MY Top Ten Suggestions for Hiring a Wedding Photographer

Congratulations! My wish for you is that the fairy tale you dreamed of and probably practiced as a child comes true for you with your prince charming!

There are few portrait events that rival the importance of your wedding. For many brides, your wedding is the first time you will hire a professional photographer. With no prior experience in commissioning a professional photographer, you may be tempted to shop for a photographer as you shop for every other item for the wedding…solely based on price.

You may not realize that on your wedding day almost every professional involved in your wedding is licensed or regulated by a state agency except photographers. That includes your pastor, caterer, stylist, even the person who does your nails. Because of the lack of regulation, almost daily I hear another bride or mother of the bride’s wedding photography horror story.

So what has changed? Technology: digital photography has lowered the barrier for entry and the perceived skill sets in the photography industry. Five to ten years ago, you had to have a strong knowledge of posing, lighting and technical aspects of capturing beautiful images on film. Most wedding photographers would show up at your wedding with ten to thirty thousand of dollars of equipment. Today you can get a pretty good digital camera for $600 and you are now a “professional wedding photographer”. So how do you make the best investment in a professional wedding photographer?

Here are my TOP TEN suggestions for hiring a wedding photographer:

1) Establish a budget for photography. The industry average is 10% of the total wedding budget. Martha Stewart suggests 20%. (If your total wedding budget, dress, flowers, venue, food, beverages, entertainment, etc. is $15,000 then your photography budget should be $1,500 to $3,000)

2) Research your photographer…regardless of who refers you to your photographer. Ask for names and contact information of at least three recent brides. Call them and ask to see their completed wedding album. Ask questions about the photographer’s professionalism, including responsiveness to phone calls and emails prior to and after the wedding, and length of time it took to get the completed wedding album delivered. Many photographers provide “incentives” to other vendors for referrals. Even though you think you are getting an “honest” referral based on the photographer’s quality of work and past experience, this may not be the case.

3) Discuss their formal training in photography and years in business. (not how long they have been taking pictures) Keep in mind that 50% of small businesses in America fail in the first five years.

4) Ask if they are a member of a professional trade association, such as the Professional Photographers of America. (PPA requires its members to abide by a professional code of ethics and offers indemnification, mediation and other critical legal support which protects you, the consumer)

5) If they are a member of the PPA, find out if they are Certified by the PPA. (this volunteer certification validates that they at least have a critical technical knowledge of photography and that they take their trade seriously enough to voluntarily help raise the professional standards by becoming certified as a professional photographer)

6) Does your photographer have a storefront or professional office and maintain regular business hours? Often the biggest challenge comes from hiring a photographer with no permanent address and only a cell phone and yahoo or hotmail email account. Would you use a doctor, lawyer or other professional that worked out of a bedroom of their home? Anyone can make images look great on a web site. Website templates make it very easy for everyone to have a very professional looking website. Don’t be fooled by the perception of success.

7) Make certain your wedding package includes EVERYTHING you want, from photography of the wedding day to a completed wedding album. (57% of brides surveyed by Kodak in 2007 only received a high resolution DVD of images – NO PRINTED PICTURES AND NO WEDDING ALBUM) What they thought was a great deal turned quickly into a nightmare. Often these digital files are so large that most of the brides could not open them on a normal computer. The largest amount of time and often talent, in addition to capturing the photographs on your wedding day, occurs after the wedding. It is all the post production of the event including digital processing, color correction and retouching of the images and designing and printing a beautiful wedding album that require tremendous talent and TIME. Post production is NOT an option that is available at most one-hour photo labs – so you ARE NOT saving money trying to have your images printed yourself. Could you imagine going to a lawyer and after a very expensive hour of her time – she sends you home with a do it yourself kit to finish your legal documents?

How does your photographer archive your wedding files? Get a purchase option for your files in writing. If you do get a DVD of images, immediately make a copy to your hard drive and a second copy to place in your safe deposit box at your bank.

9) Get EVERYTHING in writing. Ask to review your contract overnight before signing. Get your attorney to review it. It will be well worth the money if something goes wrong.

10) Find out your photographer’s contingency plans. In the event of an illness, accident, or other event preventing your photographer from being able to photograph your wedding, learn their contingency plan to have your event photographed with equal or greater talent. Also, what is their equipment contingency plan? Do they have a back-up camera and back-up lighting equipment in case something is dropped and damaged in the middle of your wedding?

So how did your photographer score???

Don’t panic if they didn’t score a 10 of 10. This list has been comprised based on my 20+ years of experience in the photography industry and from the “stories” I keep hearing over and over from brides. Keep in mind that often the most talented artists may not have the strongest business and customer service skills. The process of hiring your photographer will most likely require some give and take but now you can make a more informed and educated decision.

Congratulations! My wish for you is that the fairy tale you dreamed of and probably practiced as a child comes true for you with your prince charming!

Lori Grice is an internationally recognized Master photographer. She has operated her successful photography business in downtown Statesboro for over 20 years. As Statesboro Herald’s photography expert, you can ask Lori more questions about wedding photography or other types of photography at www.StatesboroHerald.com on the Ask the Expert page. Learn more about Lori at www.lorigrice.com .

Atlanta is their home but Savannah is the venue for their wedding.  This wonderful couple wanted the Lori Grice touch to help spread the word about their wedding.  We photographed their engagement session in Savannah at Forsyth Park and created beautiful images for their Save the Date magnets, myspace wedding page and gifts for family and friends.  The engagement session is the first time most couples are photographed professionally.  No matter who photographs your wedding this is a wonderful way to have a Lori Grice experience for your wedding.  Engagement and Bridal sessions are extremely popular -especially this time of year. 

If you are engaged, check with us about engagement sessions, bridal portraits, save the date cards or magnets, and sign-on board art pieces for your reception. 

Congratulations Chrissy and Ben!!

Congratulations Nikki and Bradley!  Bradley popped the question a few weeks ago at sweet heart circle on the GSU campus.  They are planning a beautiful spring wedding on the circle.  I am sharing a few of their images which will be used for their announcements, save the date cards, a sign on board for their wedding, and a few other special projects.

January is a busy time for engagement portraits.  Apparently lots of you received some special “bling” this Christmas.

Since she was a little girl I have photographed her and her brother.  Now she has gone away to college and allowed a handsome prince to steal her heart.  (from the looks of the ring - I was hoping he had a much younger brother that Edie Grace might get to know)  Needless to say, he knows what a great catch she is.  They are planning a beautiful island wedding.  Isn’t love grand?

  It seems to be a common thing these days.  “Love” that is.   Bridals and engagements have been in great demand.  This incredible couple live in Macon but love Savannah so much that they have chosen to get married here.  Most of their events are going to be held around Forsyth Park and the Mansion so I selected these locations for their engagement images.  Brandi and Justin are a wonderfully sweet couple with lots and lots of days filled with LOVE in the air!  Enjoy a few images from the session. 

Ladies now you have a new reason to go to Savannah Mall - to see our new portraits, banners and video slide show in our gallery.  Many of you have asked over the last few weeks when we are going to update the Gallery.  We try to update it every few weeks in some small way and completely update it seasonally.  Well this is our mid season - seasonal update.  As promised, I wanted to give you some of the stories behind these special portraits that we have shared for display.

We are featuring three portraits in the gallery, a watercolor and two traditional portraits.  The watercolor was created at Tybee.  The family wanted a piece of artwork for their home that would become the centerpiece of the room.  However, they did not want a traditional family portrait - but would like to include their family in the portrait.  Occasionally our clients tell me that they do not feel comfortable having a large portrait of themselves or their family in their home.  They feel that this is to ostentatious so they elect to display other types of art instead of their family.  This watercolor is a great example of how we blend the desire of art and include your family in the portrait making it tremendously more valuable to you and your family.  The exquisite frame that accentuates the torn edge of the watercolor paper as the portrait floats in the frame really adds a tremendously artistic final touch.

The second portrait is a traditional portrait on canvas.  Deployments are always hard - especially for newlyweds.  This couple was one of many couples and families I created portraits for over the past few months as our brave soldiers prepare to deploy yet again.  Their is nothing more thrilling than spending time capturing images of love in its infancy - but combine that with the anticipation of a long separation and you get a powerful combination of chemistry, anticipation and desire.  These two really touched me.  They are a beautiful, special couple who I think about daily.  This is the portrait they selected and I could write a novel expressing all of the feelings evoked in this portrait.  We have many….many clients who spouses are currently deployed.  You are all very inspiring to me.  When I am having a challenging day - I think of you and what your day must be like.  Being married to a hero is a very very special calling.  I look forward to many more portraits in the future of happy homecomings and long successful lives together.  Thanks for ALL you DO!

The third portrait is a black and white portrait featuring a mother’s love for her baby.  The excitement and emotion of expecting, birth and the first year of a child’s life is a wonderfully special time for portraits.  I love the glow radiated by a new mom and the thrill of the first smile captured.  This black and white portrait of a mother and child I created using window light in my studio in Statesboro.  The baby was 12 weeks old in this image.  These intimate mother love sessions are some of my favorite of images created during the first year.  I like to photograph moms when they are expecting and the babies at newborn, around 12 weeks, 28 weeks, 36 weeks and one year.  There is never a time that your child will change more in a single year than the first year.  Do not let this year pass without having your baby photographed professionally at least two times during the first year.  The two biggest regrets I hear over and over from clients is that they did not have a professional bridal portrait created.  In stead they settled for one created the day of the wedding by the wedding photographer and they have never been pleased with it.  The second is that they only have candid’s of the baby’s first year.  These are two stages of life that you can not rewind and recreate.

We have added a new feature to the gallery a video slide show of some of my favorite images from recent sessions.  This gives you an opportunity to review a broader body of my work.  It is a great way to get inspired with portrait ideas featuring your family for your home.  The two banners feature more of my favorite images.  One features bridal portraits and displays some of my published and most talked about bridals.  The second banner features one of my most popular images of a child in a christening gown.  I call this image “Family Tradition.”  The gown was hand made by the mother of the child.  The gown has bands of lace at the bottom.  Every time another child is born, a band will be added with the child’s name and date of birth.  Of course, along with the addition to the gown will be a similar portrait of the child.  What a great heirloom for this child and their descendants.  Now you understand why I call this image “Family Tradition.”

In a future blog I will share more about my bridals and why brides travel from all over to have me create this important portrait for them.  You have asked about my Masters Collection and published images.  All of these I will cover in more detail throughout future post.

If you have never been to our Savannah Mall Gallery it is located near the Target interior mall entrance.  There are specific directions on our web site in the directions tab.  Check it out the next time your at the mall and let me know what you think!