by Fred Jung

Created on: March 03, 2009

The one thing you should not do when choosing a wedding photographer is to point at the first person you see on the street with a point-and-shoot camera and throw money at him. That would not be wise. I just want to make sure you don't do that mistake.

Your wedding is a very important day in your life. Not the most important since the day of your birth is more important, but it is definitely up there on your list. You should take care what vendors you use for your important day.

Get advice from friends and family who are married or know someone who are married. Make sure you don't ask your enemies as they will thwart your efforts. Your friends and family can give some names of wedding photographers to consider. Do some research online at places like the www.theknot.com or other wedding sites that will surely have done some research for you.

Once you have a list of names of photographers, do research online. A photographer should have a website to view their portfolio and their services. Skip over photographers too cheap to even have a website.

When you have a list of photographers you seem to like, call them up on the phone and ask for an appointment to see them at their studio. When you go there, make sure you tell them about the appointment and what you want or they might mistake you for a plumber and ask you to fix their bathroom sink. True story. A prospective DJ mistaken me for a plumber and I was confused why he took me to his bathroom. I didn't use him.

Anyway, look at their portfolio and some of the wedding albums they have produced for other couples. You should consider the style and quality of their photographs. Don't pick one that have pictures of people with major red eye or have their face up too close to the camera. I prefer to use a photographer that makes a digital album where they layout the pictures digitally on each page and print them on high-quality coated boards for each page. The are way superior than the traditional albums where they just slide or paste the pictures into the album.

The price range you should be looking for is between $2000 and $3000. Any more is way too much and any less and you'll be getting what you are paying for. Moreover, you should hire one that would do an engagement photo session where you go to some outside location or two to take pictures in your wedding outfits, evening wear, and any other outfits you want. We did one in Korean outfits because my wife is Korean. I thought about doing Chinese outfits for me but I had no Chinese outfits. I suggest you don't do clown outfits. Do that session months before the wedding and not a week before the wedding like we did. That was a big and very cold mistake.

Another thing you may want to consider is whether they can do other services for you. Some do hair and make-up and also videography. Mine also did my wife's hair and make-up for the engagement session, but we opted not to use them for the wedding as they were too far away from the church and our home for that.

These are just some of the things you should consider when looking for a wedding photographer for one of the most important days of your life. Of course, you can just hire me with my simple point-and-shoot camera and my clown outfit and I would be very happy to come to your wedding and take pictures for fifty bucks and a free meal.

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