Find the Perfect Wedding Photographer: Tips from a professional planner for finding the photographer that’s right for your wedding
ake a look at the television, T magazine newsstands, or on the
Internet, and you’ll see that in fact weddings have become big business. In 2005 the Fairchild Bridal Group reported that the average wedding costs around $30,000. And t he fastest growing cost was photography, which had shot up 103 percent since 1999. The group found that the average cost for wedding photography then was $2,500; just three years later many couples pay double or triple that. For that kind of investment, you want to get the most for your money, but where do you start? With digital
cameras so cheap and easy to use, anyone can call himself or herself a wedding photographer, so how do you know who will do the best job? We decided to tackle those pickling questions by bringing together a recently engaged New York City couple and the professional wedding planner Lindsay Landman, whose Lindsay Landman Events is also based in the city. Ted and Margaret got engaged this January and are planning their wedding for the middle of July. They want to keep the event casual, because they both have a Martha Stewart Wedding
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Style and personality should be a large part of the equation when you’re choosing a wedding photographer.
limited amount of time to plan and because they’re both in their late 30s and have relatively downto-earth expectations for it. They think they’ll get about 100 adults and 25 kids at Cipriani on 23rd in New York City, where they’ll have the ceremony, a cocktail hour, and then buffet dinner. After getting the basics out of the way, Landman asked Ted and Margaret how far they’ve gotten with photographers. “We looked through some Websites and got kind of overwhelmed,” Ted says. But they know what they want and don’t want, and as Landman points out, that’s the most important thing. What they don’t want are a bunch of the traditional shots showing the rings and the dress and the bouquet. Instead they are
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looking for a photographer who will “be in the background” and who has a more documentary or photojournalistic approach to photography. Style and personality should be a large part of the equation when you’re choosing a wedding photographer, but also Landman says there are two other big
considerations. The first is time. Decide how much of it you want to dedicate to having a photographer take pictures and when you want him or her to it: before the ceremony or during cocktail hour. Margaret and Ted want to keep things simple, but Landman advises that even if formal family portraits don’t appeal to them, they should get a few just to satisfy the parents and grandparents. Last but not least, there’s the price. Landman always pushes couples to make a budget, but Margaret and Ted admit they don’t. She suggests that when they have one, they should calculate about 10 percent for the photographer. Prices for wedding photographs can vary widely, so Landman suggests focusing on the end product. “When the wedding is over, what do you want to see?” she asks. If you want a beautiful album with many prints created by the photographer, you’re looking at $1,000 bare minimum per album. But if you are a
motivated, crafty kind of person who will edit images yourself and create your own album, you might be able to cut costs by just getting a DVD from the photographer. So remember that if you think you’ll change your mind and want an album later, it’s better to order it up front, since you’re likely to get a better deal.
We looked through some Websites and got kind of overwhelmed, Ted says.
If you’re honest with yourself about what you want in these three categories, you’ll end up with the right photographer, Landman says. The next step is to start the searching. It’s best to find someone through recommendations from a recently wedded friend or also from your other wedding vendors. (But Just be aware that if your venue has “recommended photographers,” they have all paid to be on that list.) But when those options are exhausted, check out online wedding destinations such as TheKnot.com, WeddingChannel. com, and Brides.com, which have photographer listings. So they don’t get overwhelmed again, Landman has a couple tips to help Ted and Margaret narrow their Web searches. First, look for wide-ranging portfolios that feature at least six-to-ten different brides. Second, it is important that you see images in a photographer’s portfolio that are similar to ones you’ll expect from your wedding. For Margaret and Ted, that means looking for great and also shots made inside dark venues with little natural light, since that will be the situation at Cipriani. Rows of white wicker chairs face a long stretch of sand fading into the sea, where the sun is slowly deciding it might just begin to set. There’s a driftwood arch at the end of the aisle draped with a gauze that shimmers against the
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