Would you book your photographer without meeting them?

Have you seen their work online? Have you read a lot of reviews on them? It would definitely depend on the specifics of the situation. It'd be hard for me to trust someone I haven't met with that important of a task unless there really was good things to back it up. The fact they're lower their prices so much makes me kind of question them, honestly.

The reason they gave for lowering the prices were because we are not getting married til September 2013 and it's off-peak.

I've seen a heap of their work online.

These are the two photographers we are deciding between:

http://pinterest.com/casey1990/photographers/

In that case, why the rush? Wait until October/whenever you're able to meet them. And you have two photographers you're trying to decide between? So, if the other one gets booked, you already have a backup plan.

Nope. My FH and I got second place in a wedding photographer's proposal contest, and won a $600 voucher. Her pictures looked nice online, and we figured that we'd be getting a great price, so we were going to go with her. When we met with her, however, we weren't very impressed. My FH hated her albums that she brought with her. He said that they reminded him of hairstyle albums that you'd see in salons in the early 90s. He felt like she should've been showcasing her best work to us, and the stuff that she showed up with was mediocre at best. We brought some of the same pictures that she had online, but whatever reason, they looked worse in person.

You have plenty of time to meet with photographers. I wouldn't be too rash and just go with one you find online.

Whatever you do, get it all in writing!

I feel that the relationship between a couple and their photographer is extremely personal. You need to make sure that you are comfortable with them and I feel like any online company promoting generic photography is going to be very impersonal.

They'll write all the things you want to hear online so that you'll put a deposit down.

You won't be able to judge if your personalities mesh well together (between you both as a couple and your photographer) unless you meet in person.

Hold off for now. You have the time to wait and be picky.

I'd wait. Get the date settled, first.

And remember, on the day of you will be interacting directly more with your photog than nearly anyone else. The florist, the dj, the caterer, etc., all will be there, and you'll maybe have 5 minutes of conversation with each. But the photog will be talking with you pretty much the whole day. If you and the photog don't get along, it can make for a tiring day.

We are actually going to have a Skype session with our photographer. She lives near our venue, which is 5 hrs away from us and we aren't planning on being in the area for at least another month so this is the best option for us. We have easy access to any of her wedding portfolios on-line, her reviews are great, her pricing is straight forward. For us we figure we will know after the Skype session if we "click", and we'll get together and meet her the next time we are in the area. However we are really impressed by her work and with the wedding a little over 8 months out it's time to start booking some vendors!

Is your photographer getting inquiries for your date yet, if not I'd hold off and meet them at the end of the year, unless you feel comfortable with a Skype type session or a phone meeting.

We have our photographer booked... never met them. We've exchanged a large amount of emails though. Also have looked through their photos and they're not bad.

However, we do plan on possibly doing some engagement pictures with them... so we'll meet them then.

I wouldn't, and because your date is not until 2013, chances are you will be able to book them in a couple of months too. You could also *meet* them through Skype maybe?

I agree w/everyone else. I was very weary of our photographer at first, I mean I liked his work, but I was skeptical because he was much cheaper than the others. But it wasn't until I met him that I decided on him. He was great in person, and I loved his work in his albums. I understood why he was cheaper, as he explained it to me. And he has been wonderful with communication and coming to our venue beforehand to see it, see lightning, etc.. ever since.

I think meeting w/him the photographer is very important. You want to get a feel for them as they do you

We booked our photographers and paid them off and we still haven't met them. We have spoken on the phone tons of times and we are on each others Facebooks. In fact, my FI plays Xbox with one of the photographers. FI, redid their whole website design so I feel like we are super close. When we finally meet them, hopefully this November, I know we will all click.

Nope, no way, na ah. I absolutely MUST meet them and see at least 2 full shoots of their past wedding shoots. Remember also, typicallly in photography you get what you pay for so unless you've investigated their work, seen more than just their favorite choice photos and know for a fact that you love their work, don't do it.

You have plenty of time.wait until you meet with them. they don't show you all their work online just the best.

Please go meet them first! They will be a HUGE part of your big day, you want to make sure they're a good fit. We literally fell in love with our photographers- when we met them, we just knew. And now we've become really good friends with them and we're going to a party at their house next weekend! It's really important to make sure you click with them, I'd just wait.

We did!...We plan to sit down with him before hand and discuss our desired photos. We viewed his work online!

My daughter and her FH are planning their Philly area wedding from Windermere, Florida. Obviously, I am the hands on person. I have advised my daughter to meet with her photographer first. Yes, you can get a sense of their style by looking at their portfolio. You can also find out what other brides think about their work. However, imho, especially in my daughter's case, after the wedding planner from her venue and the DOC the vendor provides, this is the single most important person to both her FH and her. Photography is foremost in both her and her FH's list of wedding priorities. They are picture people. They both need to know if there is rapport, and if they like his/her personalitly.

I advised the same for the DJ. She needs to meet with him/her and see if she likes his personality.

I understand you are excited and trying to lock some things down for your wedding... however, it is two years away and it seems that you are going through a lot right with moving and trying to secure locations and dates... it doesnt make any sense to me to put a deposit on a photographer right now. just mho.

Since you're date isnt until 2013, no I wouldn't. I'd just wait till you could meet them in person. I doubt they'd book your date so soon. Though, you tell them that and let the photographer know that if they do get someone seriously looking at that date to let you know and maybe then it might be worth putting a deposit down.

I just know that 1 photographer I met with I was pretty impressed with online and so was my mom and she was impressed with him talking on the phone, but once we actually met, I was soooo not impressed with him. There were a number of red flags and I chose not to go with him.

Absolutely not! I would want to make sure I mesh well with the photographer and I can see their work physically in a book and it doesn't look like they stole the images. I had a friend who didn't meet with her photographer and after her wedding had to take the photographer to court because the photos didn't turn out they were all over-exposed. It was bad.