Things You Should Ask Your Wedding Photographer

Over the years I've been asked lots of questions regarding how I work, what my approach is and how I deal with any issues that may arise. All of them are really important and I urge anyone booking a photographer to ask these questions, along with any others that may crop up. Whoever you book to shoot your wedding will want you to feel confident and comfortable, so they'll be more than happy to answer these queries!

Since we've expanded there are now two us, so the list of questions has definitely grown and along with that, some of the answers have changed. So I thought I'd take a bit of time to go through our most frequently asked questions......

What Are The Benefits Of Having 2 Photographers?

Where to even begin?! Firstly, I’ve shot 125+ weddings over the course of five years and try as I may, I simply can’t be everywhere at once!! Having a second shooter allows a greater range of coverage and helps the day run smoother. It means you have both of the morning preps covered, not just for the bride but also the groom. So from a storytelling point of view, you're seeing a much broader view of the whole day by capturing it from both sides. Whilst I wait to capture the bride arriving, Craig stays inside the ceremony room to capture all those last minute jitters and bursts of excitement. When it comes to saying “I do” it means that your ceremony is shot from 2 angles, the front and the back. This is unbelievably helpful because once the ceremony starts, we don’t move around – that’s super distracting for you and your guests and will most likely result in a telling off from a vicar or registrar! We then both spend the rest of the day capturing everything from different angles, getting all those shots that the other photographer couldn't because they were the opposite end of the room shooting something else. Plus, now there's two of us working on the post production of your images, you get your images sooner. No more 8 week turnaround in peek season, its now 3-4 weeks, whether its December or August. Hurrah!

How Soon Do We Need To Book You?

As soon as you've decided that we’re the right photographers for you! We take bookings up to 2 years in advance so if you've looked through our portfolio, like our style of work and think that we might be a good fit then I would encourage you to either give me a call or send me an email so we can discuss our availability and arrange a consultation.

Deposit- How Much & Is It Refundable?

A 50% deposit is required to secure your date. Upon booking your date you would receive a signed contract (along with some goodies in the post!) and your wedding day will be secured with us. Once a deposit has been paid, we decline any and all offers to shoot other weddings on that date, due to this the deposit is non-refundable. We recommend that all of our couples take out wedding insurance, its super cheap and provides peace of mind should you need to change your plans.

How Would You Describe Your Photographic Style?

I always find this a really tricky one to answer! After all, as the old saying goes "A pictures worth a thousand words " and I often think you'll get a much better feel for our style by looking through our galleries. However, I would say this.... we take a documentary style approach to capturing weddings. We work in a super relaxed and completely unobtrusive manner, and we're big on natural moments, never forcing anything to "get the shot". That's not our style. I'm also a bit of a sucker for the details so I love taking a bit time on the day to shoot anything pretty or personal to you guys and your wedding. And if there's a dog there? Well, you can expect at least a million pictures of them. Fact.

Do We Need An Engagement Shoot?

Over the years, one of the most common questions I'm asked is "do we need an Eshoot....also......what even is an Eshoot?!" And over the years my answer has varied. The short answer is, no. They are not absolutely essential. However, over time I've really come to appreciate the value of an Engagement shoot. You can head to the blog here to find out exactly why!

What Happens If You're Ill And You Can't Make It To Our Wedding?

Firstly....we would have to be actually dying. As grim as it sounds, I'ts basically true!

However, should some crazy emergency prevent us from attending your big day, we have lots of photographers on speed dial, who are not only lovely people but also wonderfully talented. We would also look to our network of photographers as we are part of The UK Wedding Photographers Emergency Cover Club (a group of over 3'000 wedding photographers!) So no matter what, you will have have a photographer on your special day. We would then take the images from the photographer to curate and edit them in our style. The money required to hire in another photographer for you would be covered by ourselves.

Fortunately (touch wood) this has never happened, but its the plan we have in place should such a crisis arise.

Do You Travel?

Absolutely! We’re big on exploring and love travelling to wherever your special day is happening - whether it’s Somerset or The South of France! Our wedding packages include our travel expenses for up to 1 hour, so travel fee's may be added beyond this. Should we be required to stay overnight due to distance and/ or requiring extended coverage then an additional fee of up to £60 per night may be added to cover the cost of our accommodation.

Can You Help With Our Timings?

Yes! So much yes! I love to help with the timings. After shooting as many weddings as I have you kind of learn a thing or two about the best way to time everything on a wedding day! So I'm always on hand to help with timing issues or to just generally help with the flow of the day. We offer some timing suggestions on our details form but all you need to do is shout me if you need any additional help or suggestions.

Do You Take Group Shots And More "Formal" Photographs?

Of course! But we keep them simple and we shoot them quickly, all the while still looking for those natural moments in-between. Guests hate to be kept standing around to “pose” for the formal shots so we recommend that couples keep it to no more than 10 combinations. This alone can take up to 30 minutes depending on the number of guests involved or the size of your venue. We've actually written an entire blog on this, you can find it here

How Long Do You Stay For?

Our full day coverage provides you with unlimited hours. We don't want to miss the party so we'll stay as long as you need us to! Within reason...if you're party goes on until 5am we may ask for breakfast!!

Do We Need To Feed Our Photographer?

My answer for this has always been the same.... It's not by any means expected but it's always really appreciated!! We don't have a "feed us" clause in our contract so if you're not planning on providing us with a meal then just let us know so we can bring a packed lunch. When you're shooting for 10-12 hours its really important to stay focused and not be distracted, eating is a big part of that. Plus, the hanger is real, people!!

How Do You Store The Images After The Wedding Day?

Once we are home from a wedding all of the images are uploaded onto an internal hard drive in our work PC. They are then imported into Lightroom (our editing suite) which is on another hard drive. So at this point, your images are now in 3 places....the cards we shot them on, then in two separate hard drives within our PC. We then run external back ups, so if anything happens to the PC, the images are still copied into external hard drives for extra security. When we deliver a gallery to our clients, this is done online. As we only keep images for approx 2 years, we recommend that you download and back up the gallery in a couples of separate locations, just to be really safe.

When And How Do We Get To See Our Pictures After The Wedding?

Within 1 week of your wedding we will share a little preview of your big day… just a little sneak peek before the full set of images is ready! We will email you to let you know when you can see this preview which will be made available on Facebook, the blog and on Instagram. Approx 3-4 weeks after your wedding, all of your images will be available to see in your password protected Online Gallery which you will be sent a link and a password for.

Can We Have ALL Of The Pictures/ Footage You Take?

Goodness no! And you wouldn’t want them either! We work on a quality over quantity principle to ensure that the story of your day is told from start to finish in the relaxed, vibrant way for which you hire us. And besides, nobody needs 20 images of Aunt May with her eyes half closed!

Who Owns The Copyright?

As the photographers, we own the copyright to the images and we never provide RAW’s (original, unedited image files) We do, however, provide all clients with full printing and sharing rights so that you can print and share your wedding pictures until your hearts content!

Are You Insured?

Yes- we are fully insured! Some venues may require proof of this and we’re more than happy to provide it upon request.

So there it is, our most frequently asked questions! I hope they give you better insight into how we work and if you have any questions that aren't listed above then just give me a shout!

Hayley x