There’s nothing more disheartening than celebrating something so wonderful as your wedding, only to find out later that you have a less-than-perfect account of it. While many people are blessed with the ability to point and click with relatively good results, a wedding calls for much more expertise and talent. We have researched the most important tips and stories to help you find the perfect photographer and videographer for your special day. Believe us, little else is more important than being able to relive your wedding day later on, either in film or on a video.

Budget well for this area. This is NOT a place to skimp or cut back the numbers so that your shoes are fancier, your punch is available in four different flavors, or any other such extra. You very well may find that your favorite photographer is priced lower than some others, but don’t let the price itself govern where you look in the first place. Let the cost be a factor, not the whole reason, for the choice that you make.

Interview several photographers, taking the time to ask any and all questions that you and your groom may have. Be sure to look at as many examples of their work as possible, request references and phone numbers of past clients willing to share their opinions with you, and nail down the answers to all of the questions in “What to Ask a Prospective Photographer or Videographer.”

Have your agreement in writing. A photographer without a proper contract of his own or unwilling to sign one for you is not someone you want to employ, no matter how good his pictures look or what his prices are. One reader learned the hard way that even friends should have a contract in this type of situation. “I had the friend of one of my bridesmaids take my pictures, since he wanted to become a professional and needed the practice. I had seen his work from another wedding and liked it. He quoted us a set fee for the wedding, including a set of developed prints and the negatives. But they turned out so well that he decided not to give us the negatives and wanted to charge us more for the prints than most of the professionals.”

Have a list of the photos you want at any cost: the five generations all in one shot, your sorority sisters, etc. Some photographers even offer a list for you to check off the photos you’d like to have for sure, with additional space for you to add any combinations or locations that are not already on the list. A good photographer will go over this list with you and will make sure that all of the requested photos are taken.

Have a plan. Be sure that your wedding party and any other friends or family members who are to be in the pictures are aware of the time and place for their photo shoots. Nothing is more inconvenient to everyone involved than for the wedding party to be scattered everywhere, oblivious to the schedule.

Make sure that the photographer you interview, the one whose work you examine, will be the photographer actually shooting your wedding day. Believe it or not, many photography studios send whatever photographer is most convenient for them at the time, not necessarily the one that you’ve met with before. This is something that is most certainly a “must-have” for your contract.

Be sure that you have the same photographer at the wedding and at the reception, unless you have approved both photographers in advance. Another one of our readers had a photographer friend take their wedding pictures, but a colleague took the reception pictures. She ended up loving the friend’s photos and disliking the colleague’s.

Personally solidify the date and time with your photographer and your videographer, even if they are employed by the same company. One reader hired both from the same studio, yet her videographer was late and missed part of her ceremony. If you send out Save the Date cards, you may even consider sending one to your photographer, videographer, caterer, florist, etc., as one can never be too careful. Be sure to go over ahead of time what specific photos will be taken and how long the photographer or videographer will be at the event. Will he come early enough for dressing room shots? Will he leave after the first dance or as late as when the bride and groom drive away? These sort of things will probably not be first and foremost on your mind the day of the wedding, so establishing such details well in advance will benefit both you and the photographer or videographer.

Decide what you want out of the deal. Many professional photographers are willing to part with the negatives if you ask. Of course, you will usually pay for them, but if you’re one who wants more control over your photos, protection from a photographer going bankrupt and disappearing, passing away, or other such instance, think about how valuable those negatives are to you. Copyright laws prohibit you from copying professional photos for up to fifty years, so if you’re a scrapbooker especially, either make sure that you purchase enough prints from the photographer, or consider purchasing those negatives. If you do purchase the negatives or the digital files, though, you should ideally do so for future reprints and for posterity, not so that you can put together your own album. Have the photographer put together your wedding album for you; after the wedding and the honeymoon are over, the thank you notes are sent, and you’ve settled down in your new home with your new husband, the last thing that you’ll want to do is organize all those images for yourself. It can easily become very time-consuming to decide how many of what size of each image you need for which album (if you would like albums for family members or friends as well), figuring out all of the negative numbers and logging them on a reprint page, then making sure that the photo developer you choose gets all of the prints right, etc. The professionals are professionals for a reason; let them do the sorting and the hard work for you; it’s well worth the price and your saved time and energy.

Consider having backup photographers at your wedding. Employ friends and family who love to be behind the camera, and consider having disposable cameras at each reception table. Some of the most wonderful photos taken at weddings are those by the guests, especially the candid shots, since they can be taken all throughout the day and from so many different vantage points. A lone photographer can only be in one place at a time. (For posed photos, many photographers will not allow others to take pictures at the same time, so be sure to ask about this before allowing your friends to start shooting away.) Or ask your photographer if he can bring an assistant to take more professional pictures; there is often a special price for adding a second photographer, and some studios even include them in their regular packages.
When you plan the schedule for your wedding day, think about how you can make the most of your photographer’s or videographer’s valuable time. If you have him for a set number of hours only, consider all of the important shots you’d like to have, and make sure that the events happen within that timeframe, or consider making some of the shots posed ones. One reader chose to have her posed shots taken at the reception site so that the guests and the wedding party weren’t separated for a long period of time and so that the second photographer could shoot away at the reception, getting important photos of the celebration while the posed shots were taken in a room nearby. This saved precious time that is often lost when the guests wait for an hour or more while the wedding party is busy having their posed pictures taken elsewhere, saving time and money on photography and keeping the guests happy at the same time.

If your wedding lasts into the evening, consider how the lighting may change if you have any outside events to be photographed. Perhaps the order of events can be altered to allow for particular lighting for your photos. If not, be sure that your photographer is able to compensate for the setting sun by having adequate equipment to properly light the poses. Our art director Libby Rose had a beautiful outdoor wedding in the country, but she has few photographs to show for it: “By the time all of our guests had been through our receiving line, it was getting dark. Our photographer was armed only with a flash and no extra lighting. So, most of our posed photos with our wedding party and family were too dark or out of focus.” Consider the weather as well; if the day is overcast or rainy, where will you shoot the photos originally planned for the rose garden? Be sure to have a backup plan for any and all situations you can conjure up in your mind.

Think about the type of photos you like. Some brides love the look of traditional posed photos for their albums, while others are drawn to the natural look of candid shots. Keep your style preferences in mind as you peruse the sample work of each photographer you interview. Discuss with your prospective photographer the methods that he uses which may be unique to a certain desired effect. Does he shoot entirely in color, then make select photos black and white at your request, or does he shoot with one color camera and one black and white camera? If he does the latter, remember that he can only take one shot at a time, so you will end up with only one color choice of that particular shot rather than two. You can always take a color print and change it to black and white, but you cannot change black and white to color. Unless you have two photographers present, one using color film and one using black and white film, it may be wise to have the entire day shot in color so that you can preserve the colors of your wedding; you can always make a few into black and white after the fact.

When deciding on a videographer, look for what parts of a wedding day he shoots well. Some videos are simply recordings of the ceremony or reception from one spot in the sanctuary or reception hall, with no personal touches at all. Others are shot from several vantage points, complete with guests’ well wishes and the decorating of the getaway car. Decide what you’d most like to watch again and again, and be sure to list those shots for the videographer in advance. Make sure, too, that your videographer is well informed throughout the day by a designated friend or family member. If you want footage of the getaway car being decorated or the bride’s mother handing the bride a family heirloom for her wedding day, the videographer needs to know when and where such important things are to take place.

Consider whether you would like a simple account of the day on video, or if you’d like to have the videographer put together a presentation complete with music, chapters, and text. Some specialize in one or the other but not both, so know what you want before making your final selection. Determine, also, how you would like to view the video in the future. Does the videographer burn the wedding day to a DVD or does he copy it to a VHS tape? Find out if he will edit the footage and give you an hour’s worth of the day or if he will give you the entire day’s footage. Perhaps he can do both if you’d like a concise overview of the day for those who couldn’t attend the wedding, as well as a longer version for your own personal enjoyment.

Preserving your day in photos or on film will be much less uncertain and risky if you keep these points in mind. Plenty of preparation leads to a smoother, more relaxed and enjoyable wedding day, leaving you to be in the spotlight without having to run here and there to be sure that every detail is covered. Take a copy of this article with you to interviews so that you can use the questions and suggestions provided.

What to Ask a Prospective Photographer or Videographer

• Will you be the one photographing/videotaping the wedding? If not, who will?

• What references do you have for yourself and for any others who may shoot the wedding?

• May I examine several samples of your most recent work? Are any of the subjects willing to speak with us about their experience with you?

• Are package deals available? If so, what are they?

• Do you shoot with film or digitally? Do you shoot color, black and white, or both?

•Do you crop the photos at all? Are cropping and other touchups included in the standard price? If not, what is the additional cost for each possible process?

•What sort of precautions do you take to avoid failed development or accidentally erased memory cards? If you videotape digitally, do you keep the tape on file, or do you reuse it after downloading the contents to a DVD or CD? Have you ever lost anyone’s photos in the past? How often and under what circumstances?

• Are the negatives or digital files available for purchase? If not, what are my options regarding reprints?

• Do the rights to the negatives or digital files remain yours for a certain amount of time or indefinitely? What happens if you move out of town, pass away, leave the photography or videography business, or are otherwise unable to be contacted for future reprints or videotapes?

• What is your payment plan? When is partial or full payment due for the services and for the photos or videotape?

• What happens if I need to cancel your services for some reason? Do I receive part or all of my deposit back? Is there a deadline by which I must make the cancellation?

• Do you have a contract that we can all sign, or are you willing to sign one provided by us?

• What will you offer us if your end of the contract is not upheld? What happens if we are not satisfied with the outcome of our photos or video?

• What exactly is included in your rates? What is included and what is an additional charge? Do you have a price sheet we can use for reference? Are your prices subject to change, or are they solidified once an agreement is made between us?

• What do you charge for an additional photographer to work with you so that we have shots from two different angles? Is there a price break for the second photographer?

• Will you use microphones for the video? If so, do you provide them, or will we need to set that up with the sound technician at the ceremony venue?

•Is videography burned to a DVD or VHS? Are music and titles added? Are chapter breaks and a menu provided for a DVD?

•Is the video complete footage or a scaled-down presentation of the day’s highlights?

What to Look for When Examining Photos or Video Samples

• Are the pictures primarily candid or posed? If you prefer one over another, keep this especially in mind. Does he shoot the cake cutting or bouquet tossing as posed pictures or as candid ones? If they’re posed, they may look less candid, but if they’re candid, he has only one shot to get a good photo. Is he good enough to do so? Does he do both just to be safe?

• Does the photographer/videographer seem to move around sufficiently, or are all of the shots from one stationary spot in the room?

• Is the lighting good? Are white things really white? Do subjects look washed out or too dark? If applicable, does the photographer/videographer seem to transition easily from indoor to outdoor shots?

• Are the photos clear and sharp? Are they correctly exposed? Do the subjects stand out from the background, or do they blend in?

• Does the photographer/videographer use film or digital cameras? Can you see a difference, either good or bad?

• Are digital photos enhanced or touched up in any way? This can be a blessing when the lighting is unavoidably wrong or when the subjects just aren’t quite cooperating, provided that the photographer knows how to enhance photos well.

• Does the photographer/videographer seem to capture the right amount of the subject in the shot? For instance, are the subjects so far away that they’re unrecognizable or so close that you can see every pore on their faces?

• Does the videographer do well with the sound quality? Can the essential sounds be heard over the background noise?