Ten Tips to Find a Photographer for Your Wedding in the Berkshires
When planning your wedding in the Berkshires, or elsewhere in Massachusetts or Connecticut, choosing a photographer is one of the most important decisions you will make. Think about it: if your cake is dry, or the flowers are a slightly different shade than you had hoped, the disappointment is momentary. If, however, your photographs don’t come out as you had envisioned, your disappointment will return every time you look at them for years to come. Use these tips to find the right photographer for you.
Communication: Always conduct a personal interview. Are you able to tell the photographer what you have in mind? Does it feel like an exchange of ideas, or a sales pitch?
Comfort: You need to feel at ease with your photographer. If you don’t have rapport, your photos won’t look as natural, and you won’t enjoy the process of taking them.
Style: Look at a photographer’s work—a lot of it—to be sure your styles mesh. If you want a lot of candid, captured moments, a photographer who specializes in posed portraits might not be for you.
WYSIWYG?: Be sure what you see is what you get. Make sure the photographer you’ve met and liked is the one who will be showing up at your wedding, not an assistant. Yes, it happens.
Price: Photography can be upward of 10% of a wedding budget. Never shop exclusively by price, but be honest about your budget and find out what it will buy you.
What’s included: On a related note, find out what your package includes, both in terms of time spent and product delivered. Know what it will cost if you need the photographer for longer than planned.
Professionalism: The best photographers want to keep up with the latest developments (no pun intended) in their field. Membership in industry organizations is a good indicator of this. Also, find out how your photographer will dress during your wedding. A neat appearance is important.
Time: Book your photographer early—the best ones fill up quickly. Find out how many weddings the photographer has on the same day as yours; you don’t want to feel rushed or have your photographer show up late. And find out how long after the wedding you can expect to receive your pictures and albums.
References: A good photographer will eagerly offer references for their work, and those references should gush. Don’t just get references—take time to check them.
Details: If it’s not written in your contract, you can’t count on getting it. Make sure everything important to you is in writing: times, prices, venues, deposits, number of images, delivery dates.
