Wedding Photographer

For me the photographer was about as important as finding the right dress. What’s the point in looking amazing and feeling amazing if the photographer can’t capture your mood?

I was fortunate that I found our photographer at a wedding fayre a year before the wedding. I got him to agree that if we did have our photographs taken by him, he would hold the cost at the current years price for us.

We had a month to make up our minds whether we liked his work or not. I had the opportunity to look through numerous wedding albums he had compiled and I liked his style. He agreed in writing to hold the price for a wedding package, which is pretty good when you think about it as on the whole wedding costs can go up by at least 5% every year.

When choosing your wedding photographer try and go through the following checklist :

Look at several photographers’ portfolios
Look particularly at the most recent wedding albums they have completed.
Ask yourself what style of wedding photographs do you want? Formal or reportage
What’s your budget?
Are they available for your wedding day?
Check that the photographer has only one wedding to do on your wedding day.
Do they provide back up equipment on the day?
Do they use the latest in digital technology for shooting and processing photographers?
Do they subcontract the work out; if that’s the case you could have someone taking your pictures on the day that you haven’t had any contact with prior to your big day.
Do they offer a range of wedding packages and at what cost, including VAT?
Pre-arrange some of the family pictures you want to be taken by the wedding photographer, that way you can capture those once in a live-time gatherings.
Do they do reprints and extra albums, and at what cost?
How long will it take to have the proof photos ready to view?
Ask if they are qualified members of the British Institute of Professional Photography, the Master Photographers Association, and have been awarded ‘Craftsman in Wedding Photography’ by the Guild of Wedding Photographers UK. If they are members then you can safely say they are experienced in photographing weddings.

Here’s a link to the site of all photographers registered with the Master Photographers Association, which you can use to help you find a wedding photographer near you http://www.thempa.com/.

Make a Calendar

Why not take your best photos and make a calendar as a great gift for friends and family to remeber your wedding day.

Truprint >> offer this service at a great price with printing and lamination onto premium-quality card. Each page can have up to 3 photos and captions can be added to every month, and you can even use your own photos on special days!

Truprint also let you make posters, mugs, t-shirts, photo books, mousemats, greeting cards and many other ways in which you can see your photos in every day life!

Fun Cameras

Before the day we bought some small cheap fun cameras and placed one on each table, with a polite note asking guests to be our eyes on the day and take photos of the happy couple and then other guests. We left a box at the bar and a friend went round at the end of the night and collected up the cameras and then developed them for when we got back from our honeymoon.

I can highly recommend it, capturing family and friends over the course of a day, as they slowly allow the alcohol to take affect, is priceless.