A wedding is one of the most intimate, personal and overwhelming activities you will ever have. You are publicly proclaiming and celebrating your most important and private relationship in the company of family members (for better or worse) and friends.
As apparent as that sounds, I think the closeness factor is one of the more essential things to take into account whenever selecting a wedding photographer. Regardless of how much you love the work on their site or the pricing and packages they offer, it's really crucial to feel comfortable with this person being in your intimate space all day. Take the time to get to know this person, interview more than one photographer, and really weigh up the decision with a lot of questions.
Is this someone who stays calm and is a problem solver? Will this person be able to easily integrate into my crazy family and stay professional? Or is this person a bit high strung and prone to terrible one-liners and phony concepts they will roll out during portrait sessions, i.e. "Put your hand on his shoulder and look like you're giving him some hard advice." Will this person force you to do the 'reenactment' so beloved by videographers? "Can you just take off the boutonnière again and reaffix it? I missed the shot. Thanks."
You can't recreate a wedding, or any of the moments within it. It's the ultimate documentary assignment and your photographer, whoever they turn out to be, only has one shot. For me, the highest compliment from clients comes in the form of statements like: "You were basically invisible and we didn't even notice you there taking these beautiful shots." Less presence is more when it comes to photography.
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