Picking the Wedding Snapper

When I went to a recent wedding expo, my goal was to find a photographer. The first expo I went to in February this year was a little overwhelming because we didn’t know what we wanted to do yet. The choices that were thrown at us made us dizzy. There were so many packages options: digital only, digital with a printed album, CD, USB, ceremony only, five hours or 12 hours, extreme editing, and so on. Also, the spectrum of photography styles is vast. It is difficult to figure out if you like something for your own wedding or if it is just impressive and works for that particular couple. This time around I knew exactly what I needed from a photographer and that made the experience far easier.

My fiancé and I had decided that we wanted a digital only package as we live very much in the digital world. An album, while it is a nice memento, for us would simply sit gathering dust or be packed away for safe keeping. One of the advantages of a digital only package is that we can easily distribute the photos around to family and friends. Also, there is an obvious monetary saving because the albums can start from $500 and go well up in the thousands. Instead of spending that money on an album, we are going to spend a couple of hundred on a good quality digital photo frame that we can display proudly and look at every day. We will also be able to put our honeymoon photos on there and as our lives together continue we can add photos of other special events.

The other aspect of choosing a wedding photographer is their style. There is a myriad of styles available, from plain to journalistic to candid to pose to magazine shoot to wacky! And while price was an important factor for us it ultimately came down to style. There were very expensive photographers and very cheap ones whose style just did not appeal to us. My fiancé and I trawled through so many photography websites to find the style that we were drawn to the most. We agreed that we liked the simple, elegant, mostly candid photos where they photographer is simply documenting the day and capturing great shots of our guests as much as they are photographing the bridal party.

Finally, you have to like your photographer! This person will be buzzing around you for up to 12 hours on what is the happiest but possibly also a very stressful day. You can get a feel for the photographers at the expos. While of course most are on their best behaviour, I was completely turned off by one person who pushed for me to sign then and there. I was more attracted to the people who were friendly and simply showed me their style.

The photographer we booked was perfect for us. Jimmy from iZO Photography made me feel relaxed immediately so I know that I will feel comfortable having him around on the big day. He was interested in making sure that his style was a good fit for what we envisioned for our wedding photos. I appreciated the time he took to show us different aspects of the wedding day. That would be my biggest tip actually, make sure you look through a few different weddings by your photographer and see how they handle the bridal party getting ready, the ceremony, family shots, reception, etc. All the photos you see on this post are examples of Jimmy’s work.

How did you choose your photographer? What is your photographer’s style and was price a major factor in your decision?