Choosing Your Photographer

Of everything you buy, the photographs are the only part that is still in your house in 30 years. That fact should change how you shop, and for most couples it doesn't until the last month.

Look at full weddings, not portfolios. A portfolio is a highlight reel drawn from 4 hundred shoots. Ask for 2 complete galleries, start to finish, one bright summer day and one dark winter reception, and look at the middle of them. Anyone can produce 10 good frames at golden hour. What you are buying is the 2 hundred frames from a badly lit church basement at 4 in the afternoon.

Then look at the people. Are the family formals stiff? Do the guests look like they are being photographed or like they forgot? Do the parents appear at all? A photographer who consistently brings back the couple's mother laughing is doing something the lens cannot explain.

Finally, meet them. You will spend more hours with this person on your wedding day than with anyone except the person you are marrying, more than your planner, more than your parents. Skill is table stakes at this price. Temperament decides whether you enjoy the day.

“You will spend more hours with this person than with anyone except the person you are marrying.”