Your photographer will be with you for the best part of five hours and you will need him/her to be friendly, helpful, guiding and most of all able to get on with the guests, priest or minister and the reception venue management. It is a good idea to ask the reception venue co-ordinator which photographers are most helpful when they arrive. Basically mention the name of the photographer you are thinking about and ask your co-ordinator for an honest assessment. They are dealing with photographers every day and know who will be easy to work with and who will break your heart on the day. The most important thing is that you have a full-time professional photographer cover your wedding who is qualified, insured and business registered. This is not only for your peace of mind but also for your protection also. What if a guest falls over the photographic equipment and gets injured? If the photographer is not insured you may well have a claim on yourself as the person who invited the guest and therefore you have a duty of care towards your guests.
More and more venues and all public parks and ameniety areas now demand that all photohraphers entering for the purpose of taking wedding photographs must have public liability insurance to the value of €6.5 million.
Some tips when booking a Wedding Photographer:
1 Make sure your Photographer is qualified and is a member of a recognised Association. In Ireland the Irish Professional Photographers Association is the main regulatory body. The Master Photographers Association is also another good association.
2 Make sure they have a base or office where you can visit.
3 A proper land line telephone number is also an indication of a good business.
A mobile number only looks a bit "doddgy".
4 A business address is also vital. It has been my experience over the past two years that some photographers set up a website and give a mobile number, take deposits and dissappear into the night.
5 Make sure the photographer you book is the one covering your wedding and the samples you viewed are the ones done by your photographer. It can be a nightmare to find a staff photographer whom you do not know attending your wedding.
6 Your photographer is the person you should be dealing with person to person both before and after your wedding. Its a professional service and when you visit your professional such as the accountant, solicitor, advisor, doctor, etc. you expect to talk to them and not their wife, secretary or housekeeper. If you can't get access to your photographer then its not a good service.
7 Know exactly what is covered in your chosen package and that there are no nasty surprises or hidden extras that you were not told about in the beginning.
8 By choosing a qualified, registered professional photographer you will be drawing on their wealth of expeirience and you can rest assured that your Photographs will be something special that you will treasure for ever
Your wedding day is one of the most important days in your life. The wedding photographer is responsible for photograpohing ordinary people of all shapes and sizes and from every walk of life who generally are not used to being photographed and often don't want to be photographed. I have mentioned most of this above but just consider the following points before you choose your photographer...
Is your photographer a full time professional photographer?
Have you seen more than one complete wedding in order to assess his/her work?
Is the person(s) you met the one(s) that will be photographing your wedding? If not, you will want to meet and see the work of the person who will be your photographer.
Is he/she a member of a professional association?
Does the photographer have Public Liability and Professional Indemnity Insurance?
Do you get on with the photographer? Have you seen them at work at a wedding?
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