5 Reasons to Book Your Wedding Photographer Now! | Appleton

The big question: how soon should you book your wedding photographer?

Well, the short answer is "NOW"...

This is the long answer:

It's never too soon to line up and secure your wedding vendors, especially if you have a popular wedding date.

As a general rule of thumb, the higher dollar amount of an investment required for the vendor (read: venues, catering, dj's, cake artist, etc.), the sooner you should secure them. In fact, as a wedding photographer, I feel most comfortable when I hear from clients at least 8-12 months before the wedding.

Time is key to get the most out of your full-service wedding photographer. Why?

1. Securing Your Date
In most cases, a photographer will not hold your date for you until there's a signed agreement and an initial investment. If your wedding day falls in a popular time of year, you might be struggling to find a photographer you like that's available. June is still a popular month, but the fall months like September and October are becoming trendy as well.

2. Engagement Session
You will definitely want an engagement session, which is most likely included. This fun, relaxed 1-2 hour session shows off your personality as a couple before the wedding day. It helps build that relationship of trust between you and your photographer, while helping the photographer see how you interact together, react in front of a camera, and discover favorite poses/styles with you two.

3. Products with your Engagement Images
Often, there are several different things the photographer can create with your engagement images! My personal favorites are engagement-photo-guestbooks (which your guests will rave about!), blog preview cards, and gift registry cards. And don't forget about save-the-dates and invitations! Many photographers can custom-design stationary with your images. The sooner you sign with your photographer, the sooner you can get working on all these fun ideas!

4. Payment Plans
Whether your photographer offers monthly payment options, lump sums, or the balance due before/on the wedding day, the sooner you book, the more time you have to get that balance paid off! It's much easier to squirrel away a hundred dollars or so a month, than to come up with a few grand right on the spot. Trust me on this. :)

5. Developing a Relationship of Trust
It all comes back to this: you and your photographer need to get to know each other. Throughout your engagement period, your photographer will communicate back and forth about the engagement session, products, payments, and answer general questions you might have. Take note: do they respond to your emails, text messages, and/or phone calls in a timely manner? Do they take the initiative in contacting you, or do they wait for a reminder from you?

Bottom line: The more you get to know your photographer, the more you will trust them. And trust leads to a happy wedding day and lasting marriage. ;)

Check your availability with Baseman Studios Photography.

Then email Mariah with your date and location of your wedding day to set up a consultation.

Talk to you soon!
~M


P.S. To view more images from Grace&Ron's big day, please click here.

P.P.S. Would you ever get married on a ferry? You could use Dramamine as your guest favors! ;)