Booking a wedding photographer is one of the earlier parts of planning a wedding. In fact, we’d suggest booking a photographer to be one of the most important parts to get done – right after picking a venue and getting a date booked in.
Of course, we would say that. We’re wedding photographers.
But more than that – we believe it. We live it.
We wouldn’t do what we do if we didn’t believe it to be a hugely important part of the wedding.
Consider this –
After the wedding what are you left with?
The marriage, of course.
What else?
Memories! Yes!
Ok, good – but how will you remember them clearly? how will you switch those memories on whenever you want them?
Whenever you want to travel back in time and feel what that day was like, feel what that embrace from your mum felt like, feel what it was like to actually be there?
That’s where the Photographs and Videos come in!
They are one of the very few tangible things left after the big day that capture what it felt like to be there. It’s not just what it looked like, but what it felt like, what it sounded like and even what it smelt like – you want photos that will transport you right back to the day.
It’s about finding the right photographer that will fit into your day and capture those memories –
As you remember them
That’s where the value lies.
There are hundreds upon hundreds of wedding photographers out there, all catering to different budgets, but only a few will resonate with you.
Ideally, It will be their work with which you will remember the day.
The best wedding photographers book up more than a year in advance.
We tend to book up between one and two years in advance, and as those key dates approach we continue to get enquiries for them – but sadly we have to send them an email letting them know we’re already booked.
One recent date we took a booking for was for the end of August 2019. It’s a bank holiday weekend so it’s always a popular weekend – but one we were booked for in early 2017, some 31 months ahead of the wedding.
In the time between accepting that first booking and the actual wedding date, we had no less than 40 enquiries for that same date. FOUR-ZERO weddings taking place on that same day all across the South of England.
40 lovely couples who had invested time in looking through our portfolios. They’d followed us on Instagram. They’d potentially shown their parents and friends to get a second opinion.
Then they got in touch – to find that the date had already been taken.
Sad faces all around.
It’s sad for us turning people away, we love weddings so much we want to be a part of all of them!!
But, It must be even worse for the couple who had reached the stage in their research that they knew who they wanted to book.
We recently looked at some of our favourite documentary wedding photos, and it was emotional – looking through all the days we’ve had the pleasure of being a part of. But not just seeing the days we were a part of, but thinking of the days we couldn’t be a part of. Every year we get over 500 enquiries, and on average half of them are for dates we’re already booked.
We only take on 25 weddings a year, and even then only for couples that we feel are a truly great fit.
So on average each year there are around 225 weddings that we simply can’t do.
All the top photographers have these kinds of numbers, so my biggest suggestion would be that you get an idea for wedding photographers that you would like to work with, as soon as you start to think about picking your date.
Perhaps even include them in the decision process!
We regularly get sent lists from couples who are keen to work with us, of potential dates they are considering – so we get back to them with the ones we can do, they then book their venue and immediately book us afterwards.
We hope this gives you a little insight behind the scenes of wedding photography – and hopefully guides you as to when the right point to book a wedding photographer might be.
Of course, if you are looking for a wedding photographer and are considering booking us for your wedding, do get in touch and see if your date is available! (we’ve got our fingers crossed!)