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While none of these wedding photographer questions are in any way silly or at all unwelcomed by photographers, they don’t quite warrant answers as important as many wedding blogs would suggest. It’s much more important to get to know your potential photographers to see if you click well and could envision enjoying their company for all of your wedding day! Focus not so much on technical questions, but rather on connecting.
If you’re truly curious about these popular questions, go ahead and ask. Just know not to put quite as much weight into them as some popular wedding blogs might suggest :)
1. Have You Shot at My Venue Before?
It can be comforting to know if a photographer has photographed your venue before, but it is far from essential. Most often, if a photographer is unfamiliar with a venue they will visit and research the location beforehand. You should fall in love with a photographer’s style and creativity, not their history.
Because I travel nationally for weddings, I often shoot weddings at new venues and shoot them just as beautifully as venues I’ve been to before. Don’t let the fact that a photographer hasn’t shot your wedding sway your decision.
2. What Kind of Camera/Type of Equipment?
Unless you have knowledge of photography equipment, asking a photographer what kind they use is actually irrelevant to their work. Presumably, you’re inquiring with them because you love their images. If that’s the case, it shouldn’t matter what kind of gear they use.
I’ve known photographers to produce stellar work with consumer level equipment. I’ve also known photographers using top of the line pro gear who’ve made horrible images for weddings. In the end, if you love their work, don’t worry about their camera type!
3. How Many Photos Do You Deliver?
This isn’t a bad question, but often couples focus way too much on quantity. Does it really matter if you get 600 vs 700 images? I believe that 700 gorgeous photos are better than 2000 with a mix of gorgeous and average images. It dulls down the impact of the gallery and gets repetitive when you have so many images from a typical 8 hour day. LESS IS MORE!
4. How Would You Describe Your Visual Style?
You should already have thoroughly looked through a photographer’s portfolio and ensure you LOVE it before emailing them. There’s not much sense in asking what their style is, given that you can clearly see their aesthetics through images alone. When people ask this, it makes me wonder if they’ve really checked out my work or only glanced at a few images.
5. Can We Give You a Shot List to Copy?
If you love a photographer’s work, do not ask if they can work from a shot list you found on a random wedding website. They know what they’re doing. I’m not talking about a list of family photos or 1-2 must have shots. I’m referring to lists of 10+ contrived and staged moments and poses that are totally unoriginal and inauthentic.
If I were to work off of a shot list, I’ll be checking it all day and missing REAL moments in front of me. A shot list would remove all creativity out of my images and the final gallery would not represent the work a bride hired me for. Don’t use a shot list! Trust your photographer to capture your day just as beautifully as they have done with their past weddings.
