As I am sure you have heard one of the most important details in wedding planing is photography! Jason and I were no exception to that notion. After all you only get this opportunity once in life (although our society says otherwise)! About a day after Jason proposed, I began the hunt of shopping around for wedding photographers. Considering that I love getting my picture taken as well as weddings, I already had a list of photographers in mind. However, I found it very interesting as to how difficult it was to choose. All of the photographers offered such different styles, price points and packages. Any who, I share all of that to say that I ended up working with 3 different photographers during Jason and I’s engagement and I could not be happier with that decision. For our initial engagement session we worked with the lovely Tarashton Photography of Valdosta, Georgia. Tara is a photographer who has a niche for natural light and all things vintage! She is great at making the session fun and effortless! For my bridal session I had the opportunity to work with the amazingly talented Anna Kinchen of Anna Kinchen Photography. Words cannot even explain how much I adore the photos from my session with her. Let me put it this way…the photos are magazine worthy. And lastly, we worked with Bryan Minear Photography of Detroit, Michigan for our formal engagement session and the wedding. We have absolutely loved working with him. With Bryan you get a great balance of natural light photography along with some abstract lighting concepts.
So as you can see we had a great deal of variety! In hopes of simplifying your wedding photography process here are a couple of things to keep in mind while shopping around and a list of great wedding photographers.
Wedding Photography Tips:
1. Know your budget! If you find a photographer you love, but they aren’t in your price point…just keep it moving! No need to even begin the process of dreaming on how to make it work. Weddings are expensive enough. Save yourself the extra burden.
2. Know what type of products you would like post wedding! Often times having a little list of products you desire will help you select a package that is best for you!
3. Imagery. Be willing to do a some Pinterest research and find images that you would like to have captured during your special day. This will help the photographer tremendously!
4. Photo Call. Besides the traditional wedding photos, having a photo call sheet will help the photographer to also capture other images you may desire with special friends and family. Be sure to give a copy of this list to your wedding coordinator and hostesses as they can help the photographer pin point people.
5. Be Open! Remember that the photographer is the expert in this department. Be open to their artistry and expertise.
6. Pay It Forward. Often times the photographer can be one of your most expensive vendors. To ensure that they are taken care of as well as to alleviate some of your stress, I highly suggest that you pay in installments once you have secured their services. Writing a check for $3000 all at one time can be daunting especially with all of the last minute wedding expenses that you incur the week before.
Guide to Great Wedding Photographers:
Welp, that’s all folks! Hope you have found something a little helpful 🙂 Oh yes, stay tuned next week as I will be blogging about my experience in working with Anna Kinchen Photography and sharing lots of photos!!!
