Lessons from a Wedding Nightmare
Recently a young bride and friend of our family reached out to me about her wedding photos. She and her husband planned a destination wedding on a sunny Florida beach outside of their home state of Georgia. From what I saw on social media, the day looked absolutely beautiful! However, unfortunately, when the bride received her photos from her photographer, she was immensely disappointed.
As heartbreaking as the situation was for this young woman, the silver lining is it provides me with an opportunity to educate future couples on what went wrong and how it can be avoided in the future. Today I’d like to share with you my tips and suggestions for hiring your wedding photographer.
First and foremost, do your research.
Because my friend and her husband elected to hold a destination wedding, they relied on the venue’s list of preferred vendors to hire their supporting staff for the day. While venues’ suggestions of preferred vendors can be an excellent way to narrow down what may feel like a list with a million choices, it’s then up to you to research the vendors on your shortlist extensively.
Start with visiting a photographer’s website. Take a look at their portfolio to determine if the photographer’s style matches the style you’d like for your wedding photos. The photographer my friend hired leaned toward dramatic, dark, and moody in his edits. However, upon reflection, my friend really preferred a light and airy edit for her wedding photos. While a photographer may be extremely talented, if your style doesn’t match with hers, the final product won’t ever live up to what you’re hoping for.
Then, ask questions.
Once you’ve determined a photographer fits your wants stylistically, take a deeper look at their website and social media pages to get more information. Does this person mostly shoot weddings or does this person specialize in another type of photography and just shoot weddings on the side? Is the person relatively new in the business or do they have extensive experience shooting weddings? Wedding photography is a balance of art, business, organization, and technical skill. It takes time and dedication to develop the skills needed to be successful (side note…I second shot weddings for almost 5 years to gain experience before taking on a wedding as the lead photographer!). You want to put your utmost confidence in the photographer you’ve hired for the day. Be sure they have the experience to produce the results you’re looking for.
Next, study the fine print.
Before we go any further, I want to clarify that I do not know of any photographer who actively tries to trick or deceive couples. However, like anything else, photography and business are two things not everyone is an expert about (and that’s a-ok!). Therefore, it is essential that you know and understand two additional pieces of information before booking your wedding photographer: 1) what you will receive at the end of the commitment and 2) what the contract states.
This step is really important and is unfortunately the place where my friend struggled. The photographer she hired delivered 2,700 images from her day in his final gallery. Impressive, right?! Well, not really. Only about 200 of those images were edited with about 50 of them having detailed edits including the addition of what the photographer called “dramatic details” such as sky replacements. It was hard to see those few beautiful wedding images as shining stars amongst the sea of out of focus, unedited images the photographer delivered.
At first I couldn’t understand how or why a photographer would deliver such a large amount of unedited images to the client while only perfecting a small number of images in the gallery. However, upon review of the agreement and contract with the photographer, it turned out he delivered exactly what he promised and was hired to deliver. Because my friend failed to ask clarifying questions about wording in his agreement that would’ve helped her to understand what she’d receive in the most basic terms, she was left extremely disappointed when her final gallery was delivered.
The same lesson can be applied to contract language. My wedding and portrait contracts are written to protect both the client and the photographer, however some of the wording could be confusing or new to someone unfamiliar with photography. When in doubt, ask for clarification. The photographer should be happy to explain anything you’re questioning in a way you understand and, if they aren’t they probably are not the photographer you want to hire for one of the most important days of your life.
I pride myself in supporting couples through a completely transparent approach to my business. It’s paramount you have trust in me and we’ve developed a relationship well before your wedding day so you are confident you’re in good hands when that day arrives. The foundation of that trust begins with both parties clearly understanding what to expect both in delivery of product and contracted duties. When in doubt, ask the questions.
Finally, take the photographer for a test run prior to your big day.
Most of us have purchased a car or two at some point in our lives. Before signing your name on the dotted line, what’s the first thing you do? Take the car for a test drive, of course! The same approach can and should be applied to hiring your wedding photographer. A great way to get a better idea of what to expect on your big day is to hire your photographer for an engagement session. Many times couples elect to use the images from their engagement session for save the dates or reception wedding day details. Even better, many photographers include engagement sessions in their wedding packages so you’ll likely have this opportunity already built in!
When I speak with brides and grooms during our initial call I let them know I like to schedule an engagement session so they can get to know me and vice versa prior to their wedding day. The hour or so we spend together develops a level of comfort between us and allows the couple to see how I work. In addition, and probably most important, the resulting images from your engagement session will give you a pretty good idea of what to expect stylistically from your photographer moving forward. Of course the images won’t be exactly the same as wedding images but most photographers deliver consistency in their portfolios whether the session is engagement, wedding, or something else.
Some of you are probably asking yourself, “what if the engagement session photos aren’t what I’m looking for and I’ve already hired the person to shoot my wedding?” Chances are good a simple conversation about what didn’t work for you in your engagement photos will help set both of you up for success on your wedding day (remember, we’ve already done all the leg work of making sure your selected photographer matches your desired style and will be a good fit given her existing portfolio of work). However, if for some reason the engagement session is a complete disaster, wouldn’t you rather know that before your wedding day so you can make a change if needed?!?! Of course the answer to this question is a resounding, YES! While it may be a hassle to make a change once you thought you found your dream wedding photographer, it’s far less of a disappointment than being stuck with images from your wedding you’re unhappy with after a day you cannot recreate with a different photographer.
And there you have it! One bride’s really heartbreaking situation gives us an opportunity to learn from her mistakes and set up future brides and grooms for success. I hope you find this approach to identifying and hiring your wedding photographer helpful. If you think that person could be me, please be in contact today so we can begin discussing your big day together!
