It’s so important to get to know your photographer before you hire them for your wedding. The wedding photographers Indianapolis are with couples ALL DAY LONG, so it’s important to make sure you not only love their work, but enjoy them as people.

There are many questionnaires out there of “Questions to ask your Wedding Photographer Before Booking” and honestly, a lot of those are super outdated. When I have consultations with couples and they ask me questions from one of those, I can’t help but chuckle because most of the questions are irrelevant in this day in age. So I’ve decided to create an updated questionnaire with questions that will actually help couples who are looking to book their wedding photographer.

Important Questions:

1. Can I see some full wedding galleries?
2. Do you have second shooters?
3. Do you shoot film, digital, or both?
4. How would you describe your photography style?
5. What items do your packages include? Can I customize a package to fit my needs?
6. Do you charge travel fees?
7. Can we order prints?
8. Do we have the rights to the images?
9. How long after the wedding will my images be delivered?
10. How many photos do you deliver?
11. Do you have liability insurance?
12. Do you carry backup equipment?
13. What happens if you suddenly can’t make it to my wedding (due to illness, random acts of God, etc.)?
14. Can we request certain photos?
15. Do you offer black and white photos?
16. What wedding photography experience do you provide couples?
17. Do you have vendor recommendations?
18. How do you get natural posing? We aren’t very natural!
19. What is the booking process?
20. How much is the retainer? How are the payments broken down?

Questions you can ask, but don’t necessarily matter (and I’ll tell you why):

1. Have you shot at my venue before?
   • Whether a vendor has worked at your venue shouldn’t determine whether you hire them. If you love their style and their vision, hire them! Don’t turn them away just because they haven’t been to your venue before.
2. Can I send you a pinterest board?
   • I don’t mind if couples want to send over a Pinterest vision board for their wedding. However most photographers don’t like it when couples request certain poses or ask to recreate photos from pinterest. Most of the time, those photos don’t turn out because they aren’t genuine. Hire a photographer that is going to help you create genuine moments together, don’t recreate other peoples moments.
3. What type of equipment do you use?
   • When I get asked what equipment I use, I’m happy to tell them. But if they love my work, what does it matter what kind of equipment I use? Hire for vision and style, not camera brand.
4. How long have you been photographing weddings?
   • I know photographers who are crazy talented and have only been photographing professionally for a few years, and others whose style is very outdated and they’ve been photographing for 10+ years. All in all, you can ask this question, but take it with a grain of salt.

What really matters is:

1. Do you feel comfortable with this photographer? Do you feel like they’d be a good fit and would serve you well? Do you love their style? Did they address all your questions and concerns during your consultation?

I hope this questionnaire helps you as you are searching for your wedding photographer!