What are your photography criteria?

When consulting with potential photographers, what do you look for? Are you concerned about the personality fit of the photographer(s) with you as a couple? Are you more interesting in the product? What are your deal breakers? Trying to choose our company and conflicted since they all seem great for different reasons.

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We choose our photographer based on price and what is included in the package, personality fit with us (we actually really liked all the photographers we meet with so this one was hard) and their quality of work.  One of them we meet with, we liked them a lot, great husband and wife team, but we just weren't blown away by their work.   We ended up picking a guy we really liked a lot and his prices happened to be the lowest of everyone we meet with. 

We are choosing ours based on style, we want a more contemporary/photojournalistic look to our pictures, and then the next would be the personality, if the photog can vibe with us as well as capture what we want.

We chose our photographers based on price, package deal and we liked the style! They're well known in our city and are good to work with. :o)

Price, packages, and quality of work is what mattered. Personality played a part too, but not in the way it normally does. We had a DW, so a lot of the photogs were male. I corresponded with 2 male togs and they both tried to sell me their "presence" or "personality" as to why they were charging an arm and a leg. Let's just say that didn't go over so well with my hubby. They're literally like, "Our past comments have said how easily we get along with the guests" and yada yada yada. We're thinking, we just need you to take great pics, not get chummy with guests. We could care less about personality if you're gonna "charge" us for it. You're not Jay Leno, lol.

The main component was quality because I wanted great pics. That is what memorializes the day and our budget was adjusted to reflect that vision. However, I don't think great pics need to cost excessive amounts of money. I actually saw one DW tog who charged $10,000 for one of his packages! It's nuts out there. We went with our tog, Aurora Gutierrez, because she's a great balance of quality, packages, and price. And, she had a wonderful personality. Her style was not just ONE thing (which you have to be careful about). She had a mix of styles (photojournalistic, editorial, traditional, etc) which worked for us. I see some great wedding photography, but they're taking pictures of absolutely nothing (i.e. a rock because the light hit it a certain way) or you can barely see the faces of the couple (too many far away, dreamy shots). You pay too much money for that nonsense. Save it for Vogue or Nat'l Geographic.

Whatever look you're going for, make sure you thoroughly discuss with your tog what you want. Get a list of poses, inspiration shots, etc. Think outside the box. A lot of people are just starting out and looking to get experience so they charge little to nothing. Look into second shooters, recent graduates, etc. Really investigate and make sure you're both on the same page. You don't need to make a friend for life. You just need someone to take pics for one day and do it well.

There are (in my opinion) two key factors in choosing a wedding photographer: 1) make sure you LOVE their work, and 2) make sure your personalities click

If you don't LOVE/ADORE/OBSESS OVER (you get the idea lol) over their work now, chances are you won't LOVE/ADORE/OBSESS OVER your wedding photos. We tend to be our worst critics. Plus, I want to make sure this person will make my skin look best, my eyes shine, and make me look as thin as possible haha :)

You don't need to make a friend for life. You just need someone to take pics for one day and do it well.

I have to respectfully disagree with this statement. As a bride (and a photographer for that matter), everyone wants great/fun business relationships. It makes the process so much better, smoother, more fun. A photographer is someone who will take the memories from your wedding day and put them on a permanent tangible object for you to look at for years to come. THEY are the ones responsible for capturing everything so you can happily remember it....ABSOLUTELY I want them to be my friend!!! I want this person to love me and I want to love them because without them, what do I have to remember my wedding by?

Also, coming from the photog's POV, each photog has their own style. They "play the game" a certain way. You, as the bride, choose the photog for their style/game. It would never workout to tell a photojournalistic photog to start posing. Or to tell someone who has a vintage style to start using vivid colors. That's not "playing their game". You choose the photog because your game matches theirs. Without that connection, I don't think they will be able to recreate the wedding day to your liking. You will, ultimately, end up disappointed.

Price, of course, is always a deciding factor. Make sure you still to your budget. However, if you have any "room" in your overall wedding budget, I would advise to put more towards photography. Just my opinion. In the end, you/guests will forget the food, you'll forget the centerpieces, and the music you played...but you will ALWAYS have the photographs! I want something to show my kids/grandkids etc. And I want something to look through, that makes me cry, etc :)

For those in sticker shock, I found a great article that sums up why custom/professional photography costs more. We aren't just making these numbers up :)
http://amberfoxphoto.com/why-does-custom-photography-cost-more/

I looked for:

1. Someone who wasn't scamming me for my money. My dad is a pro photographer (he went to school for that and counseling, and he loves both, so he does both), and I know how much it takes for him to maintain his photography business. He only breaks even most times because he wants to make his services affordable, and he makes enough counseling to do that. Anyway, I was NOT willing to pay multiple thousands of dollars for a photographer.
2. Personality. As I said, my dad is a photographer. He wanted to photograph our wedding. I needed to find someone who could stand up to him and tell him to take his place in the photo. Also, someone who could yell at my big family and get them to do what they need to do. And someone I loved!
3. Package. I wanted at least 8 hours, and I wanted to be able to have edited and unedited images. I also wanted print rights. (I do graphic design, and just don't see a reason to pay someone else to print my photos when I have access to a high-quality printer for a very low cost.)
4. I wanted beautiful photos! Photojournalistic & fun.

I loved our photographers work way before we even got engaged so I knew right away I wanted them. I just prayed that they would accommodate our budget and they did! 

I was looking for a certain style and I wanted to make sure that we would be able to vibe with the photographer and be comfortable because its very important when getting amazing photos. Cost was important but I was willing to go above my budget to ensure that I have incredible photos that day.