When you start to plan your wedding, there are a million and one decisions you need to make. One of the first (and to me – most exciting!) is choosing a Detroit wedding photographer. I might be a little biased – I’ve been photographing stunning Michigan weddings for over five years now – but today, I want to share with you what I think are the most important factors that you should consider before booking your wedding photographer in Detroit (and beyond!).
First, what is their wedding photography style?
In the past few years, more and more couples are coming to me saying that they want a lot of candid wedding photos! Trust me, I get it. Nobody wants to stand around for hours and hours snapping posed photos on their wedding day. I shoot a LOT of candid photos on a wedding day.
I also know how much you are going to want those posed photos too. Chances are, those are the ones you are going to have framed and put on the wall. Those are the ones that are going to be in your wedding album you show your children someday. When I show up to take your wedding photos, I aim to get a healthy mix of candid wedding photos and more formal shots as well. I want your wedding photos to have a documentary style, and to truly tell the story of your day.
I also take a lot of detail shots. By the time your wedding day comes around, chances are you have spent a great deal of time choosing just about everything. You splurged on a stunning five-piece invitation set. Last weekend, you spent thirty hours putting together a last-minute DIY wedding project that looked
much easier on
Pinterest. You hired a calligrapher to create a stunning seating chart display. Whatever your wedding day looks like, I not only want to capture how it felt in every moment but document all of the details that made it uniquely yours.
With that said: how important is it that your wedding photos are timeless?
When I photograph weddings, I like my photos to feel film-like. For colors, I tend to edit so that your photos are true-to-life with a touch of “light and airy” qualities. In simple terms, this means that if the grass was green on your wedding day, it will look green in your wedding photos.
Like anything else, wedding photography styles go in and out of popularity. You may have seen a surge of “dark and moody” wedding photographers pop up over the past few years, and before that it was more popular to have light and airy wedding photos so bright that you couldn’t even always make out the details. I am the first person who will tell you to book a wedding photographer with a style you absolutely love, but keep in mind the more “trendy” it is at the time, the more likely it is that your album will look dated by the time you show it to your children.
You’ve taken a look at their real weddings, and you like what you see. Now, book a call and make sure you like them.
It’s important you love their work, but after photographing a hundred weddings or so I want to tell you: when choosing a Detroit wedding photographer, you need to make sure you like the way you feel. When you look back on your wedding day, you are going to remember exactly how you felt. You are going to remember the pure joy you felt exchanging your vows. The way you felt when your partner kissed your forehead or whispered something funny into your ear.
What I hope that you don’t remember? That you didn’t exactly jive with the wedding photographer you chose. I also don’t want you to remember feeling ANY uncertainty about whether you hired the right person because that will distract you on your wedding day. Once you decide you love your photographer’s style, you need to book a call (or stalk their Instagram profile) to make sure you like them as a person. On one of the most important days of your life, they are going to be right beside you. For every single moment. Make sure you like them!
What is your wedding photography budget?
Even before you book a call, try to get an idea of their
wedding photography packages to see if they are within your wedding budget. I like to list my prices on my website, but I know that not everyone feels the same way so this might be impossible before the call. For couples hiring me to be their Detroit wedding photographer, the average investment is $5400.
Although I would strongly encourage you to not make “price” the main factor in choosing your Detroit wedding photographer, I also know that you might need to stick to your budget. At the end of your wedding day, all you have left is the photos and the memories, so if budget is a concern, consider booking someone you love for fewer hours than someone you don’t love for the entire day. That’s just my opinion though!
Once you are done choosing a Detroit wedding photographer, book them ASAP.
You’ve found your person, now book them as soon as you have a wedding date. After the pandemic, good wedding photographers are booking faster than ever. It can be so tempting to delay booking because you are busy (planning a wedding!) or because you are terrified of making the wrong decision. Trust me, that feeling goes away quickly once you know you have your person booked. While I want you to feel confident in your decision, once you know you’ve found your wedding photographer, do yourself a favor and book. If you think I might be your person (and are ready to book a call!),
connect with me directly here. I would love to hear from you and answer any questions you have about choosing a Detroit wedding photographer!
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