You love their photography style, they’re intimately familiar with your wedding venue, you get along great, and the price is right. So what more do you need to ask a prospective wedding photographer? While all of the above points are important, there are some more in-depth technical questions to ask before you sign a contract to ensure that your day goes off without a hitch—and that memories of your day will be safely preserved forever.
Wedding photographer Daniel Nydick of Daniel Nydick Photography, based in Scotch Plains, NJ, shared these must-ask questions…along with the appropriate responses.
Questions for Every Wedding Photographer:
Are you a registered business?
An experienced, reputable wedding photographer will be registered in the state of New Jersey or whichever state they’re from. I’m personally an LLC.
Do you have insurance? What’s your liability coverage?
My liability coverage is $2,000,000. Venues at times ask to be added as an additional insured for the day. It costs your photographer nothing to do that. Your venue may also require a higher liability amount, and most insurance companies charge nothing or next to nothing to do that.
How many cameras do you bring?
Two minimum should be their answer. I bring three.
Do your cameras have multiple card slots? Do you save RAW files to both cards?
Multiple card slots ensure that each snap of the shutter is written to and saved on two separate memory cards; in case one card corrupts, your images are still safe on the second card.
How do you back up our images?
Do they live on your computer (wrong answer) or do you have multiple backups in case one corrupts? Redundant external drives and cloud storage are what make it possible for my Mac to take a leap in the lake without me missing a beat.
What happens if you get sick or hurt on our big day?
This is why I personally work with second shooters who understand the way I approach caring for my couples and the style of work my couples love me for. I’m sure you’d rather still have a photographer than receive a partial refund from your photographer’s insurance company for the portion of the day they missed, right?
Can you show me complete weddings galleries?
Request to see complete galleries, as this will obviously contain images from the second shooter as well. It’s incredibly important to not just focus on the 10 or so images that are being heavily curated and you should be able to see what an entire day looks like.
Do you offer flexible payment schedules?
It never hurts to ask!
What is your turnaround time?
When can you expect to receive sneak peeks and when you will receive the full gallery? Are these dates included in the contract? It’s always best to specifically state all details in the contract so there are no misunderstandings a month…or three…after your wedding.
Do you offer planning tips? Can you tell me about how you approach timeline design?
It’s important that your photographer understands all of the elements of your day…and stays on schedule. I provide my couples a comprehensive timeline planning pdf with:
- Tips on hair and makeup timing.
- Names of important people (parents, wedding party, etc.).
- List with names for family and wedding-party photos (super important for organizing and allotting enough time).
- Locations of prep, ceremony and reception (to factor in travel times while also talking about real-life time that it takes to get from the hotel room down to the shuttle, etc.).
- Timing of ceremony and reception.
- Special details that I should know about.
- First look: whether they are or aren’t having a first look along with notes on how each impacts the day. With a first look, bride and groom portraits and family/wedding party photos get done before the ceremony, otherwise, it’s all during cocktail/reception. …and so much more.
- Bouquet/garter toss, choreographed dances or any other special happenings to look out for.
Why do I need such detailed info? I tell my couples that I flesh everything out so I can intentionally plan for the unexpected by building in a little buffer time at each juncture, so all they have to do is show up and have the best day ever. .I also ask what they are looking forward to. Sometimes it’s things you wouldn’t think of, like the ice cream bar during the reception.
Is your photographer proficient in using off-camera flash?
This ensures that they can handle any lighting environment. While it does lend itself to a more specific style in some regards, being prepared to shoot and shoot well in the dark is never a bad thing.
What is their contingency plan for emergencies, future acts of God/pandemics, etc.?
I’ve heard these horror stories, and I’m sure you have to: “My photographer only had one camera and it broke!” “My photographer’s computer died and lost my photos!” And so many (too many) more. Do not let this happen to you. It will stay with you for the rest of your lives.
