Questions to ask a wedding photographer

Most lists of questions to ask a wedding photographer are long and a little beside the point. Whether someone shoots Canon or Sony does not change your photographs. What does change them is how the photographer works on the day, what they do with the images afterward, what happens when something goes wrong, and what you have actually agreed to on paper. These are the questions we would want a couple to ask us, and why each one matters.

About the day itself

How do you work during the ceremony and reception? You are looking for a description of how they move, not a style label. Some photographers direct constantly. Some are nearly invisible. Neither is wrong, but you should know which one you are getting, because it shapes how the day feels for you and your guests.

Will you be the one photographing our wedding? If a studio works with associate photographers, ask how they are chosen and whether you will meet or see the work of the person on your day. We work as a crew, and we think that is a strength, but you should always know who is holding the camera.

How do you handle family portraits? A good answer involves a list built in advance, a person on your side who knows the family, and a plan for how long it will take. A vague answer here often means a chaotic thirty minutes on the day.

What happens if it rains? In the Pacific Northwest this is not hypothetical. Listen for whether they sound comfortable or resigned.

About who is behind the camera

How many weddings have you photographed? Experience is not everything, but a photographer who has worked through a hundred wedding days has stopped being surprised by them.

What is your plan if you are ill or unable to come on the day? Every photographer should have a real answer. For a studio with a crew, the answer is built in. For a solo photographer, it should be a specific colleague, not a hope.

Can we see a full gallery, not just highlights? A highlight reel shows the best fifty images from twenty weddings. A full gallery shows the four hundred images from one, including the reception at 9 p.m. with no window light. That is the honest picture.

About backup and gear

Do you shoot to two memory cards at once? Most professional cameras write to two cards simultaneously, so a card failure does not lose the ceremony. This is a small question that says a lot.

Do you bring backup equipment? A second body, spare lenses, and lights. Gear fails. The question is whether the day continues when it does.

What happens to the images the night of the wedding? The answer you want is that the cards are copied to at least two places before anyone sleeps.

About delivery

When will we see something? Some photographers deliver a preview within a day or two. Some go quiet for weeks. Know which before the wedding, so you are not refreshing your inbox. We deliver a 20 to 30 image preview within 24 hours.

When will we receive the full gallery, and roughly how many images? Delivery windows vary from a couple of weeks to several months. The number of images varies just as widely, from under two hundred to over a thousand. Neither extreme is a red flag, but you should know what you are getting. Our galleries are typically 250 to 450 curated images within one to two weeks.

Are the images edited, and what does that mean? Some studios color-correct every image and retouch a handful. Some retouch nothing. Ask what is standard and what costs extra.

Can we print the photographs ourselves? A full print release means you can print anywhere, at any size, forever. Without it, you may be buying prints from the photographer at a markup. Every one of our collections includes a full print release.

About the archive

How long do you keep our images? This is the question almost nobody asks and the one you may care most about in ten years. Gallery links expire. Hard drives fail. Ask whether the photographer keeps a copy after delivery, for how long, and where.

How many copies, and where are they? The standard in archiving is three copies, on two kinds of storage, with one copy somewhere else. We follow it for every wedding, and in more than fifteen years we have never deleted an image. Couples can also request a raw archive drive of their own.

If we lose our files, can we get them again? The answer should be yes, and it should not be complicated.

About the contract

What does the retainer reserve, and is it refundable? A retainer typically holds your date and is typically non-refundable, because the photographer has turned away other work for that day. Know which it is.

What is the cancellation and rescheduling policy? Ask specifically about a date change, since that has become common. Some studios move the retainer to the new date if they are available. Some do not.

Who owns the copyright, and what can we do with the images? In the United States the photographer usually retains copyright and grants you a license to print and share. That is normal. What you want to see spelled out is what the license allows.

Will you use our photographs for marketing? Most photographers do, and most couples are fine with it, but you should be able to say no.

Is overtime available, and what does it cost? If the dance floor is still full when coverage ends, you want to know the answer before that moment, not during it.

The question underneath all of these

Do you feel calmer after talking with this person? Your photographer will be beside you for more of your wedding day than almost anyone else. If the conversation leaves you feeling steadier about the day, that is worth as much as any answer above.

If you would like to ask us any of these directly, tell us about your day here.