Daughter's wedding!

[CarMac]

So, as a photographer, how would YOU go about finding someone you trusted enough to take photos of your daughter's wedding?

[y2blade]

I'd chose on Reputation, Reputation and Reputation.
Start asking around, you must know people who are married? ask them who took their photos.


All the best for the big day.

[ecsrobin]

It's all about the reputation and quality of work.

[MysteryLemon]

Op.

Scott Sharman photography.

[tim-b]

You've got a camera, so just do it yourself?

[Simpo Two]

y2blade said:

Start asking around, you must know people who are married? ask them who took their photos.

This, plus trawl the net for ones reasonably local that you like. Pick 2-3 and go to see them; ask to see whole weddings not just the best 10 photos. Make sure the person you see is the person who will taking the photos. I'm sure many problems start when one person does the presentation but another takes the photos.

I should also add that the person who needs to be satisfied is your daughter, not you. There's no point choosing a tog that YOU like if she doesn't. She (and fiance) should be allowed to choose, even if you're paying for it. Weddings organised by parents never feel quite right IMHO.

[illmonkey]

We got married away from where we live, but still in the UK. So we found it a little hard to pick, so we just went with who the Queen used when she was in the same area, seemed to work out ok!

[MartinP]

I suggest that you start off by looking at some photographers' websites with your daughter and find a small selection who's style she really likes. There's no point booking a documentary photographer if she wants fun and funky shots, or booking someone who specialises in fashion style portraiture if she wants mostly candids of the day.

Then arrange to meet them and make sure you see a couple of complete weddings worth of photos. So long as their style in those is consistent, you should be fairly confident that you'll get that type of work for your daughters wedding. From the meeting you should be able to decide if you like them and they should fill you with confidence that they'll do a great job.

Also consider what products they offer, if your daughter wants a stunning album then make sure they offer something she likes. If you're getting images on disc/USB stick, check what resolution they'll be and if there are any limitations on printing/sharing.

[RobbieKB]

tim-b said:

You've got a camera, so just do it yourself?

+1

You could save her a lot of money. Why are you being so selfish?

[baz7175]

MartinP said:

I suggest that you start off by looking at some photographers' websites with your daughter and find a small selection who's style she really likes. There's no point booking a documentary photographer if she wants fun and funky shots, or booking someone who specialises in fashion style portraiture if she wants mostly candids of the day.

Then arrange to meet them and make sure you see a couple of complete weddings worth of photos. So long as their style in those is consistent, you should be fairly confident that you'll get that type of work for your daughters wedding. From the meeting you should be able to decide if you like them and they should fill you with confidence that they'll do a great job.

Also consider what products they offer, if your daughter wants a stunning album then make sure they offer something she likes. If you're getting images on disc/USB stick, check what resolution they'll be and if there are any limitations on printing/sharing.

+1 - This is exactly what me and Mrs Baz (to be) did to select our tog for the big day

[illmonkey]

How's about you tell us roughly where said wedding will be, someone might have a suggestion.

[Elderly]

I was asked to suggest a photographer for my son's wedding. Ploughing through all those websites would be seriously tedious so I had to cut down on the options somehow.

If I didn't like the design or operation of the website for any reason, I went no further.
If I didn't like the first few images,
I went no further.
If any of images exhibited technical sloppiness (that I noticed),
I went no further.
If a proportion of the images just plain annoyed me for any reason,
I went no further.

For those few photographers that 'passed', I sent their links to my son and
future daughter-in-law with no further comment.
They and I independently, completely agreed on who it was to be.

Edited by Elderly on Wednesday 11th September 17:37

Edited by Elderly on Thursday 12th September 17:58

[CarMac]

Thanks for the all the suggestions so far. To those who have suggested I do it myself....haha. My daughter would like nothing better than if I took the photos.

Unfortunately, in letting her choose, she wouldn't have a clue what is good/not good etc. She didn't want an actual photographer to save on the cost of the wedding and would be quite happy for all the guests just to take photos!

Wedding is in Derbyshire at the end of May next year.

Elderly - that would be my way of whittling down the choices I think. If certain things just annoy you right from the outset, there's no point going any further.

Better start doing some searching......

[Gad-Westy]

Take a look at Mark Pearson. He's based in Leeds but I'm near certain he'd cover Derbyshire. He shot our wedding in 2011 and our neighbour's last year. I was very pleased with his and his team's work. Not only for great photographs but their whole attitude from start to finish. Not cheap but I'd have happily paid double in hindsight.

[CarMac]

Thanks. will take a look.

[MartinP]

Take a look at www.pete-henderson.com

Pete and I did our wedding photography 'apprenticeship' together. He's a really nice chap and his photography is fantastic. He's based in Nottingham, so not far away from you.

[E902717]

This guy is pure genius http://www.rossharvey.com

[CarMac]

Thanks for the info. I'll add them to the list to look through.

[LongQ]

CarMac said:

Wedding is in Derbyshire at the end of May next year.

Northern end or Southern end?

[ali_kat]

With so many 'Togs that are mates, I'm debating whether to make a saving here myself & just invite them all I'm well known for hating having my photo taken, so my ban on any camera at the wedding apart from the Pro will be welcomed by my mates and hopefully appreciated by the 'Tog

However, there are 2 of them who do Weddings professionally and whose work I really like, so then it will come down to costs Or possibly that one of them I would want to invite as a guest, the other I'm not as close to... Still comes down to budget

However, I like Elderly's suggestion of how to whittle them down, then meeting with the finalists