How to find a great photographer

Selecting a photographer is one of your biggest decisions. During this process, it can be very easy to become overwhelmed. To make things easy, start by determining your desired end-product. By this I mean: do you want nothing more than the high resolution digital files? Do you want a specific brand of album (I love Queensberry, Finao, and Zookbinders)? Figure out what you want as your end-product.

The Internet is a great place to find potential photographers because you can hit websites with galleries of photos to browse and this can quickly lend itself to helping you discover the photographer’s style and if his/her style appeals to you! Once you find somebody that you like, give them a call and ask if they provide the end-products that you desire. If they don’t give out the digital negatives and that’s something you want, then immediately you can eliminate them from your list and move on to somebody new! And don't forget about online slide shows...make sure your photographer is willing to create an online slide show (as part of your package) for you to share with friends and family! Most photographers will put photos on their blog or on your facebook 1 or 2 days after your wedding. This can be important, so ask for it upfront! Who wants to wait months to see a photo!????

Next step is meeting them in person. You must meet your photographer because this is somebody that will be spending your entire wedding day with you – literally everywhere you go, they will be going, so you have got to be comfortable with them!!

Make sure you ask to see examples of albums, prints, and posters. You want to make sure you are dealing with a legitimate photographer and not just somebody who can post pretty pictures on the web.

Finally.. the dreaded COST! Come up with an amount you can afford to spend within your budget and ask in advance how much they charge. You do not want to fall in love with a photographer only to realize there is no chance you can afford to hire them.

Below are some of my favorite photographs from a wedding that I did in May. I had the pleasure of witnessing first hand the work of Slava and Sara Slavik. Not only did they do an amazing job on all of the photographs, but they were very professional and kind-hearted people. Their personalities were very similar to the bride/groom so the match worked out perfectly. One other thing to note is that Slava and Sara were able to communicate with one another throughout the entire wedding, as they used communication headset devices (rather than the typical cell phone). I found this to be extremely useful in efficiently coordinating photographs (especially in the beginning when the bride and groom are separated). Please let me know if you need additional information on Slava Slavik Photography – I highly recommend them and would love to provide more details!