Our top 5 tips for hiring your ideal tog

Your wedding photography is arguably one of the most important vendors for your entire Wedding Celebration. While the flowers will wilt, the cake will be eaten, the table centrepieces you worked so hard on will likely end up on Facebook marketplace and the music will fade, your photos will always be there to remind you of all the love, joy and vibes you all felt on the day.

A talented photographer can capture those fleeting moments, from your tearful vows to the laughter and fun with family and friends, making sure you can relive your wedding day anytime you want. Great photos aren’t just pictures—they’re memories and stories frozen in time that you can share with future generations and will become heirlooms, keeping the magic of your wedding alive for years to come.

Let's face it, we're not cheap either, so it's so important to invest your hard earned cash wisely. Here's our top 5 tips on choosing the one for you!

1.Previous work and experience

The most obvious one! The photographers previous work and experience. It's so important to invest your time being nosey and stalking their socials and website. Is their work consistent? Do their clients looked stiff and awkward? Are the colours/edits to your liking? If you're envisioning warm earthy colours and you're only seeing light and airy, they're not the photographer for you! Most photographers like to chat to potential clients before they book, I personally offer a no pressure to book phone call, zoom chat or if they're a local I'm always happy to meet up in town for a coffee just to make sure we're a good fit for each other and I am what they're looking for.

2.testemonials & reviews

You've discovered somebody and you LOVE their work. It's time to navigate over to their testimonials. They should have a testimonial section on their website, thats a good place to start! But don't forget to check their Facebook reviews and google too. Website reviews are great but we physically input this ourselves, whereas google and Facebook are posted by the actual client so don't forget to check there.

3.cost

This one will be completely different for everybody. I've been asked before "why do you charge so much?" and I answer with "We don't just charge for our time on the day, we charge for our expertise, gear, kit maintenance, digital subscriptions, expericence, insurances, website, advertising, education and sooo much more! As well as that, for every hour shooting on the day, on average we do x4 hours editing".

We all charge differently and thats fine, and it's also fine for you to have a budget and there really is an ideal photographer out there for every budget! A lot of photographers don't have their prices listed (I personally do, just because I feel it saves me wasting your time enquiring if I'm out of budget) but if you shoot them a quick message enquiring about cost you will be able to see if they're out of budget or not.

4.Logistics

This kind of ties in a bit with the previous point. You've found an amazing photographer, you love their work, they're in budget but they're based in Staffordshire and you're getting married in the Scottish highlands. Will they travel? If they will, you will need to add the cost of their accommodation, travel and expenses to your bill. If you can't afford to do this, you will need to look closer to home. You might land lucky and find somebody willing to cover the wedding and editing for free so long as all their expenses are paid (if anybody is getting married in Iceland btw I'd totally do this as I'd love those shots in my portfolio) but you would need to spend some time emailing and messaging to find out.

5. THE VIBES

THE most important point. You could have found somebody whose pictures you love, who is able to shoot your wedding within budget, who has amazing reviews but do you actually like them?

Your wedding day is one of the most important days of your life and your photographer/s are going to be with you the entire day, 3rd wheeling you and getting all up in your grill. It's vital you actually like them otherwise you risk having memories of your day tainted. A good tip is to follow them on their socials. The online world is forever changing and as small business owners we're being encouraged more than ever to share more personal things on our accounts to become more relatable to our clients. (If you follow me, you will already know I tend to share a lot of funny reels and memes mostly cats, sometimes frogs ha). Notice what they're sharing, is it all negative? Are they political, do they align with you?

Scenario- You're wanting a chilled out, laid back photographer. You're envisioning lots of candid, fun pictures and hiring somebody that makes your guests feel at ease and is having a good time themselves. You're wanting the photographer to be more like a "friend with a camera" than the hired help.

You end up having a consultation with somebody and they start saying things like they like to direct every aspect of your day and be in control, they shout at guests for not listening to them, they strictly stick to their shot list then I can guarantee, the day of the wedding they are going to piss you off (no shade to any one that photographs this way, its just a very different approach to ours).

It's really important to be upfront and honest with your wants, needs and expectations during that initial consultation and to find out of they're a good fit for you or not. Are they arrogant or rude? Are they talking badly about past couples? Do you think they will be nice to your nan? Do you trust them and are they excited to work with you?

These are all things to consider and ultimately this is a choice the both of you need to agree on together. Once that choice has been made and you have made that connection with your perfect photographer, a big weight will be off your shoulders as you know and trust they will capture your day exactly as you imagined allowing you to just enjoy those kick ass moments as they happen <3