Your wedding day is full of amazing moments which you would love to keep in your hearts and minds for the rest of your life. But as time goes by and although nothing can truly replace your own memories your photos can transport you back to that time and refresh what might’ve become a distant memory to one that feels like it happened just moments ago. Hiring a professional wedding photographer who can capture those moments of your special day for you to remember facilitates this transportation and tells your story like a fairytale come true. So without further ado.
When organising our wedding we remember every small detail; we want the food to taste great, the cake should look amazing, the band/DJ should play fantastic music and there should be enough alcohol for everyone. But on the day after what actually remains? The last bits of decorations, leftovers of balloons, dirty dishes, and for many guests (bride and groom not excluded) a hangover! But what stays with the bride and groom? Aside from the bespoke rings and a marriage document, there is perhaps only a large bill and precious memories in their minds. That’s why most of us hire a wedding photographer which has a lot of experience in this kind of profession, who will be able to capture all of those details for which we pay so much money. The photos which we receive should stay with us till the end of our days, and those photos will have the incredible power to transport us back to that special day every time we look at them.
On the wedding day, everything should go according to plan, especially at the ceremony. There is no time for rehearsals or setting up. The wedding photographer should know where to stand and what to do in order to take the best photos while not breaking the ambience of the moment. If we decide to ask a friend or amateur to take photos we are risking not only the quality of the photos but also the decorum and professionalism of the situation where someone may not realise that the job they are doing creates photos that will be very precious and that it is a day when bride and groom are the most important people and it may embarrass them to observe a person running around trying to achieve “professional” shots without knowing where to begin. A professional wedding photographer should not only know but be ready to set different settings with their equipment according to the situation of the light in a matter of seconds, there is no time for learning on the job or wondering what will work best, there is just knowledge and experience which a photographer can only get by taking many many photos.
A professional wedding photographer is ready for every situation, he knows what kind of photos should be sent to his clients and what he should look after. There won’t be questions about what is happening next or what time is cake arriving; he would’ve asked for the plan/schedule weeks ago and would’ve memorised it to the minute. Your wedding day is a time for fun and joy; it is not a day to run around in your hand-selected bespoke wedding dress and check how the kitchen is working if the band is ready to play, or to ask how the photos are looking and to remind the photographer to take photos of this or that. It just causes more stress, which is why you should hire someone who knows what to do to save you time and energy on this special day.
Many wedding photographers charge per hour, and to me, that is already a sign that that is not a professional photographer. If he has been working as a wedding photographer for years, he should know that there are situations that cannot be predicted. Perhaps the bride will change her hair, there may be traffic, perhaps the kitchen has delays, etc. What happens in these situations? Of course, you will need to pay for those extra hours, or you can expect the photographer to leave promptly because that’s what his contract says. An experienced and professional wedding photographer will book and attend the whole day of your wedding. No matter what the contract says, he will go on until the end of the night and ask if there is more he can do if there are any surprises to occur in the future that he should stay for so that he may capture it. This shows that this person is the right person to choose.
What is the most important reason for choosing exactly whom you will hire on your wedding day? You choose your chef according to how his food tastes, and the band by the kind of music they play, so why would you hire a photographer based on the rate of what he charges instead of his photos? If at the end of the day, all you want is a few photos to commemorate the day and hang them above your fireplace then that is fine. But no matter what school he attended or what kind of equipment he is using, only by looking at his portfolio and meeting your photographer you can decide if is he the right person to hire. Money is one thing, and there will always be people who charge more or less but remember that this is the person who will capture photos and you don’t want to regret paying a little more for the peace of mind that you have made the right choice and can put your faith in this person.
I hope this article helps you out with making up your mind and deciding to hire a professional wedding photographer. You can find more great tips on my website, for example, if you want to make sure that your future husband is on point with all your planning tell him to read my ultimate wedding tips for groom. Definitely, he will use at least three of them!
