The next most important item to secure on our wedding checklist is picking a photographer. Since after the day is over the only thing we'll have to remember it are our memories and hopefully some really good pictures! I have to say picking a photographer has been more time consuming and challenging than picking a reception hall. Although we did visit over a half dozen reception halls, it was easier to comb through pictures and menus online than something so personal as picking out a photographer.
I was overwhelmed in the beginning and didn't even know where to begin. So I started my search for a photographer by exporting the list of over 130 vendors listed on The North Jersey Knot list. I literally went through and (quickly in some cases) visited each and every website, which was quite time consuming. Some I knew right away I wasn't interested in, some got a maybe or possible mark and others were a must see.
The other thing about The Knot list was the pricing. Pricing went from $1,000 - $2,000; $2,000 - $3,000; and then jumped to a range of $3,000 - $5,000 and then over $5,000 (which I wouldn't even consider this category) - of course I've since learned these are just the starting prices. As to be expected, ALL of the photographers I liked were of course in the $3,000 - $5,000 range.
Then came the hard part, picking photographers that I was interested in meeting with and getting more information from. I was able to narrow the list down to 5 photographers (so far) that I wanted to meet with. They are as follows:
There were a few others that also caught my eye, but a girl has to start somewhere and I couldn't set up interviews with every photographer I liked. So far I've met with 4 out of the 5 on my list (the other to follow later this week) some Mike came with me and others I went alone. All of the photographers I met with were all extremely talented and all brought different talents to the table.
There were a few things that we were looking for from a photographer. We knew we wanted someone with a modern flair, something photojournalistic, but we also want to make sure we do get the traditional posed pictures. We love all the sharp colors that stand out in a picture and even some of the pictures on a tilted angle. I also didn't realize how a photo album can be so similar and serve the same purpose and how many different styles (and costs there are to pick from).
It has been fun so far meeting with all the photographers and learning more about their styles and how it will mix with our personalities and what we want from the day and how we want our pictures to look but my biggest lesson so far has been that photographers are not cheap - that's for sure!!!
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