AKA How to Work with a Creative Professional

If you are currently searching for a wedding photographer, you have my sympathy.  It is not an easy task.  Between looking through thousands of photos online, meeting with people, and trying to figure out how much you should spend, you have a lot to do.  To make it worse, this is not the kind of purchase most people make every day.  This may be the first time you have hired a creative professional on this level, and it is one of the most important days of your life.

To try to make this process more open and less stressful for you, I am going to be devoting a portion of this blog to describing the photographic process from my perspective.  I think this should help anybody considering hiring a photographer better understand how to get the most out of their investment and make the process seem less confusing and mysterious.  If you have any questions or things you would like me to address, please send me a note or leave me a comment.  I hope that together we can create a great online resource.  So here goes:

FAQ:  How much do I need to tell my photographer?

A couple weeks before the wedding, I will generally get in touch with my couples to talk about the wedding day plans.  This will include basic information like schedule, locations (including where you’ll be getting ready, where we will do our photo shoot, etc.,), details about family structures, special parts of the day that I should be aware of, special guests, etc.  These kinds of details help me plan where I should be when, and will help us nail down specific things that the couple might not have thought of.  I will also talk to you about your family formals.  Hopefully by this point you will have a good idea of which family groupings you and your parents want shots of, and we’ll just review it so we can move quickly through that part of your day.

There is a lot of variation in how much my couples tell me about the specific shots they are thinking of for their wedding day.  Some give me free reign to use my experience and my creative eye to capture the unique details and personalities of their day, and some are more specific.  I think this is where it can get difficult for couples if you have something specific in mind.

You don’t really need to worry too much about standard shots.  I already have a plan in my head to get as many details as possible – flowers, shoes, centerpieces, etc., – as well as all of the important moments that occur.  If you have special things that you really don’t want me to miss, let me know.  For example, if you use family heirlooms to create your centerpieces or you are planning a special part of your ceremony, a heads-up can help.

If you are looking around the web and see particular shots that you like and you would like us to catch, you can share those with us.  I will give you the big caveat, though, that it is almost impossible to totally recreate a certain image – time of day, weather conditions, equipment, and your photographer’s style will all effect how an image turns out.  So let us know what you like, but be open to our creative interpretation of your favorite images!

Well, that’s a lot more than I intended to write, so I hope it’s a little helfpul!