement session, 6 hours the day of and and an after session ( the after session allows us to dress up again and take pictures in another beautiful location)

We booked ours 22 months out but that's only because the owner of our venue is our photographer so we booked the venue and photographer at the same time! We asked questions like:

Is there a 2nd shooter?

How many pictures do you take throughout the day?

How do we receive the pictures and how soon after the wedding?

(We are paying $2500 in Upstate NY)

We booked a year and a half in advance, we are June 2020 too. We looked over the packages and picked what fit our needs best. 10 hrs of photography, 100+ edited pictures per hour with full printing access to them and an engagement session. Also a second shooter. We are paying just under $4,000 ( we are in NY).

We didn't really ask them too much, we knew them from shooting a friends wedding and already knew their style and how they worked. I mentioned what kind of pictures I was looking for ( like sunset photos) and they pretty much talked about their work and showed their albums. I showed them my mock time line of the day and they said that it was laid out perfectly and told me what time they would like to arrive and I went from there and chose how long I would want them there for.

There arent really bad questions to ask, whatever comes to mind ask them, its their job.

Our photographer offers a wedding package for $1200 which includes 8 hours and a online gallery of all photos. We only needed her for a few hours and her hourly rate is $200 for the first hour and $150 for every additional hour and $50 for travel (shes coming 3 hours to be at our wedding) Our engagement shoot was $185 but is included if you get her wedding package. We had our engagement shoot in February 2019, wedding is in September 2019. Booked her for both in January 2019.

For the engagement photos, she asked us to send her some inspiration photos before hand and made sure she covered all of our choices then added in some of her favorites.

I booked mine about 10 months out. She is $1500 for 5 hrs.

We booked ours about a little over a year and a half out (I am just super eager to plan and get the major parts together). That being said, we are paying 2400 for all day coverage, engagement shoot, all rights to our photos, two photographers, and a USB of all the pictures.

Average for where we are located is about **** so we actually got lucky!

We booked our photographer about 9 months out. What was most important to us (besides his portfolio and our budget) was the PERSONALITY. If you're not comfortable with this person in a casual sit down, you won't be comfortable with them in your face all day! Price wise, we got ours for SIGNIFICANTLY less than we had budgeted (average for what we wanted was about $1,500, we got ours for $650 for 10 hours, and his package also included engagement photos.) We got RIDICULOUSLY lucky. So I wouldn't say that's typical, but it can happen that you spend less than you thought!

But ask questions about their working style (how do they plan to "be everywhere" without "being seen everywhere." Photographer ninjas are the best), ask what they wear to their events, will they need a meal, how many photographers do they include, what kinds of images do you get - physical, digital, both? How do your guests order copies of photos? Are there restrictions on how you can use them once you get them back? What is their turnaround time? On average how many images do they provide for each wedding? How many hours is their package? Can you upgrade/add hours? Have they shot at your venue before? If they haven't, can they make time to visit and familiarize themselves with it?

But again, the most important thing is their personality. Go with the one that's most compatible with you and makes you feel at ease!

Hey Megan! Have you found any photographers that you are considering booking for your wedding?