Choosing your Hudson Valley Wedding Photographer is a daunting task and not one to be taken lightly. Most of my clients put photography as a major priority on their list because it’s the one thing that remains after the wedding day. Your wedding photos will be passed down for generations and will likely mean as much (if not more) to your children and grandchildren as they do to you. Finding the right photographer for you is not as simple as viewing a website or an album and liking that person’s work. Finding the right photographer means liking their photography AND their personality. It means trusting. It means finding someone that you are comfortable with and have chemistry with. You will spend more time with your photographer than any other vendor on your wedding day and your photographer will be documenting you all day. I know first hand what it is like to have a photographer that you don’t personally like and it isn’t a pleasant experience. Your photographer needs to put you at ease, be able to make you laugh, get real smiles out of you and also make you forget that they are there. They should be easy to talk to. If you don’t like your photographer it will be quite difficult (for you and the photographer) to relax and get great photos. You don’t want to be gritting your teeth in your photos because your photographer is being a jerk. You don’t want to look back on your wedding and say “I wish we had chosen a different photographer” or “we liked our photos but it’s too bad that our photographer was such a jerk”. Not every photographer is right for every couple. Not every couple is right for every photographer. I have turned away weddings where I didn’t think it would be a good match. Weddings where I didn’t have any chemistry with the bride and groom. Couples that I couldn’t talk to. At the same point, I don’t want a couple to choose me based on my work or my pricing alone. I want them to be completely comfortable with their decision and that means being comfortable with me as a person too. It’s okay to say that it isn’t the right fit - your photos will be better for it!

I believe that the two most important things to consider when hiring a wedding photographer are that you like the photographer’s work and that you get along with him or her, but here are some other important things to consider when choosing your Hudson Valley Wedding Photographer:

-Do they have back-up equipment? They should have at the very minimum a back up camera, flash, lenses, and tons of batteries in case something happens to their main equipment. This back-up equipment needs to be of a professional quality - not their personal point and shoot camera!

-Do they have wedding experience? Not all photography is created equal - they need to be able to make decisions and changes constantly and deal with very dim lighting situations in most cases. Not all photographers have experience with these things and it is very important that they are skilled in all things that a wedding can throw at them.

-Are they insured? Business insurance is a must!

-Be sure to view photos from a variety of different situations - indoors, outdoors, bright high noon sun, sunset, dark churches and receptions.

-Be sure to discuss what you are looking for and expecting to receive as a final product. Do you want an album? If so, ask to view a sample of theirs. Do you want your digital images? Not all photographers offer these so be sure to ask if they do and if so, the cost. Please note that your photographer will likely never give up his or her copyright. Most photographers who offer digital images will give you a print release which gives you permission to print your photos for personal use. This is very different from the copyright. If this is important to you, be sure to ask your photographer if a print release is included with the digital images.

-If receiving digital images, be sure to find out if they are low resolution (not suitable for printing) or high resolution and whether or not they are marked (some may have a logo or “proof” printed on digital images).

-Ask about turn around times so that you know what to anticipate. You should know approximately how long it will take you to receive your proofs, how long it takes for an album, how long to receive prints.

-Ask about their style and what they feel makes them different. What drives them?

-Pricing, of course, is an important factor. You should know what the price you are paying includes and what extra products and time will cost.

-Does the photographer offer an engagement session? Is it included in the price or is it an additional cost? I believe so strongly in engagement sessions that mine are complimentary!

-Will your photographer just give you your images and expect that you never contact them again? This is not the relationship most couples want with their photographer, yet there is an increasing number of photographers practicing this way. Your photographer should be able to offer you prints, albums, thank you cards and much more… even if you don’t think you want it now, you may change your mind down the road. If your photographer does not offer these things and you later decide you want them, it may be incredibly difficult to get these things done.

-Whether you choose a $500 photographer or a $15,000 photographer (or even a friend doing it as a gift!), the number one most important thing is to have a contract with everything in writing!

These are just some points to think about when choosing your wedding photographer. There are about a hundred and one other questions that could be asked but these are the ones I feel are most important. While most people do have to worry about budgets, don’t let price be your absolute deciding factor - hire the photographer whose work AND personality you like the best within your budget or see what you can do to move your budget around to afford the photographer you like best. At the end of the day the food will be consumed, the music will have stopped, the cake will be done, flowers wilted… your photos will help you remember all of the moments of the day and will be passed down for generations to come. Your album is not just a book of photos, it is an HEIRLOOM.