HOW TO CHOOSE THE WEDDING PHOTOGRAPHER? 

With your mind's eye, it is easy to imagine your wedding day-it is priceless to close your eyes and dream. But to be sure that your wedding in Tuscany will remain among your fondest memories, it is important to choose a photographer whose style you trust and love.  

The basic characteristics of the wedding photographer you should know are: 

• The artistic side 
• Reliability 
• Professionalism 
• The service offered 
• The price

Choosing the photographic style for your wedding

Do you prefer traditional posed photos or a photojournalistic style without poses? Be sure to choose a photographer whose portfolio shows the style you love. To do this do some research and compare different photographers. Look at their websites, portfolios, and social media pages to better understand their work and style. Sometimes a simple photo is all it takes; the cut of an image or the editing used can let you know if the style may be to your liking or not. A good wedding photographer has a strong artistic sensibility and an eye for composition, light, and detail; they are able to capture creative and striking images, creating an aesthetically pleasing end result. An added value for the photographer is also the ability to conduct personal photographic research, check the artistic resume and exhibitions he or she has done over time, these kinds of experiences greatly enrich creative skills.

Wedding photographer references 

Ask photographers for references, look at their feedback on both personal sites and wedding platforms, and if you can talk to their past clients to get an idea of their professionalism,  reliability, quality of work, and attention to detail. Consider the photographer's experience and make sure he or she has taken many shoots in the past. A photographer who has a lot of experience in wedding photo shoots will know how to best handle the various challenges that may arise on the big day. Also assess their personality, it is important to choose a photographer you feel comfortable with and can trust, make sure they are easy to work with.

The photo shoot for your wedding 

The services that can be included in your package are various, I list those that I generally offer to my clients:

• PHOTO SERVICES with one or two photographers.  The choice of having one or two photographers must be decided together with the client. Through the analysis of the wedding day's program, logistical organization and schedule, it is possible to figure out whether the presence of a second photographer is needed and for how long. For all weddings with few guests, no preparation and short duration generally the second photographer is not necessary. The duration of the photo shoot may vary, but to have a good narrative of the whole day it should start from the preparation of the bride and groom until the cutting of the cake.
• BASIC OR ADVANCED EDITING. Basic editing corrects the image in general: cropping to improve composition, adjusting color, contrast and light. Advanced editing goes to selectively retouch various portions of the image, for example: dress, face, hair, eyes, background etc. It is an in-depth operation that not all photographers do also because the time to devote is greater than basic editing.
• CLASSIC VIDEO SERVICE OR CINEMA STYLE.. I personally offer two options for wedding video service, the  CLASSIC video and the CINEMA STYLE video. The main difference is that Classic video has only one operator and is chosen when one simply wants to document the day through a classic wedding narrative. Editing with a single operator is slightly slower than Cinema Style. Cinema Style video is shot with two operators and the use of a drone, this results in more footage and more variety. In editing, the result will be richer in content and dynamism. In addition to this it has a narrative structure very close to cinema, also due to the use of optics with very wide focal apertures that give a particular shallow depth of field (extreme blurring of the background). In this case the choice is made when you want to give a more intense narrative touch to the video production. 
• PHOTO BOOK PRINTING. Wedding photo book printing has evolved greatly in recent years. Large manufacturing companies now all equalize in the quality level of materials, but there are some exceptions. Small, artisanal companies may offer special products such as a selection of higher quality covers, or the addition of special processing such as photopainting (hand painting on the photo), airbrushing (hand airbrushing on the photo), printing on tissue, Fine Art prints, and winglets that double or triple the length of the pages. These companies are chosen through specific research that the photographer can do and give added value to the final product.
• DELIVERY OF ALL THE IMAGES IN THE PHOTO SHOOT. This aspect, sometimes underestimated, is in my opinion very important. Many photographers deliver only a selection, more or less extensive, of the photos taken but do not deliver all the originals. Instead, I believe it is important that the client has all the shots, because they were commissioned and paid for and because they are necessary for the selection of the final photos. My selection of the final photos is also done symbiotically with the clients, I choose my personal sequence and after handing over all the shots to the client he proceeds with his selection. Clearly in the shots I deliver there are no blurry photos or unwatchable poses, they are shots that are part of the sequences shot and have variations in posing and composition. I think it is important to hand over all the images to allow people to appreciate the whole work done, not handing over is a way to show only the best photos decided by the photographer. But the photographer's choice is sometimes different than the client's choice, the client may have desire or need to choose alternative shots. Today, due to the wide use of images in phones and social media, people have developed a good aesthetic perception of the image and are able to recognize a technically good photo.

Additional services may include:

• PHOTO BOOTH WITH DISGUISES
• PRE-WEDDING PHOTO SHOOT
• POST-WEDDING PHOTO SHOOT (TRASH THE DRESS)
• VIDEO EDITING ON THE SAME DAY AS THE WEDDING
• FILE BACKUP. Another no less important but underreported service is file backup. Make sure that the photographer works with professional dual-card machines so that there is the possibility of backing up photos in real time. If there are problems with one card you can recover the files in the other one set up for backup. The backup of the files should also be present in the wedding service storage, I personally have three Hard Disks where I back up the bride and groom's files in three copies and guarantee the presence of the pictures for two years.

The last aspect to evaluate is the delivery of the work, pay attention to the timing, as some photographers tend to hold the services for a long time. Personally, I can deliver the shot and post-produced files within two to three weeks after the event, the album delivery time, on the other hand, is three to four weeks after sending the print proof.

The price of your wedding photography service 

 The cost of the wedding photography service is an important aspect to consider. You need to evaluate the value for money offered by the photographer and make sure that the price is appropriate with respect to the services and quality of the images provided. The price of your wedding photography service will also vary depending on the package you choose, so be sure to compare offers from different photographers to choose the one that best meets your needs and budget and to evaluate the cost not only for the services offered but for all the points described so far. For a fuller explanation of this paragraph, I refer you to an article written earlier (click here).

The photographer, your ally for an unforgettable wedding 

Do not underestimate the importance of the photographer for your wedding. He will be the one to give you the right advice on how to best organize the whole day, he will be the one to help you manage the most important moments or  to give you simple tips such as holding the bouquet of flowers or the small movements to change during posed shots. 

Consider it your ally for the perfect success of your wedding!