Questions to ask your photographer.

Almost every couple who books us asks the same three questions. Two of them are useful. One isn't. There are also five questions almost nobody asks, and they're the ones that would actually tell you whether to book this photographer or the next one. This is the version of the answer I'd write if I were sitting across the table from you.

This is candid advice from the side of the desk that benefits if you choose carefully. Take it with that grain of salt. But I have watched enough couples make this decision well — and the occasional couple make it badly — to know which questions do the work.

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01The five worth asking

Ask these five, in any order. The answers are what you're choosing between.

• Can I see a full wedding album, start to finish? Not the highlight reel. A real wedding, every photograph delivered. This is the question that separates portfolio-buyers from working photographers.
• What happens if you get sick on the day? They should have an answer. It shouldn't be "I've never been ill on a wedding day." It should name another photographer, by name, who they trust to step in.
• What gear are you bringing, and what's your back-up? They should be carrying two camera bodies. Not one camera and a phone. Two bodies. Card failures happen. We'll come to this.
• When will I see the photographs, and how? A clear timeline (we aim for four weeks) and a clear delivery method (online gallery, downloadable, no extra charge).
• What's not included? Travel charges, second-shooter fees, album charges, prints, "premium edit" upcharges. Get them in writing now, not later.

02Answers that should worry you

The flip side. If you hear any of these, walk away politely. It is not rude to leave; it is rude of them to be saying them.

• "I only carry one camera." Cameras fail. Cards fail. Lenses break. A wedding photographer carrying one body is one slip away from a catastrophic problem they can't recover from. This is non-negotiable.
• "I'll send a select sample, you can choose to upgrade for the full set." The full set is the wedding. Selling it back to you in tiers is, kindly, a tactic. Walk away.
• "I don't really use contracts." Then you don't really have anywhere to stand if something goes wrong.
• "The deposit is non-refundable but I might be able to do something if there's a problem." Read the contract. Read the cancellation clause. If it's vague, ask them to make it specific. If they won't, walk away.
• "You'll have the photographs within twelve weeks." Three months is not a turnaround time. Three months is a backlog. The honest range is four to eight weeks.

"The single most important question is the one almost nobody asks: what happens if you get sick on the day?"Jody Nesbitt · Shine Pics

03The portfolio question

Every photographer's portfolio looks brilliant. That is the nature of a portfolio. The question is not "are these photographs good", it's "can this photographer deliver photographs this good on every wedding". The way to find out is the first question on the list: ask for a complete wedding, every frame delivered.

Most photographers will say yes. The ones who hesitate are the ones whose portfolio is six brilliant frames from sixty different weddings. That's not a portfolio. That's a curation. You want the photographer whose every-frame delivery looks like their portfolio.

04The back-up gear question

This is the one I really wish couples asked us, even though we always volunteer the answer. Two camera bodies, both shooting to dual cards, every wedding. Two zoom lenses, two prime lenses, two flash units. If a camera dies mid-aisle, the next photograph happens on the back-up. If a card corrupts, the second card in the same camera has an identical copy.

The reason this matters is that a wedding cannot be reshot. Every other photoshoot in the world can be redone if the gear fails. A wedding can't. The professional approach to weddings is paranoid by design, and you want a paranoid photographer.

…asking us, specifically

For completeness, our own answers to the five:

• Full album? Yes. We send a private gallery of a recent wedding, every frame delivered. Ask and we'll send one.
• If we're ill? We work as a two-person team, husband and wife (Jody and Diana). One of us steps in. We've never had to, but the answer exists.
• Gear? Two camera bodies each, dual-card recording, two zooms, two primes, two flash units, two batteries minimum per camera. Paranoid by design.
• Turnaround? Four weeks. Sometimes six during peak season. Online gallery, free download of every frame.
• Not included? Travel charges outside NI, prints, and physical albums (£150 for an 80–100pg album). Everything else — the delivery, the gallery, the digital files — is included.

If you'd like to ask us in person, the contact form is the simplest way. We don't do hard sells; we'll send the wedding album link, answer whatever else you ask, and tell you honestly if a different photographer would be a better fit for what you want.

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