Things You Should Keep in Mind Whilst Hiring a Destination Wedding Photographer
It can be a struggle to find the best destination wedding photographer for your requirements. It’s one of the most important days of a couple’s life and documenting how the ceremonies unfold can be a sensitive task. So, you definitely need to choose someone who considers you more than a client, takes your wedding more than a project and gives you more than their time and attention.
Site Visit
Whilst you’re hiring a destination wedding photographer, if possible you may want to ask them if they could visit the site with you. It helps you and your photographer in understanding the overall expectations with regards to photos. You can also use the opportunity to cross-check their working style and portfolio of work that they have previously worked on. Maybe you want to portray things that are natural and candid, but your photographer has worked mainly on artificially lit wedding events. A site visit can certainly help towards understanding your photographer’s capabilities in surroundings that may not be so familiar.
Equipment
It’s no secret that technology is ruling almost all aspects of life. Photography is certainly no different. It’s even a bigger responsibility when you’re planning a destination wedding. Discuss with your destination wedding photographer if he could conveniently and safely carry all of their technical equipment to the destination – as well as anything else they think may be required to capture your celebrations.
Creativity
When you examine the portfolio of your shortlisted destination wedding photographers, make sure to study one thing in particular – the pattern, the diversity, uniqueness and quality in work. It’s worth checking whether they have worked on a variety of different weddings, including fusion ones. This may tell you a lot about their creativity, interpersonal skills and ability to accommodate variations in ceremony sequences.
Schedules
Once you’ve set a schedule, communicate it clearly to the destination wedding photographer – before hiring. Ensure that their availability is confirmed and whether they’d be able to dedicate their time, effort and energy to your wedding. Photographing Indian weddings require huge amounts capability and endurance. Be cautious of moving forward if they seem too busy – their timetable will most likely reflect that.
Portfolio Over Price
Often, when it sounds too good to be true, it usually is. Be careful not to base your decision on booking a destination wedding photographer solely on price. There is typically a catch and most of the time it points to limited experience and securing the opportunity to build a wedding photography portfolio. Chase experience and varied portfolio over price. An experienced destination wedding photographer will certainly pour their heart and soul to document your wedding in the best way possible. A novice, on the other hand, may offer you a significantly lower fee, multiple discounts and a lot promises to secure your custom. Wedding days are certainly not the time to experiment with photography. It’s hard to quantify how much responsibility rests on the shoulders of a destination wedding photographer (or any event photographer for that matter). This is not a repeatable event – it’s your ‘once-in-lifetime’ day.
Photographs aside, there is a lot of other things to consider on the actual wedding day. A lot of it involves handling emotion from the couple and their families in the most appropriate way. Be sure to hire someone that has the experience and capability to do so. Use your initial meeting as a guide for this – a lot can be revealed here alone. Be prepared for the unexpected to happen, but also ensure that you hire a destination wedding photographer that is resourceful, calm and can problem solve should the need arise.
