Why You Need A Professional Wedding Photographer

Your wedding photos are the most important worldly possessions you will take away from a wedding. More important than any crystal punch bowl or luxury coffee maker by far. Your wedding photos will contain all the love, joy, and beautiful memories of the day you said your “I Do’s” to the love of your life. So whether your wedding is a multi-generation celebration or an intimate cottage ceremony, whether you are eloping to a National Park or the courthouse, you want to make sure there are some truly amazing photos documenting your momentous event.

After all, wedding photos are something you will cherish for decades to come. Enjoying them for yourself or sharing them with future generations. But the question is: How will you get those amazing photos? While modern technology allows you to collect some hilarious candids from the guests, an experienced event planner will tell you that a professional photographer is the best caretaker for your wedding memories.

There are four overwhelming reasons why every wedding needs a professional photographer:

• Commitment
  • To fully capture your wedding

• Experience
  • At getting great shots and missing nothing

• Assurance
  • That you and your guests can enjoy the event
• Results
  • Beautiful and complete wedding album

Commitment

Let your family be the family…and not the photographer.

If you’ve never asked a family member to be your photographer at an event, don’t make your wedding the first time! Dealing with participant-photographers takes skill, and, quite frankly, you won’t be happy with all of the shots. There’s no need to ruin a good relationship with friends or relatives by adding the stress of photography duties. Even if they offer, you don’t want to have to tell someone that their hard work created an underwhelming wedding album. Instead, let your family be exactly who you want them to be at your wedding: your loving and supporting family.

A professional is committed to you on the day of your wedding.

The flip side to this, of course, is that a professional photographer isn’t there to celebrate a close friend’s wedding. (Although, we do enjoy pretty much everything about weddings!) They don’t need to dance the night away to feel successful at the event. Or cry their eyes out as you march down the aisle (we totally do that sometimes). A dedicated photographer team will be more committed to getting great shots and making your wedding album complete than a well-meaning friend would be.

Here at Erin Morrison Photography, we ensure that the only events we schedule on your wedding day IS your wedding day. Rather than toasting as a guest, we will get an inspiring shot of the champagne toast. Rather than lining up for cake, we will collect great shots of you and your guests happily enjoying their cake. Instead of dancing, we will be committed to immortalizing all the best dance moves that made your reception a hit. Unless it’s the Wobble, we will be busting a move on the dance floor.

Experience

Attention to detail

A professional photographer knows far more about detail and about what shots matter most in a wedding album than any friend or family member who enjoys wielding a camera. Professionals also know how to make your moments truly picture-perfect. They will point out if a bridesmaid has her bra strap showing before snapping a pic. Stop to adjust a shawl to catch the wind perfectly romanticly. Or call the couple out for a wistful sunset portrait just as the sky turns a vivid and breathtaking red. This attention to detail can create a truly amazing wedding album.

Ability to manipulate scenarios for the best photos

But what most people don’t realize before their own weddings is how much photography equipment is involved in taking perfect photos. It’s not just finding and creating ‘Kodak Moments’, it’s also making sure the right lens, lighting, and angle are in place. This is just one of the keys to create beautiful images. You want someone who knows exactly how to use their camera to achieve crystal clear focus and can use different lighting in various flattering ways. Especially if your venue varies from indoors to outdoors.

Weddings go by fast and can’t be redone

Photographing a wedding is also more like a marathon than you might realize. Weddings go surprisingly fast! There are only a few hours in a single day to catch literally hundreds of priceless once-in-a-lifetime moments. Your photographer (or team of photographers) will need to be ready to capture every single moment, most of which can’t be re-done. A professional knows how much of a physically and mentally taxing role they play, and are still ready to capture every precious moment, big and small. From the ceremony kiss to the flower girl enjoying her cake!

Assurance

Peace of mind lets everyone relax on the wedding day

A lot can happen to a wedding photography plan that a guest-photographer may not be prepared to handle. And they will bring that stress back to the bride and groom. What if their camera breaks or their battery runs out, or they brought the wrong lens? These problems could cause your wedding to go un-photographed, a fate that will wreck most couples with worry.

From their experience, professionals have seen the worst a wedding can throw at a photographer and are prepared for it. They have a backup camera, batteries, and memory cards with them so in case something happens with the gear, they have a solution.  Knowing this can help you feel assured and excited at the same time. And that is exactly how you are supposed to feel on your wedding day.

More potential costs

Planning for a family member or a non-professional to do the photography and they fall through can leave your wedding in a bad place. This can also leave your wallet in a bad place too. You might have to hire a professional at the last minute. Or, goodness forbid, your photos could be lost through an error in uploading or a hard drive malfunction. How are you going to get those photos? Or better yet, your money back? Was there even a contract?

It’s much better to hire a professional and know there will be a photographer there with everything they need. If a professional wedding photographer’s price tag seems a little high, just remember what you are paying for. Professionals spend hours and hours deciding on how to price their market based on many factors, including:

• Experience
• Education
• Time spent booking, conceptualizing, preparing, photographing, and editing a wedding
• Travel
• Insurance and Contracts
• Accounting
• Gear
• Continuing education

And then remember what you are NOT paying for. It is understandable why you may go with an inexpensive option. But, take into consideration the reasons why photography is expensive. Then weigh out how important professional vs. non-professional services are to you.

Results

There is more to photography than an expensive camera.

You chose the photographer for a specific reason. Not just because they’re local and affordable, but because you love the galleries of photos they’ve taken of other weddings and events. There’s a style, a spirit in their work that you want to shine through in how your wedding is documented. There’s more to photograph than just point and click. It’s an art form.

In the same way an artist uses a brush, a carpenter uses a hammer and a writer uses a pen, these are just tools, it’s how the person uses it that produces amazing creations. A professional photographer is a visual artist who sees the beauty in things that happen in the real world. When they point their camera at your wedding, they find the artistic beauty and bring the magic of your special day to life in the wedding album.

Your photographer will know all the right angles, your ‘best side,’ and beautiful poses that will immortalize your wedding forever. With their experience, equipment, and inspiration as an artist, your photographer can make sure that each photo captures the joy, seriousness, silliness, and uniquely human moments that are all part of your wedding.

Professional Wedding Photographer

If a friend or family member has offered to be your wedding photographer, you don’t have to turn them down. Instead, please encourage them to be wedding guests! But to capture the entire magical experience of your wedding from beginning to end, including portraits and special moments, accept no substitute for a dedicated and experienced professional photographer. With hundreds of weddings under our belt, Erin Morrison Photography will surely capture your wedding day with all professional courtesy. Please feel free to check out our wedding portfolio and contact me!