So, you’re engaged, you’ve booked the right wedding venue and now you need to figure out who to choose for your wedding photographer.

Well, if you looked anywhere locally, you’ll find that there are plenty of them out there with a slue of price ranges, styles and offerings.

But how do you choose the right one?

I mean, just about every market in the United States has MORE wedding photographers than they do wedding venues.

Well today, I want to educate you with some information that can help guide you through the process of narrowing the right person down for you and your soon to be spouse.

Before We Start

Whatever you do, don’t hire a fly-by-night person that’s priced so low, it’s too good to be true. Chances are it is and if you book them, you’ll regret it. More about that in a bit.

Wedding Photographer Pricing

First, you need to look for wedding photographers within your price range.

If you post on any Facebook group about weddings, chances are you’re going to get literally everything under the sun when it comes to wedding professionals.

Chances are you are not doing it correctly, asking the right question that is.

When starting your search, you need to be specific in a few things:

• Your budget range

• Style that you’re seeking

• Your specific wedding date

If you don’t know your budget range, use the tool we created below to get that number.

Be Specific In Your Query Search

Here is an example of a bad question to ask on a wedding forum or Facebook Group.

“In search of a wedding photographer for our wedding in August, looking for someone affordable”

Be as detailed as you can like this instead.

“Seeking a wedding photographer for our August 23rd wedding. We want someone who does dark and moody, with at least 5 years experience and we have a budget range of $2,000-$2,400.”

See the more specific you are, the more likely you are to get the types of vendors that fit into your mold. What you are doing is making a funnel to help narrow down your search for a wedding photog.

A couple of things to not here, you want someone with at least 3+ years experience and that’s because of the burn-out rate many people often experience working in the industry.

Someone long term will be able to provide a better experience than someone whos new and just looking to make a short term buck then move onto something else.

Because the industry is over saturated, you tend to find many people offering “professional” work for a small price, say $300-1,000 for their work.

Well, if they did say 30 weddings at $500 each, their yearly income would amount to just $15,000.

You literally could make more working full-time at a fast food restaurant if you wanted too.

After a handful of years, they see that they are not making any money and tend to bail out of the industry.

Those that are longer than 5 years will most likely remain in the business for the long haul and that’s that you want.

Someone with several years’ experience under their belt because WHEN something goes wrong (and TRUST ME, stuff happens at weddings even when they are planned to the nines), those real professionals will know HOW to handle an issue and correct it with ease.

Again, this should be a simple process of just asking how long they have been in business.

Now, don’t get me wrong, I know many people with less than 5 years’ experience that offer great work, but what if they went out of business say next year after you got married and you lost your USB and needed a replacement.

Or what if something happened and with only 2 years’ experience, they didn’t know how to correct the issue on the fly? Well, I’ve seen this happen before, so just be aware.

Having the experience will also generally mean that they will have the quality that you’re looking for in the wedding industry.

Basically, experience translates into quality most times and quality translate into higher pricing. They are called the three elements of choosing a wedding vendor and together they will have shape whom you hire.

Professional vs. Amateur Photographer

Honestly, its going to be hard to tell the difference between what a professional rock as far as a camera vs. an amateur use, many low-end cameras ‘look’ much like a high-end camera.

So, how can you tell the difference?

Well, it’s going to be be four key elements that help determine what makes a great professional.

Price, their experience, the quality of work and the value they bring to the table all make an impact in choosing the right person for your wedding.

Price Is Important

Let’s say for a minute that you’re having a $25,000 wedding.

Are you going to seek a $500 photographer?

Of course not!

On the same hand, would you choose a $10,000 photographer for that wedding?

Again, no, you’re going to find someone of value, but within YOUR price range. Price is determined by that budget number you used earlier and NOT what everyone else if paying for their wedding photog.

What is affordable to you, may or may not be the same to the couple down the street.

Seek someone in YOUR budget range and you will have 25% of your search done.

Experience Matters

The MORE experience someone has at something, the more professional they will be.

In turn, the less mistakes they typically make at a wedding, like missing the first kiss or bouquet toss for example.

In terms of that experience, 3-5 years or more is something you want to seek, the longer the better.

Those with less than 3 years experience can still do great work, however, they are typically still learning the craft of photography, weddings and how they operate and will tend to make more mistakes.

Value-Added Services

Seek businesses that offer value, and not emotion.

The wedding industry uses a lot of emotion to make you ‘feel’ good in order to get your money, nothing wrong with that, just keep in your mind that wedding vendors and weddings, it’s a business transaction.

Along with that, seek vendors that offer value.

Things like a guarantee, warranty and free gifts are things that add value to their services. It could be added time, prints, a second photographer or any number of things in a package or service.

Quality

Finally, quality is another important piece of the puzzle.

That means good quality images that are clear when you print them in a larger size, the style, filters and everything they do is of a quality that you enjoy.

In part, that means having the right equipment too.

Someone that costs $3,000 for example will not have a $500 starter camera and someone that’s $500 for the day is not going to have a full-frame camera that costs thousands of dollars either.

You’ll need to ask what types of cameras they use, if they have backup systems, lights, batteries and even systems that use two card slots instead of one.

Here are a couple of examples that professionals will use.

My advice is to stay within those four keys listed above and you shouldn’t have any issues with hiring someone with good gear.

Cheap cameras produce bad images in low light where as a professional camera is going to excel at low light conditions. TRUST me, you NEED a great low light camera/lens combo.

One Final Thought

Finally, when you’re looking for someone to hire, see if they have a great personality. Either meet them in person or chat with them via phone or online chat if possible.

You WANT someone that offers great communication skills as well as someone that’s fun to work with in the process.

PART of what you’re looking for too is the overall experience of what they bring to the table in their work.

You might find someone with great images but have a horrible attitude and that’s NOT someone you want to work with, after all it’s YOUR wedding day.

Find someone that will be happy, cheerful and very easy to work with in the process and you will be just fine.