How to Avoid Booking a Bad Wedding Photographer

Here are some recommendations to help you avoid booking a bad wedding photographer for your big day.

1. Portfolio v Reality
Make sure you look at complete wedding galleries and album designs, not just their portfolio. These can give a misleading view of the overall standard and style of their work.

2. Quality
Check the quality of their work and their products. Look for bad exposure, excess blur, bad cropping, low image quality and a lack of attention to detail.

3. Style
Choose a photographer that shoots weddings in the style that you like, whether it's informal, traditional, contemporary, fashion or a combination. Don't expect a reportage photographer to shoot your wedding in a traditional way.

4. Professionalism
Are they experienced, qualified, insured and professional?

5. Social Skills
Do they come across well and would you be happy to deal with them on your wedding day. It's important to see whether you can get on with them and whether they are likely to upset your guests.

6. References
Check what their existing clients have to say about them. Ask for testimonials or to be put in touch directly.

7. Flexibility
Make sure they are willing to be flexible, listening to what you want from the photography and that they can put together a package for the items that you actually want.

8. Backup
Make sure they bring backup equipment in case of a failure. Also check what would happen if they are ill or injured on the day, is there a chance they can arrange emergency cover or not?

9. Interest
Avoid photographers that aren't really interested in you or your wedding day. A good photographer will want to know about your plans for the day and try to create a rapport with you.

10. Research
Don't take things at face value, do some research on the photographer and see if things check out.

I hope this list is useful and helps you to avoid getting a bad photographer for your wedding day.