This week we are featuring a guest post from our fellow blogger over at Marathi Weddings. We love her style of blogging and how she has given her readers a step-by-step account of her entire wedding planning process. Read her take on how to research for your wedding photographer:
Modern brides are becoming more and more conscious about the photographers these days. I feel, a good wedding photographer is as important as the bridal trousseau, jewellery, MUA, etc. Your love towards everything else diminishes as you grow up – God forbid but your lehenga might not fit you, your jewellery might become outdated, etc. But what keeps you close to your most special day of your life is the photographs. These photos stay with you forever. They will help you relive the happy moments. Good or Bad – They are yours!
Personally, I love going through wedding albums (only of those weddings where I know everybody). We (all my cousins) had a yearly “family wedding album revisiting session” every summer, where the kids took out all of the old wedding albums and spent hours laughing over how funny we looked a few years back. In all these years, I have learnt one thing – a good photographer can make even the most ordinary bride look extra-oridnary. Naturaly, the converse is also true: even the most beautiful bride will not be given due credit if not photographed well.
Candid photography is what modern brides are looking at these days. Wikipedia says, “A candid photograph is a photograph that is made either without the subject’s knowledge or without their explicit permission, hence they are captured unposed”For those who are well versed with F.R.I.E.N.D.S – My fiance and brother behave like Chandler in the engagement pics episode. They are extremely photogenic but they just hate posing. So I am totally pro-candid photography! Just that it is mind bogglingly expensive based upon the photographers you choose.
Some photographers charge you hundreds of thousands of rupees per day/per session. The need to spend so much money on photographs is debatable but these photographers surely put in a lot of effort and dedication to charge handsomely. Although, I must alert you brides that there are MANY photographers in the market who charge you a bomb and are not really worth it! So, Please do your research carefully. There are dozens of other better photographers in half the price. A good photographer need not be expensive!!
How I did my research:
- Spent days on checking out wedding albums on Facebook.
- Created a list of photographers I liked along with their email id’s, phone numbers and rated them on a scale of 1-5. I also included some who were so-so (Just to set a bar and compare prices).
- Contacted wedding photographers in Mumbai through Just-Dial. Asked them to mail me their work. Included the ones I like in the list.
- Created the wedding itinerary (dates, timing, number of hours required, special requests, etc)
- Sent an enquiry mail to all the shortlisted photographers.
- Further shortlisted 3-5 photographers based on their quotations and my ratings.
- I am now about to meet these photographers to know them more and negotiations.
Things to remember:
- You easily tend to like photographs with good objects especially wedding photographs. For eg: When you are in the Himalayas surrounded by snow clad mountains, you click with your eyes closed and manage to get a great picture. So compare at least 2 wedding albums of the same photographer before you rate them!
- Give a date closest to your approximate date if your wedding date is not fixed yet.
- Look for indirect signals about their professionalism, courtesy and promptness in their responses. No matter how great an artist a photographer is, I don’t want a snobbish dictator anywhere close to me during my wedding! Look for somebody who is creative but at the same time is willing to understand your needs and work accordingly.
- If you book the same photographer for a 2-3 day function you might be benefited in cash or in kind (For eg: I might get a pre/post wedding photo shoot at a location of my choice for free!)
- While surfing through the photographs also look for trousseau and décor inspirations. Optimization you see!
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