10 QUESTIONS YOU SHOULD BE ASKING YOUR WEDDING PHOTOGRAPHER BEFORE BOOKING THEM!!

With this week's blog post we’re going to be covering 10 questions you should be asking your wedding photographer before booking them!! We don’t get asked these questions nearly enough and think all of you should really be asking your potential photographer these questions to fully understand the process and get to know your photographer. So, we thought we would dedicate an entire newsletter to this topic in a little Q&A format!

1. How would you describe your photography style?  We would describe our style as true to life/true to colour! We want you to have your photos as relevant today…as they are 100 years from now! You put SO MUCH time and effort into choosing your colours for the day, and we want you to remember your flowers, linens, centrepieces etc. as they were from the most important day of your lives!!

2. What is your turnaround time for our wedding photos? We always try our very best to get your photos to you as soon as possible. If we’re in the thick of wedding season…our usual turnaround time is 8 to 12 weeks! When you book with us all of this is laid out in our contract so that everything is completely transparent and there are no surprises.

3. What equipment do you carry? This one is for ALL the camera nerds out there. We show up on the day of your wedding with THREE camera bodies. TWO Nikon D750 bodies…which have two dual card slots. This means that as we take your photos, we are already backing them up. Essentially, the second memory card acts as a backup for your photos…should the first one gets corrupted (knock on wood!!!). Between the two of us we also carry over SIX lenses. This allows us firstly, to have backups and secondly, to give your photos dynamic range. We could continue to nerd out here and tell you all about our flashes, tripods, soft boxes, reflectors, prisms, gels, lens balls etc. but we can save that for any personal inquiries as we don’t want to bore any of you here.

P.S please keep your fingers crossed as we’re hoping to add a drone to mix next year!

4. How do you backup our photos? Once we get home from your special day, we upload your photos immediately to our computer and 2 hard drives. This is one of our favourite parts as we get to relive the day on the big screen! After that we store the SD cards from your day with the RAW images on them in a fireproof safe until the final gallery is delivered.

5. If our special day was postponed because of an event such as COVID-19 would we lose our retainer? The short answer is NO! We try our very best to accommodate all of our client’s requests and will work with you to move your date to a new one! If there is a date that you were wanting and it’s available it’s YOURS!! As long as you are doing everything possible to work with us in finding a new date that we are also available then all we do is transfer the retainer to the new date and get an updated contract signed.

6. Can we request a specific shot list of photos we are wanting? Definitely! We always do our very best to ensure we get every shot you request. We don’t need a list of every shot you are wanting from the day, rather a must have list of anything special that may occur throughout the day that is unique to you and your wedding. Closer to your wedding we will sit down and go over all the shots you are wanting and vibe you are hoping for in terms of photos. We also like you to create a family shot list as well as a must have photo list of your day (special moments, surprises, important heirlooms etc.). We’re going to play devil's advocate for a second…We know you love Pinterest (don’t we all) but truthfully…we want your day to be unique to you! You can look to Pinterest for inspo.. But please, please, please don’t plan your photography shot list around what someone else’s wedding looked like. What we will never be able to do is recreate those exact moments because the emotions and happiness in those photos are unique and true to that couple in those photos. Bottomline your photos should be unique to you and your partner! We want them to feel real, rare, and authentic. Sure, look up different colour schemes and see what works and what doesn’t but ultimately base your decisions on what you and your partner like/dislike.

7. How do we get our photos? All edited photos will be available to you via a USB and a private online gallery. The online gallery will be good for up to ONE year from the date we deliver the final gallery. Your online gallery will be password protected and with that you are able to share the link with family and friends for them to download any photos they wish from the day. Our clients LOVE this feature especially when it comes to sharing photos with their wedding party, parents, grandparents etc. It is such a dream to just send a link and be done as opposed to having to send every person individual photos.

8. Do you provide sneak peeks? ABSOLUTELY! We can’t wait to send you snap shots throughout your day to help you relive those moments! Within 48 hours after your wedding, we will give you a good number of sneak peeks from all moments throughout your day! The sneak peeks won’t be 50 sunset shots…but merely shots from the morning leading all the way to your reception. Also, if you had any photos, you were specifically wanting for a thank you card etc., we would be sure to include those in the sneaks as well!

9. Do you have a second shooter option and if so, do you separate? YES! All of our wedding packages include two photographers!! It’s always my wife (Kim) and I (Joseph). Should either one of us not be able to attend (trust us, we would be sad) we have a trusted list of photographer friends that we have for our seconds. They have been hand chosen by us and are ones that we have worked with a lot and their styles are very close to ours. In terms of separating, we absolutely do this if the timeline permits us to. Sometimes we are lucky, and the timeline works out for us to stick together (which we love) throughout the day!

10. How many photos should we expect from our day? This is a great question and would vary depending on the amount of coverage you choose. Our packages include anywhere from 300-500 plus photos and highlight all the special moments throughout your day. We like to ensure that you are getting a wide variety of shots from your entire day, not just an entire gallery of only your ceremony.

BONUS…

11. How do you make your couples feel comfortable in front of the camera?? We LOVE this question, and it is something we believe we thrive at. When we book a couple, we really like to connect with who they are as people and do everything in our power to become, not just another vendor, but their friend. It’s really important for us to get to know one another so that you are not shy and uncomfortable on your wedding day. A good way to do this is an engagement session. We highly recommend this as it is a good trial run of what it will be like working together before your wedding day. We get to share lots of laughs and warm you and your partner up in front of the camera so that come wedding day you’re a pro! Another thing we really like to do is have FUN. We love joking around and being silly with our couples. We do a mix of candid/posed shots… What we mean by this is we often set our couples up (or wedding parties, families etc.) in a posed position and then give a prompt such as whisper the sexiest fruit in your partner's ear or sing your favourite Shania Twain song as loud as you can. Then after we have made sure we’ve fixed your hair or tucked in any clothing tags, we step back and capture the moment as you and your partner are laughing and enjoying the time together as if we are not even there.

We hope you enjoyed this Q&A session with us. We hope it helped answer some of the questions you may have when looking for your most ideal wedding photographer. If you love what you’ve read, we would be so happy to hear from you. Please use the link below to inquire with us today! https://www.imagesbyjac.com/contact-us