How To Choose A Wedding Photographer That Fits Your Vibe

Hey besties! Welcome to the Laura McMullin Photography blog, where I answer your burning questions about wedding photography! I also love to share photoshoot inspiration, tips for your photo sessions, and create general mayhem – but that’s for another time.

This blog is for folks who are planning their wedding and choosing their vendors! (Which, by the way, congratulations!) Wedding planning is SO much fun. But it can also be SO damn stressful.

When do you need to hire your vendors? Do we invite Great Aunt Gertrude? How do we choose our wedding photographer? Do we want a plated dinner? What’s our wedding budget?

The list of questions goes on.

I understand the stress around planning a wedding and choosing your vendors. It can feel intimidating, overwhelming, and honestly? Scary. Because how do you know who to trust? How do you know if someone can actually deliver what they promise?

The truth is, you don’t. Or at least not right away. You need to do your research and ask the right questions to ensure your wedding photographer – and all of your vendors – is up to the task!

And that’s what this blog is all about.

I’m here to help alleviate some of the stress you might feel about hiring your wedding photographer by sharing questions to ask before you pay the deposit!

Why Choosing Your Wedding Photographer Wisely is So Important 

Choosing your wedding photographer is one of the most important decisions you can make around your wedding. Because the truth is, you’ll be busy on your wedding day. 

You’re getting married! Every single one of your guests will want to talk to you, take a photo, and reminisce a little. This is the fun part! All of the people you love will be gathered together to celebrate YOU.

Chances are, this means you won’t remember all the details of your wedding day. You’ll remember the incredible joy, excitement, and overwhelming love. You’ll remember marrying the love of your life and dancing the night away with your friends and family. That’s the important part! 

But still, I remember waking up the morning after my wedding (only a little hungover, thank you very much), and feeling like my whole wedding day flew by. It was a blur of love, happiness, and emotion. But I couldn’t remember half of it. 

When we got our wedding photos back, suddenly, I could remember! Seeing the photos of my husband and I dancing reminded me of how much fun we had. Seeing photos of our guests made me remember how loved we felt. And honestly, seeing photos of the flowers and decor reminded me of what incredible taste I have. 😘

I was SO GRATEFUL that my wedding photographer captured our day in so much detail! Because our photographer knew their shit, my husband and I looked through a full album of photos that let us relive all the emotions of our wedding, and even showed us pieces of the celebration we hadn’t witnessed!

So choose your wedding photographer wisely. Make sure they know what they’re doing. Make sure they know how to command a room for family formals or blend into the background to sneak those candid shots we all love. 

And even more than that… make sure they know how to protect your photos! Make sure they can handle inclement weather, shoot in high or low light, and still deliver high-quality images. 

A lot more goes into choosing your wedding photographer than just “Ooh they take pretty pictures!” 

Unfortunately, most nearlyweds (you!) don’t know what to look for. That’s okay! This why you have a seasoned wedding photographer here (me!) to tell you exactly what questions to ask before hiring your wedding photographer. 

10 MUST ASK Questions for Your Wedding Photographer

1. How do you back up/store my wedding photos? 

This question is SO important and often overlooked. There’s usually around 3 months between your wedding and getting your full gallery. What if something happens in the meantime? What if your photographer loses their memory card? Where are the backups stored? 

How your photographer answers this question will tell you a lot about their experience and trustworthiness. 

For example, here is my backup process: 

1. First of all, I shoot on two SD cards per camera. So before I’ve even left your wedding, I have two copies of your wedding photos. 
2. The moment I get home, I back up the photos from the SD cards to a work drive, which then gets uploaded to a cloud drive. Now I have four copies of your wedding photos. 
3. After I work my magic, I send you a fully edited digital gallery. I then take your edited photos and back them up on the cloud, so there are two fully edited copies of your photos. 

I do everything humanly possible to protect your investment. 

2. What’s the backup plan if you cannot shoot my wedding for some reason? 

Hey, wedding photographers are people, too. Sometimes life happens and they can’t be there in person. Do they have a backup plan? Are you okay with their backup plan? 

The worst case scenario is being told the day before your wedding that your photographer can’t show up, and isn’t sending anyone in their place! Avoid this by asking in advance. 

3. Are you comfortable shooting in bright, direct light and low light? 

A lot of weddings take place outdoors (where the light is super bright) and then move the party indoors (where the light is super low). Bright and low light are challenging in different ways. Make sure your wedding photographer can do both! 

Bonus points: ask for examples of their work in both scenarios and make sure you like how they turned out!

4. How do you describe your editing style? 

Chances are, you found your wedding photographer on Instagram and have already seen lots of their photos. But still – ask them to describe their editing style and make sure it matches with your vision for your day!  

5. Do you shoot film? 

Film has become super popular recently, and a lot of photographers (like myself!) have found it to be an incredibly fun addition to their wedding packages! If you love the film look, like these photos here, make sure your photographer offers this. 

6. Can I give you a shot list? 

Shot lists are a list of specific images you want your photographer to capture during your wedding day. This includes pictures with family members and friends as well as any portraits you want of you and your partner. 

Some photographers welcome shot lists and use it as a guide throughout the wedding. Other photographers don’t like having to check boxes and prefer following the energy of the day. 

There’s nothing wrong with either approach – just be sure to discuss this with your photographer well before the wedding day! If you have a shot list, work with a photographer who respects that! 

7. I have a large family and/or wedding party. Can you accommodate that? 

The answer to this question should be yes. Large groups are harder to manage, but it is your photographer’s job to herd your guests into the proper place for photos. If your photographer seems unsure about this, consider that before paying the deposit. 

For most wedding photographers, large groups are more fun! They just need to come prepared with staging and posing instructions. 

8. Do you have a second shooter? 

A second shooter is another photographer who works with your hired photographer to capture different angles of your wedding day. This person will often get wide shots while your lead photographer gets close-ups. 

Or, if you and your partner are getting ready for the day in separate places, one photographer will stay with you and the other will be with your partner! This way, you both get details of getting ready throughout the day. 

However, not every photographer works with a second shooter, and that’s okay, too! Everyone has a different method of shooting a wedding. Just make sure you’re comfortable with the approach your photographer takes. 

9. How many images can I expect to receive in my final gallery? 

I never promise a specific number of photos in my final gallery. But you know what I do promise? That the photos you receive will be the absolute best. 

A huge part of a wedding photographer’s job is culling the images they take – aka, going through each photos and deleting the ones where you’re eyes are closed, or you’re slouching, or someone is making a weird face in the background. 

I value quality over quantity because you aren’t paying your wedding photographer for a massive gallery of okay images. You’re paying them for the photos that capture the beauty of your wedding day in the highest quality possible. You’re paying them for their expertise, for their editing style, and for their ability to freeze an emotion in a single frame. 

We might take 5,000 photos at your wedding. But you’re not going to get all of those. Because honestly? Most of those aren’t that good. For your final gallery, we have only chosen the absolute best photos to deliver, and have meticulously edited each of those. 

10. Will you give me the raw photos of our wedding day? 

This is a hot-button question for a lot of wedding photographers. Raw photos are the unedited pictures of your day. They are usually massive files that can only be opened and edited in specific software (that most people don’t want to take up storage on their computers). Some photographers never offer the raw photos and some just don’t care. 

If it’s important to you to receive the raw images, tell your photographer before you hire them! 

Important Wedding Planning Reminder: You’ve Got This

This is only the tip of the iceberg of questions you should ask your wedding photographer, but it will help you narrow down your options when you’re just beginning your search. 

I know how overwhelming it can feel to make all of these decisions, so remember this one thing through your wedding planning process: Your wedding is a celebration of you and your love. Nothing more. Nothing less. 

At the end of the day, if you got married, your wedding was a wild success. Everything else is just a bonus. 

So ultimately, choose a photographer who celebrates you! Someone you feel comfortable with and confident in. You will be reliving your wedding through this person’s eyes, so make sure they are looking with love, joy, and an artistic vision you adore! 

If you’re into bright, colorful, quirky wedding photos – we should chat. I am prepared to answer alllll your wedding questions, and to create the wedding photos of your dreams! Click here to inquire about your wedding date! 

Oh, P.S. I’m Laura, a wedding photographer for out-of-the-box humans who want to celebrate love in all forms. I’m all about having fun, making memories, and creating something special. I specialize in wedding photography, creative artistic portraits, and branding! Learn more about me here.