by Scott Kolecki

Created on: February 28, 2009   Last Updated: March 01, 2009

Planning a wedding is an exciting, challenging and occasionally frustrating experience that involves a major commitment of time and energy. For most couples, planning such a large event is a daunting experience, especially as there are no road maps to guide you from engagement to the alter. For many, the most challenging part is knowing how to contract all the necessities to ensure your wedding day goes off without a hitch. While finding the right cake, the perfect dress, the most elegant hall and the most entertaining DJs are all incredibly important to the day itself, it is equally important to find the right photographer to perfectly capture all of your most precious moments so that you can always look back and remember this most important day of your life.

So how does one choose the right photographer? What hints, tips and clues are out there to help avoid hiring someone who might fall short of your expectations? How do you avoid hiring that nightmare of a photographer who "completely ruined" your best friends wedding?

Before you even begin calling photographers on your own, ask other couples you know for recommendations. Most wedding photographers are small, privately owned enterprises who remain local to a certain market or region. Chances are good that if you ask people in your family, neighborhood or community to give you some good recommendations, you are going to find that there are a couple of really promising names that will emerge as reputable photographers whose work has delighted those that came before you. In the wedding photography business, referrals are the best starting place.

Once you've formed a short list of photographers to contact, make a point of researching their work by any means possible. Most commonly, this can be done by searching for a website. In todays market, most photographers have discovered that the internet is an excellent resource for advertising their wares and many have full portfolios of their work online. A good photographer will present a broad array of their work for you to review. Be careful of sites that only share a few images, or that are heavily laden with testimonials as these may indicate less experienced photographers who may or may not have the skill sets to perform the quality of work you are looking for. That is not to say that these photographers are not qualified, but a greater quantity of quality work will give you a much greater appreciation for the type of photographs that particular photographer takes.

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