Questions Every Engaged Couple Should Ask their Photographer

This post is waaay long overdue. We’ve had ten consults with new couples in the last two weeks, and I realized we get asked the same questions quite frequently! If you’re anything like me – I like to read up as much information as I can to be prepared! Because face to face, I tend to forget everything I wanted to ask.

So hopefully this post will help answer your questions, and maybe questions you didn’t even know you had! These are a mix of the top things we get asked, and a few questions that I feel are imperative to ask your photographer, no matter who you go with.

As a fellow bride myself, these are the questions I would ask my photographer. And I would make sure they have really good, confident answers for them!

I’ve turned these questions into a downloadable for you, so you can check them off as you ask! 

Let’s dive into the questions for your photographer. And how we’d answer them!

01. How would you describe your photo style?

In 2019 terms, you may call our style “light and airy”. We do prefer brighter lighting conditions and clean, soft colors. But I consider it true to life, timeless, and film-esque in the colors and tones (though we’re all digital over here!) It’s important to us that 20 years from now, you’ll still look back on your photos fondly! So we try to maintain a true to life style, and stay away from anything trendy.

02. How would you describe your shooting style

Our process is a mix of hands on and photojournalistic. When we need to be, we’re posing, directing family formals, and cheering our couples on! During the ceremony and reception, we’re hands off and a fly on the wall. We can direct certain things throughout a wedding day, so that the moment is captured with everyone in nice lighting and looking flattered. But there are some moments that just need to happen candidly, and we make sure to capture those too!

03. Do you offer videography, or can you recommend a videographer?

If you’re considering videography, you need to ask your photographer this. It is so important that you hire a videographer who works well alongside a photographer. They need to do this job simultaneously and need to work well together! Asking your photographer for recommendations, especially if they’ve worked with them before, is definitely where you should start.

That said, we are planning on launching videography as an add on for our 2020 couples…! Stay tuned for that!

04. About how many photos do you deliver and what’s the turn-around time?

We never put a cap on the amount of photos we deliver. If you have a super high guest count, or have a lot of “activities” throughout your wedding day this number will increase by a lot! But on average (8 hours of coverage) we deliver about 800-1000 photos.
Bridal session galleries, due to the nature of when they have to be scheduled are delivered within 1 week. Engagement session galleries are delivered within 2 weeks. And we have wedding galleries delivered within 4 weeks of your wedding date!

05. How do we receive our photos?

We deliver everything though an online gallery system. It’s extremely easy to use! Through the system, we organize your photos by time of day for ease of viewing. Having an online gallery also makes it easy to share the link with friends and family. They can download straight from the link, so you don’t have to worry about passing around a USB!
The best part – in addition to our back ups at home, all your photos will be backed up on the cloud! YAY! Back-ups are our best friends. Which leads us to our next question!

06. Do you have liability insurance?

This is a simple YES. We can send a copy over to your venue if needed.

07. How do you make sure our photos are safe and backed up?

Our cameras shoot on duel card slots, meaning the photos are written twice in the case that one card gets corrupted. We back them up immediately onto our hard drives, which are connected to a cloud system.

Once your photos are edited and delivered, our online gallery has an additional cloud system where they will stay as long as the gallery is live. We hold onto the physical (non-cloud) version back ups for about 2 years. After that they’ll stay exclusively on the gallery’s cloud system, and in your own downloads! If you can’t tell, back ups are very important to us!!

08. Do you offer print rights? (i.e. can I print my photos on my own?)

YES. We firmly believe that these are your photos (I mean, it’s not our wedding day). So you get to print them how you wish. Through our previously mentioned online gallery system, you can order prints.

We strongly recommend you print them through our third party pro-printers. One, the colors will 100% be correct (CVS doesn’t care about skin tones, what can we say.) Two, the prices are similar to wherever you might take them. And THREE, they get shipped right to your doorstep! So while you can, and we think you should, print your photos through us, you have printing rights to take them elsewhere.

I should also mention this question is sometimes asked “Do we get the rights to our photos?” This is a yes/no. You do get printing rights like I had mentioned. This is spelled out in the contract we have you sign on booking! You do not get copywrite rights. Legally that stays with the artist, which is us! The only reason we’ve concluded you would need copywrite rights is if you wanted to use your photos for advertising. So…if you want to throw your wedding photos up on a billboard, hit us up first. We can make that happen, but you can’t yourself. 🙂

09. What will you wear to our wedding?

This might seem random, but I think it’s important to ask your photographer. We have been guests at weddings where the photographer is wearing leggings and a tshirt. That doesn’t give your mom a whole lot of reason to put your trust in that person.

We personally believe in blending in, meaning we dress professionally head to toe. I’m usually wearing a nice dress or a jumpsuit. AJ is in a tucked in button down and a blazer in the winter months!

10. How does booking you work?

If you’re local, our first step is meeting you and your boo in person. We strongly believe in meeting face to face and connecting before any decision is made. (If you’re not local, that’s what Facetime is for!) Once you decide to move forward with us, everything is easy breezy and online! Our contracts, invoices, forms, etc. are all accessed in an online portal system that’s very easy to use! We require a signed contract and non-refundable 50% deposit in order to secure and hold your wedding date. The remaining balance is due 4 weeks before your wedding date. We do offer payment plans as well!
I hope this was helpful to you! Like I said, these are the questions AJ and I an engaged couple would ask our photographer!

Don’t forget to download your freebie so you can take these to your next consult!