subject: Choosing A Wedding Photographer And How To Create Fabulous Formals In Minutes [print this page] Choosing A Photographer Choosing A Photographer
It should not be a difficult task to find and select the right photographer for your big day. One of the best places to start to look is amongst friends or relatives who have recently got married and whose pictures you like. For most photographers worth their salt the referral business is paramount to their overall success - so the power of personal recommendations is not to be taken lightly. If you don't know of anyone who has recently married or their pictures are not to your taste then have a look on the website directories of the two Professional Photographers Associations in the UK - these are the Master Photographers Association (MPA) and The British Institute of Professional Photography (BIPP) both have search facilities for you to look for a photographer within your area.
Be very wary of any other similar sounding organisations to the above. There are other organisations with similar names who allow anyone to join who can afford their membership fee. The drawback of this is that potentially your photographer could be only photographing weddings on a weekend with only one camera and lens and no back up should the unthinkable happen and something goes wrong. He/she may not have a body of people who they can call upon to step in at the last minute if needed and worse still they may not be insured or adhere to a Professional code of conduct regarding how they treat you, their client.
So having created a shortlist of photographers you both like, take the time to drop by and check out the style and quality of photography on offer to you. Choose a photographer with whom you have a rapport - someone that you would be happy to invite to your wedding, because this is in effect what you will be doing! Go through available options and choices open to you with your chosen photographer and then get your dates secured quickly in his/her diary before someone else snaps them up! Good photographers are often booked up very quickly and may also choose to limit how many wedding bookings they accept each month/year so don't delay once you have found the one for you.
Fabulous Formals In Minutes
The key to reducing boredom on your wedding day whilst everyone waits for the photographer to take an endless list of group photos - most of which may never see the wedding album - is to carefully plan exactly what pictures you do want and then work them into a logical "running order" for the day.
Start off with the largest number first - so we would suggest that this is a group of everyone attending the wedding. This picture will probably take the most organisation on your photographers part as it can be difficult to get everyone looking in the same direction at once and also stop people from "hiding" behind the person in front of them - it's quite a skill to get 200 people all smiling in the same direction, at the same time and whose faces can all clearly be seen! Add to this trying to get the shape pleasing to the eye and you may be beginning to "see" what we see through the camera!
From the largest group you may want a picture of friends and each side of the family so split these up at this point before everyone wanders off. We'd suggest the friends group second as friends very often WON'T hang around for a photo whereas family will. Family groups - most couples only put into their album a picture of themselves with each respective immediate family - i.e. mums, dads, brothers, sisters (& brothers or sisters off spring if there are any). It's very rare that the cousins/aunts and uncles make the album - so consider this - is this a picture that you really want? More likely to be wanted by your parents say is a picture of them with their sisters/brothers than the extended family pictures, so maybe worth discussing this with your parents prior to the wedding.
From the immediate family on each side then have the parents - usually we have both sets of parents with the bride and groom and then each set of parents with the bride and groom. After this it's time to have fun creating some amusing pictures with the bridal party - ushers/bridesmaids and then some couply pictures of just the two of you and perhaps some bridal portraits and that's it - you're done with formal pictures. All the above should take under 15 minutes out of your wedding day schedule assuming your guests and family are co-operative and your list is not exhaustive.
