How did you find your wedding photographer?

laura2481

Ours did our friends wedding a few years ago and he did us a deal

Horace

Definitely make sure you meet the photographer first, its also OK if they visit you at home so that you feel comfortable on your own territory and he/she can go through your budget and what your requirements are.

You need to see the photographer's work before you book him/her - have a look through their portfolios, do you like their style do they do a mix of traditional posed shots and reportage shots.

Is your photographer a member of a professional body such as the BIPP (British Institute of Professional Photographers) - that way if something goes wrong they can intervene on your behalf.

debsleypig

Thanks guys, that's all really helpful x

o_t_e

Horace wrote: »

Is your photographer a member of a professional body such as the BIPP (British Institute of Professional Photographers) - that way if something goes wrong they can intervene on your behalf.

Have a look at the bipp membership form - you have to be able to submit a body of work to meet their standards, and you have to give them money. You don't have to declare you have public liability or professional indemnity insurance. These organisations exist to promote professional photography & photographers, some of them are more openly commercial (ie money-making) organisations than others. Apart from them removing an individual from their membership they won't be doing alot of intervening on your behalf. As organisations go BIPP and the MPA are better than others but photographers join these organisations so they can use the logo for advertising and for trade networking, they don't offer any kind of meaningful guarantee to the consumer when things go wrong.

ariesboy

We got married last summer and didn't bother with an official photographer as the cost was extortionate!

Instead we asked our guests to bring their digital cameras along and all take photos - we then gave them CD's and sleeves so they could download them and post them back to us. We then bought disposable cameras and had 2 on each table at the reception. We bought them from our-big-day.co.uk

We then made our own wedding album on the truprint website with the digital images - it's great!

Saved us a fortune on the cost of a photographer!

Sammy85_2

Well i went to a hen do recently where we did a photoshoot. I was really impressed with the photography and made some enquiries about having her for our wedding.

I already decided on the type of album i want after seeing some at a wedding fayre, so just needed to know that she did that type.

greenmoneysaver_2

Amazingly we found ours in the back of Lambeth Councils info booklet on civil weddings!

We were going to compare with another one, recommended by a photographer who shot a friends wedding, but he has just emailed to say he can't make the meeting as he is going to an art gallery showing, he forgot!

The one we have met was fun and knowledgable and listened to our requests! He also suggested a dress change before dinner so I can wear both the dresses I like!

greenmoneysaver_2

http://www.contre-jour.co.uk/online_galleries/displayGallery.asp?currentPage=6&imageID=168320

caitybabes

After scouring the net for ages, I went to a local wedding fayre and had a chat with one of the photographers.

Here's a tip: don't ask them how much they charge, just tell them your budget. I told him we were looking to spend about £500 for full coverage of the whole day and all of the images copyright free on DVD. He said that if we could stretch to £700 we'd have a deal. Later, I found out he normally charges £1200 for the coverage and £500 for the DVD so I was extremely chuffed with my excellent 'negotiation' skills