What to Ask Your Wedding Photographer

Booking a wedding photographer can be a tough process. You’re trying to find someone who is going to be spending one of the most important days of your life with you! You need to make sure there’s compatibility, but that there’s also appropriate coverage for everything you need, and that’s why it’s important to know what questions to ask your wedding photographer.

Wedding planning can amount to a lot of work, and sometimes it’s difficult to know exactly what questions to ask to get what you need out of your wedding photography. They have one opportunity to get it right, so these are the best questions to ask your wedding photographer to make sure you’re both on the same page and ready to go.

Background Questions to Ask Your Wedding Photographer

How long have you been shooting weddings?

How did you first get into wedding photography?

What is the most memorable wedding you have shot? 

What is your favorite part about shooting weddings?

How would you describe your wedding photography style?

Do you have multiple shooting styles?

Do you prefer candid or staged images?

Questions for Your Engagement Photography

Do I need engagement photos?

Do any packages include engagement photography?

How should we dress for our engagement shoot?

Do you have any location suggestions for engagement photography?

Logistical Questions for Your Wedding Photographer

Will you be the one shooting my wedding?

Do you work with a second shooter?

Do you have other weddings to photograph that weekend?

Have you ever shot a wedding like ours?

Have you ever shot a wedding at our venue?

Will you have a shot list or do I need to provide one?

Do you have liability insurance?

What is the back up plan if you are unable to shoot my wedding for an unexpected reason?

How will you be dressed?

How much notice do you need for overtime requests?

Do you have any additional needs from us to make the day run smoothly?

Technical Questions to Ask a Wedding Photographer

Do you shoot digitally?

Do you have solutions in case of bad weather?

Do you shoot in low light settings often?

Do you use flash often?

Can we see the full gallery of a recent wedding?

Do you edit the images yourself or do you work with an outside editor?

Do you do color corrections?

Do you offer retouching?

Payment Questions for Wedding Photographers

What is included in a standard package?

Can I customize a package to fit my needs?

Do you charge a travel fee?

Are any edits included or an additional charge?

What is your payment schedule?

When will we receive the contract?

What is the required deposit?

What is your refund or cancellation policy?

What are your overtime rates?

What forms of payment do you accept?

Questions on Receiving Wedding Photos

What is the general turnaround time for our images?

Can we expect any sneak peeks before the full set of photos?

How do you handle us receiving images?

Do you offer printing?

Do you offer albums?

Usage Questions for Wedding Photographers

Who owns the rights to these images?

Will you be posting our wedding on your website/portfolio?

Will you be blogging our wedding?

Will our wedding be posted on your social media?

Will you be submitting our wedding to magazines or blogs?

Any more wedding photography questions?

Your wedding photographer should be able to answer these questions for you, and many should already be outlined in their contracts. Make sure you read the contracts, even if you’ve had an in person meeting, to ensure that all details previously agreed upon line up in the paperwork.