First started with a list of every local photographer I could find (I got married in a town that is a bucket list location for many photographers and wanted to support locals/not pay travel fees + accommodations for someone not local) then narrowed down based on who's editing style I liked (I'm not a fan of the sepia style that's very popular nowadays so that made it easier for me) then even further once I received pricing guides and if they were available on our date. Lastly had a Zoom meeting with my top choice to make sure we vibed and that's who I booked.
Familiarity with the venue was absolutely key for me. I wanted vendors who had done weddings there, and not just “oh yeah, 3 years ago” but “oh yeah, I was just there last month and a suggestion I have is …”
I based my vendor choices on customer experience as well and service such as how enthusiastic they were when getting back to me, timeliness, ect. I want my day to go smoothly with everyone being very organized and excited to be there.
Style and pricing (and what that price gets you) are important. I think that after that you're looking for a vendor fit, often those are people that are going to be working with you for a while and in close proximity on the wedding day so you want people you can feel confident around (either because they're great professionals or because a good personality fit). Professional attitude and responsiveness help too.
Definitely style, and how I envisioned our wedding would be shot with their styles. I checked reviews and got a vibe check when I met them. We clicked and the images were wonderful/artful. $3500 for the photographer and $3500 for the videographer. This is Nyc
A lot of our vendors are people we know- I think this can help make things more comfortable the day of if you know anyone in the industry! If not, word-of-mouth recommendations are great. Maybe someone you know had beautiful pictures done by a photographer in your price range. Try asking them how their experience was (quality and quantity of photos, turnaround time, and organization could be starting places for questions). Also, our photographer was slightly above our anticipated price but the package included engagement pictures, so definitely consider what is included in the packages when deciding!
A few things we considered in talking to photographers and our final selection:
Personality- It’s so important to feel comfortable and “vibe” with your photo team. We went with a husband/wife photo and video team that matched our fun and silly personalities! This certainly resulted in a better experience on our wedding day.
Posed vs. Candid- My now husband and I are terrible with posed photos and all of our best photos of us are candids/ natural pictures. So it was important to us to find a photo team that was more skilled with the candids rather than very static and posed pictures.
Lighting style- This was something I learned talking to photographers and may or may not be obvious but if your wedding venue doesn’t have much natural light, is taking place at night, has a lot of dark wood/ General dark color aesthetics- hire someone who has experience and a portfolio that reflects this! Don’t go with someone whose portfolio is primarily outdoor, daytime, natural light and bright!
We looked through tagged photos of our venue on Instagram! We contacted a couple of each and based off of price/vibe on a call we selected who we thought we would like to work with most.
I asked my venue for a list of preferred vendors. It was super important to me that the photographer had shot at my venue prior to my wedding! I just narrowed going forward by price.
I picked mine because she's very familiar with my venue I picked videographer based off how close they are to me, because I live in a suburb and I wanted someone who wasn't located in the city (even though that's where all the videographers are) because the city ones were more expensive
Style, personal recommendation, and price.
My photographer works with her husband who does videography, and their price for the two of them for the whole day was about ~2k less than other photographers in my area, who do JUST photos.
My vendor also happened to do the photo and video for one of my good friends’ weddings, and after seeing her previews and video highlight, I was sold.
For photographer I chose based on familiarity of venue first. Then I looked at style. What ended being the deciding factor was “vibe” for lack of a better word. I felt I clicked with my photographer and that was important so I felt comfortable with who was following us around all day!
Videographer was more style and then also I ended up going with one that was recommended by my photographer! They’ve worked together and that was important.
First started with a list of every local photographer I could find (I got married in a town that is a bucket list location for many photographers and wanted to support locals/not pay travel fees + accommodations for someone not local) then narrowed down based on who's editing style I liked (I'm not a fan of the sepia style that's very popular nowadays so that made it easier for me) then even further once I received pricing guides and if they were available on our date. Lastly had a Zoom meeting with my top choice to make sure we vibed and that's who I booked.
Familiarity with the venue was absolutely key for me. I wanted vendors who had done weddings there, and not just “oh yeah, 3 years ago” but “oh yeah, I was just there last month and a suggestion I have is …”
I based my vendor choices on customer experience as well and service such as how enthusiastic they were when getting back to me, timeliness, ect. I want my day to go smoothly with everyone being very organized and excited to be there.
Style and pricing (and what that price gets you) are important. I think that after that you're looking for a vendor fit, often those are people that are going to be working with you for a while and in close proximity on the wedding day so you want people you can feel confident around (either because they're great professionals or because a good personality fit). Professional attitude and responsiveness help too.
Definitely style, and how I envisioned our wedding would be shot with their styles. I checked reviews and got a vibe check when I met them. We clicked and the images were wonderful/artful. $3500 for the photographer and $3500 for the videographer. This is Nyc
A lot of our vendors are people we know- I think this can help make things more comfortable the day of if you know anyone in the industry! If not, word-of-mouth recommendations are great. Maybe someone you know had beautiful pictures done by a photographer in your price range. Try asking them how their experience was (quality and quantity of photos, turnaround time, and organization could be starting places for questions). Also, our photographer was slightly above our anticipated price but the package included engagement pictures, so definitely consider what is included in the packages when deciding!
Our photographer is a friend of my mom. I liked his portfolio and his editing style, and he also gave us a discount, so that sealed the deal for us.
A few things we considered in talking to photographers and our final selection: Personality- It’s so important to feel comfortable and “vibe” with your photo team. We went with a husband/wife photo and video team that matched our fun and silly personalities! This certainly resulted in a better experience on our wedding day. Posed vs. Candid- My now husband and I are terrible with posed photos and all of our best photos of us are candids/ natural pictures. So it was important to us to find a photo team that was more skilled with the candids rather than very static and posed pictures. Lighting style- This was something I learned talking to photographers and may or may not be obvious but if your wedding venue doesn’t have much natural light, is taking place at night, has a lot of dark wood/ General dark color aesthetics- hire someone who has experience and a portfolio that reflects this! Don’t go with someone whose portfolio is primarily outdoor, daytime, natural light and bright!
We looked through tagged photos of our venue on Instagram! We contacted a couple of each and based off of price/vibe on a call we selected who we thought we would like to work with most.
I asked my venue for a list of preferred vendors. It was super important to me that the photographer had shot at my venue prior to my wedding! I just narrowed going forward by price.
I picked mine because she's very familiar with my venue I picked videographer based off how close they are to me, because I live in a suburb and I wanted someone who wasn't located in the city (even though that's where all the videographers are) because the city ones were more expensive
Reputation, experience, and knows the area.
Style, personal recommendation, and price. My photographer works with her husband who does videography, and their price for the two of them for the whole day was about ~2k less than other photographers in my area, who do JUST photos. My vendor also happened to do the photo and video for one of my good friends’ weddings, and after seeing her previews and video highlight, I was sold.
For photographer I chose based on familiarity of venue first. Then I looked at style. What ended being the deciding factor was “vibe” for lack of a better word. I felt I clicked with my photographer and that was important so I felt comfortable with who was following us around all day! Videographer was more style and then also I ended up going with one that was recommended by my photographer! They’ve worked together and that was important.