Hannah and Ryker got married at the Belvedere in Carthage, Missouri. Actually they surprised all of their guests who arrived for the wedding, that they had already gotten married the night before and it was time to party! So, we went straight into the wedding celebration. Here’s a few of our favorites from their wedding day!
BRIDES! This is Chelsea... in her wedding dress, but NOT on her wedding day. This is a bridal session Maybe you just want a trial run at your dress, or didn't get enough photos of you on your wedding day, or didn't like your wedding photos? Whatever the reason, we are HERE FOR IT! On your wedding day, we usually only get about ten minutes with just you by yourself to do your portraits. Unlike the hustle and bustle of your wedding day, a bridal session is ALL ABOUT YOU for an hour. And instead of just a few pictures of her in dress, now Chelsea has a couple hundred cool and unique bridal portraits because we had the time during her session to just focus on her and be creative. Be like Chelsea!!! We are running a SWEET DEAL on this type of session for any of our current or former brides. Message us for details!
This article is to help you distinguish between multiple wedding photographers whose cost is in the same ballpark, but you have you have no idea what sets them apart. You don’t know this yet, but even though they cost the same, they have vastly different levels of experience, and to help you avoid a potential negative experience with an inexperienced photographer on your wedding day. The number one question I would ask when interviewing potential wedding photographer is a question that I rarely, if ever get asked when speaking with potential wedding clients. “How many weddings have you photographed?”. If you are getting married and planning to speak with photographers about shooting your wedding, put this phrase in your front pocket. Also, I should say if your goal is to hire an inexperienced photographer for less money due to budget constraints, please do that, the budget is the budget and this post isn’t for you.
I have photographed over 400 weddings in the last ten years, and have the unique perspective of being a photographer who is also a videographer. So the weddings where I’m solely shooting video, I get to work with other photographers, so I’ve got to witness hundreds of other photographers do their thing. Let me tell you, as a bystander shooting video, I’ve seen the ‘oh shit’ look wash over a brides face about midway through their wedding day FAR too many times, when they realize they hired the wrong photographer. Don’t let this be you.
Let’s talk about why we want to ask this question. One of the many dirty little secrets is that photographers who are just starting out will take a few pretty pictures, put together a little website and instagram and slap a price on their wedding packages commensurate to professional photographers who have been doing this for years, and voila, they are booking weddings (and tricking brides). For the purposes of this conversation, let’s call this the Under 100 Wedding photographer, or Under 100 for short, and the experienced photographer we’ll call the Over 200 wedding photographer, or 200+ for short. (Disclaimer: if you’re an awesome photographer with under 100 weddings, hell yeah, do your thing. I’m only speaking in generalities based on my experience, so don’t let this be a shot at you). If you are choosing your photographer, solely on instagram posts, these two photographers may be indistinguishable from each other. But I’m here to tell you, and if you take one thing from this post, the difference between Under 100 and 200+ are VASTLY DIFFERENT EXPERIENCES LEADING UP TO YOUR WEDDING, ON YOUR WEDDING DAY, AND POST WEDDING. Here’s why…
So let’s talk a bit about the differences in that experience. Here’s all the things Under 100 is going to do that annoy the piss out of you on your wedding day.
Under 100 (because of their insecurities as a photographer) is going to ask you a shit load of questions all day, and 200+ isn’t going to ask any questions. “Where do you want to do first look?, Would you rather do portraits over here, or over here?” and the list goes on and on. Over 200 wedding guy is going to tell you exactly what to do, doesn’t have any questions for you. He’s done this so many times, he knows exactly where everything is supposed to happen. This is like breathing to him. Your photographer is the professional, they shouldn’t be asking you questions on preferences. They should be telling you what to do.
Under 100 is going to short change you on your portrait session (again, insecurities…) . They’ll take ten minutes or so for the bride and groom , ‘ummm’ you to death the whole time, maybe look at their phone for pose ideas, spend a couple minutes just them and their second shooter looking at the gorgeous sun flare they accidentally got , and inevitably they’ll run out of ideas and tell you that they are all done (insert big eye roll). 200+ is going to take pictures of you and your new groom until the sun goes down or cows come home or whatever the saying is LOL, because they want to give you bang for your buck and be happy with your experience of having them as your wedding photographer. They don’t need their phone or Pinterest board for ideas. All the ideas are in their head because they’ve done this so many times.
Ok, this kind of falls under #2, but 200+ is going to be doing rapid fire prompting and poses as their creativity flows quickly, because they want to give you a full bodied, versatile album that lacks in nothing and is worthy of a magazine. Under 100 is going to deliver an album that leaves you wanting so much more, because of the short changing on your portrait sessions. Under 100’s often take forever to get through their poses. I’ve worked with photographers who will have a bride and groom in the same pose for 5-10 minutes. I don’t know if they’re stuck in their head, like they don’t know what the next idea is or what, but this is way too long and your finished album is going to really suffer because of this.
4. Under 100 is going to get confused and frustrated by lighting situations that aren’t exactly what they’re used to, and your pictures are going to suffer in a big way. 200+ has seen it all and is comfortable shooting in any lighting situation. To be really REAL with you right now, there are plenty of photographers over 100 weddings who don’t even know how to work the features of their own camera, let alone a flash if needed. They don’t know how to work in direct sunlight if all they ever do is work in the shade, or vice versa.
I CANNOT STRESS THIS ENOUGH, BUT THESE TWO HYPOTHETICAL PHOTOGRAPHERS IN THIS SCENARIO COST THE SAME. THIS IS EXTREMELY COMMON BY THE WAY, A PHOTOGRAPHER WHO HAS DONE 25 WEDDINGS MIGHT COST THE SAME AS A PHOTOGRAPHER WHO HAS PHOTOGRAPHED 200. BY NOW I THINK YOU KIND OF GET THE POINT AS TO WHY THIS IS A BIG DEAL, AND WHY YOU HAVE TO ASK THIS QUESTION. WHAT WAS IT AGAIN? SAY IT WITH ME….
the roast continues…
5. The 200+ wedding photographer is going to be THROWING full wedding albums at you when you inquire with them. They are proud of their work and every single picture they’ve taken. Under 100 is going to try and steer you toward their portfolio or instagram so you can only see their greatest works. This is a good way to tell right off the bat. Is your photographer sharing full albums with you? If not, ask for them, and not just one. You need to see a few.
6. The inexperienced Under 100 tends to be overly posey, and what I mean by that is they don’t yet have quality prompts to get the reactions that they want (or tbh they may not have even discovered prompts and just love posing) to make good photos, so they are just going to pose you instead of prompting you to get big smiles and natural laughs we all love to see in photos that make them look so candid and beautiful. You might see a couple natural laughs on their instagram feed that they lucked into. Don’t be fooled, and don’t hire your photographer based on an instagram feed while we’re at it, in case I didn’t make that point clear enough earlier on. Instagram is the exact opposite of a meritocracy, where you can increase your popularity and bookings by talking louder (posting more frequently). This is the most ass backwards thing in our galaxy if you ask me, but that’s a conversation for a different day. Instagram is a convoluted crap shoot mess of photographers that tells you almost nothing about the quality of the experience you’ll get on your wedding day and what your album that gets delivered to you will look like.
Let me reiterate, the post is to help you distinguish between two photographers priced the same, with vastly different levels of experience. Don’t get bamboozled by someone with a cool instagram galavanting as a wedding photographer. Hire a professional and don’t forget to ask…
Courtney and Tyler invited us out to their family farm in Walker, Missouri for their engagement shoot! We explored some beautiful countryside and this is what we came up with :) Can't wait for their wedding next spring at the Silver Spoon Barn. Enjoy a few of our favorites from Courtney and Tyler's engagement session!
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Hannah and Cody got married on December 2, 2017 in Lamar, Missouri.
Here are some of our favorite frames from Hannah and Cody's wedding day!
