Last summer, Brian and I’s good college friend Timmy asked Brian to be a groomsman in his upcoming wedding to Brittney. Timmy was Brian’s college roommate during their senior year and he was the groomsman at our wedding that gave a most stellar toast at the reception. 🙂 Of course it was a no-brainer that we’d love to be a part of their wedding day, too!

Aren’t they cute!?! We’re so happy for Timmy! Brittney is a good match. 🙂

Timmy and Brittney didn’t ask me to be their wedding photographer, which is totally and completely fine (I love being a wedding guest and I definitely don’t want friends to feel obliged!), but they did ask for my advice when researching for one. After a few emails during Timmy and Brittney’s research journey, I asked Timmy if he would be okay sharing their experience with my readers. I admired their hard work and dedication to finding the right photographer for them, so I knew it would be appropriate sharing material! So here you have it: Real Life Wedding Photographer Research Experience from Timmy and Brittney!

From Timmy: You are probably asking, “Why did Brittney and Tim decide not to ask Jessica to be their wedding photographer?” At the beginning of our wedding planning, Brittney and I decided not to have any of our friends as vendors, so we did not mix business and friendship. We explained that to Jessica in person and we were very happy she was understanding and excited to be a guest!  Jessica being Jessica, of course, offered to give advice if we had any questions and we were excited to have her knowledge.

I would say I’m a little more hands-on than the average groom.  Having previously worked in marketing for a minor league baseball team, one of my tasks was to throw a “party” seventy days (home games) out of the year.  This included having a budget and packing as much fun (activities and vendors) as possible within that budget.  So when I was ready to propose to Brittney, I was excited to plan our “party” with her.

I had bought the engagement ring about a month before I proposed, which was pretty hard to keep a secret from her since we tell each other everything. The wait was a month long because I wanted to throw a pretty awesome surprise engagement party for her after I popped the question and that was when our families could get together. Because I had the time and wanted to get a head start in the planning process, I started putting all the wedding vendors I could find in the area from Wedding Wire, The Knot and recommendations from vendor websites and friends in excel spreadsheets to look at with her after I proposed. Brittney and I had discussed some wedding ideas so I had a pretty good idea of what she was looking for, but of course, did not contact anyone until we were official.

Once I proposed (SHE SAID YES!), we discussed our budget and had a breakdown for each vendor (reception venue, caterer, DJ, photographer, etc.).  There are a lot of great wedding websites and resources out there that provide suggestions on what percent you should spend on a certain vendor and which ones you may want to splurge on.  The vendors we wanted to splurge on were the DJ, flowers and lastly photographer because the photos will last a lifetime, in our opinion!

With our wedding more than a year away, we wanted to take our time and enjoy the ride without feeling rushed. So we focused on selecting one vendor at a time. The photographer was about the fourth or fifth vendor we worked on because we thought there were more options than other vendors*. By the time we were ready to look for a photographer, I had compiled a list of over 80 in my excel spreadsheet. Of course, I was just copying and pasting websites so we still had our work cut out for us.

Throughout the wedding planning process we found that photographers (and other vendors, too) offer a wide variety of services, from the hours they provide to how many wedding books are in different packages. So we found it somewhat difficult to compare apples to apples style.  It was important to us (and the majority of the photographers we spoke to seemed to agree) to get as many photos taken before the ceremony as possible and have a “first look” experience. There would be less to do after the ceremony and before the reception, and the guests wouldn’t be waiting for dinner and getting “hungry” before the party.

So going back to the steps we took…Brittney had a certain photo style in mind, and I liked her style, so she reviewed the websites of photographers (80, in case you forgot!). She made it through the first 60 and selected around 20-25 based on the style of photos. We divided the selected photographers and contacted them. Not all the photographers had their packages and prices listed on their website so that was one of the first questions we asked, along with availability. From there, we picked our top five that were available and in our price range, and set up a time to meet them. We also spent time looking at wedding website reviews, Facebook, etc. In my opinion, some of those reviews are opinion-based like “they didn’t really do what I thought they would.” So I took reviews with a grain of salt and focused more on their online presence. Some photographers websites were somewhat clunky and take more than a few seconds to load, which was unfortunate. But since they seem to upload their work on their Facebook pages, and because the photos load quicker, I recommend viewing their Facebook pages, too. You don’t really have time to wait for websites to load when you’re reviewing 80 photographers!

Some photographers replied right away, while others took a few days or did not respond at all. It took us about a week to contact our top five photographers and set up meetings with them. That was a chore in itself because we were working with multiple schedules. We found that many photographers have full-time jobs and families, so scheduling two weeks in advance was sometimes the case.

Brittney and I did not look for questions to ask vendors from the wedding websites, but we did put together a list of questions to ask the photographers before the meetings. After the first meeting, we added or deleted questions based on what they said or recommended we ask.

Our meeting with Photographer #1 was a learning experience. The photographer seemed young and new. I discovered during this meeting that I wanted a confident photographer. When we asked if she had any recommendations for engagement photo locations, she didn’t have any off the top of her head, which drew red flags for me. Since I have no experience being a professional photographer, I was looking for someone who could lead us to those “dream” photographs.  She seemed very nice but after meeting with the other photographers, we wanted to go with someone more detailed and experienced.

Our second photographer (#2) meeting was the same day, so we knew more of what we wanted and what we didn’t want. Photographer #2 was detailed, knew what he was talking about and had years of experience. He also showed us photos of his past work, which not all photographers had available when we met. We liked him but wanted to do our due diligence and meet with the other photographers we had lined up.

The day we were set to meet with Photographer #3, he called an hour before we were supposed to meet to let us know that he just booked a wedding for the same date. He could still meet with us and we could have one of his back-up photographers. We were kind of taken aback by this since we had emailed a handful of times and confirmed we were still good to go that morning. We graciously declined, feeling that it was a little bit odd that the news had popped up so suddenly.

Photographer #4 is quite the interesting story, and one of the big reasons we asked Jess for advice. Photography was a part-time thing for her and she was by far the cheapest we saw with the quality of work that Brittney really liked. When we first contacted our top five, #4’s closest time to meet was two weeks from then. She mentioned that clients usually book her without meeting, so that was red flag #1.  I wasn’t sure what to make of that, but I said nicely that we would like to make sure we are the right fit.

The morning of the meeting, I contacted her to make sure we were still good to go and she confirmed. Later that afternoon I got a text from her saying that she is going home sick for the day and won’t be able to meet that night and wanted to reschedule. After discussing with Brittney, we decided to still meet with her and set up a time the following week. As we wait for this next meeting, we continue to drag our other favorite photographers with us (we mentioned to every photographer that we would be meeting with others and explained one photographer couldn’t meet with us right away. We were honest throughout the process with everyone.)  So after three weeks of waiting to meet with #4, she texted me the morning of and says she has double booked her schedule for that night! After much thought, Brittney and I decided to let her know we were no longer interested.

So on to Photographer #5! We actually met with her during the three-week process with #4.  She asked us to fill out a questionnaire about ourselves to see if we would be compatible, and she was the only photographer to do so. It also came off that she was not just looking for a paying job and was really interested in getting to know us. We eventually decided to ask Photographer #5 to be our photographer. She unfortunately declined saying that she felt like our styles did not match and recommended a couple other photographers. We were a bit shocked because we had asked her if she was still interested in working with us at the end of our meeting and even answered questions for us the following week. However, we understood and did not want our photographer to be in it “just for the money”.

We then decided to go with Photographer #2. We did really like him and it was close between he and Photographer #5 for both style and price. He did say yes and we are very excited to have him as our photographer!

Whew! Quite a process, right!?! Even after much preparation, especially on Timmy’s part, and after doing their due diligence, they still had some issues! But if you ask me, it sounds like they made a great choice. A photographer that is detailed, has a style they like and is in their price range! I also like that Timmy and Brittney asked the photographer and allowed him to say yes or no. Wedding photography, in my opinion, has a lot to do with the right “fit.” It’s more than just a paying job…it’s capturing someone’s most special memories…memories that will be preserved for a lifetime! It’s also an investment. Both are good reasons to not take the research lightly, to make sure there’s compatibility and to maybe consider “popping the question” to the photographer, too. 😉

To summarize, and to provide some additional thoughts, Timmy also put the following list together:

If you find a photographer you really like, my suggestion is go for it! Probably almost half the photographers we contacted were already booked for our date and it was still 13 months away!

Really do your research! Put a list of photographers together from wedding websites, recommendations from other vendors and from your friends.

Study the photographers to see what style you like and the prices they offer. And Facebook might be best place to view photos. Try to find reviews as well.

Know your budget. Photographers offer a range of options with various prices.

Come up with a number of photographers you would like to meet with, double it and then select that number of photographers from your list.  Not everyone is going to be available, in your price range, get back to you, etc.

Put together a list of questions that are important to YOU. Keep an open mind because you may have a completely different idea of the photographer by the end of the meeting.

Meet with multiple photographers and select the one you are completely comfortable with.

THANK YOU, Timmy and Brittney! For being guest bloggers for the JFP blog! Brian and I are excited for your big day in September! And high five to you guys for doing your research! And fun fact about Timmy: He used to be the Eagle at Bridgewater College! It was always so fun to see his “true personality” shine when he was in his suit! He also did some mascoting after college, too. He was so good at it! Brian and I vote for a mascot entrance at the reception. 😉