Most lists of questions to ask a wedding photographer are long and mostly administrative. Insurance, backup cameras and contracts matter, and you should ask about them, but the answers are the same from everyone competent. The questions below are the ones whose answers differ, and where the difference tells you what your photographs will be like.
1. Can I see a whole wedding, not just highlights?
A portfolio is the best frame from twenty weddings. A full wedding shows you the ceremony in a dim room, the group photographs, the speeches and whether the standard holds all day. Any photographer should be able to show you at least one. Mikayla’s are on the wedding stories page.
2. How much do you direct, and when?
Listen for a specific answer rather than a slogan. “Natural” on its own tells you nothing; every photographer says it. A useful answer describes when they step in (family groups, the first few frames of the morning, a particular composition) and when they leave you alone. You want to know you will get guidance when it helps and not spend the day being posed.
3. How do you handle the family groups?
This is where weddings lose an hour. A good answer involves a plan and someone who knows the family to help gather people, and a photographer who is comfortable taking charge for ten minutes and then stepping back.
4. What do you do before the day?
Arriving early to look at the venue, work out where the light will be and where the strongest pictures are likely to happen is a habit, not a luxury. Ask whether they do it.
5. What happens if it rains?
The honest answer is that it will be photographed anyway, and some of the best pictures come from weather. What you are really asking is whether they panic. Ask to see a wet wedding.
6. What exactly do we receive, and when?
Preview images, then the full set; a digital folder, a USB, prints or an album; and a rough timescale for editing. Vague answers here are a warning. Mikayla sends previews first and the full edit typically within one to two weeks, delivered as a digital folder and a custom USB.
7. Do you decide colour or black and white, or do we?
There is no right answer, but there should be an answer. Most photographers decide picture by picture. If you feel strongly either way, say so now.
8. Who will actually be there?
With a studio or a collective, the person you meet may not be the person who turns up. Ask.
9. How is the price built?
Hourly, package, or something in between. Ask what is included and what costs extra, and get the figure in writing. There is a plain explanation of Mikayla’s hourly pricing on the investment page.
10. Have you photographed a day like ours?
Not the venue necessarily, but the shape of it: a civil ceremony with a handful of guests, a big family wedding with three generations, a summer garden. Experience with the shape of your day matters more than familiarity with the carpet.
If you want to ask any of these, the enquiry form is here. You will get straight answers.