5 Red Flags to Look Out for When Hiring a Wedding Photographer

Your wedding photographer is one of the few vendors whose work will remain with you long after the wedding day is over. The flowers will be taken down, the cake will be eaten, and eventually the dress will be packed away, but your photographs become part of your family's history.

That makes choosing a photographer about much more than finding someone whose Instagram feed looks beautiful. You are trusting someone to document moments that cannot be recreated, work comfortably with the people you love, adapt when a timeline changes, and deliver what they promised after the wedding is over.

Before you sign a contract or send a retainer, here are five red flags worth paying attention to.

1. They Don't Use a Contract

This is one of the biggest red flags.

A professional wedding photographer should provide a written contract that clearly explains what you are purchasing. It should cover your wedding date, hours of coverage, payment terms, cancellation and rescheduling policies, expected delivery, usage rights, and other important details.

A contract protects both you and the photographer. It also makes sure everyone enters the relationship with the same expectations.

If someone wants you to send hundreds or thousands of dollars based solely on a conversation, text message, or social media exchange, proceed carefully.

2. Their Portfolio Only Shows Perfect Conditions

Beautiful sunset portraits are wonderful, but they don't tell you everything you need to know about a wedding photographer.

Weddings happen in dark churches, crowded reception halls, hotel rooms, harsh afternoon sunlight, rainy courtyards, fluorescent dressing rooms, and dance floors where the lighting changes every few seconds. Your photographer needs to know how to work through all of it.

Look beyond the hero images. Do you see indoor ceremonies? Receptions after dark? Flash photography? Different skin tones photographed together? Candid moments? Family photographs? Details?

A strong wedding photographer should be able to create consistent work even when the conditions aren't perfect.

3. They Can't Explain What Happens if Something Goes Wrong

Wedding photography requires contingency planning.

Cameras fail. Memory cards can become corrupted. Batteries die. Photographers can become sick. Weather changes. Timelines run late.

Ask potential photographers about their backup equipment and how they protect your images. An experienced professional should be able to explain what precautions they take without making the conversation unnecessarily complicated.

You don't need to understand every technical detail. You simply want to know that there is a plan.

Your wedding shouldn't be the first time your photographer has considered what happens when something doesn't go according to plan.

4. Their Communication Is Already Difficult

Pay attention to how communication feels before you book.

A photographer doesn't necessarily need to respond within minutes, but professional communication should be reasonably consistent. They should answer your questions, explain their process, and make it clear what happens next.

If communication is confusing before you've paid the retainer, don't assume it will magically improve afterward.

Your photographer is one of the vendors who will spend a significant amount of time around you on your wedding day. You should feel comfortable asking questions and communicating what matters to you.

Good wedding photography depends on more than technical ability. Trust matters too.

5. You're Choosing Them Only Because They're the Cheapest

Every couple has a budget, and there is absolutely nothing wrong with having one. The red flag isn't an affordable photographer. The problem is choosing a photographer based on price alone without understanding what you're actually receiving.

Two photographers can quote dramatically different prices while offering completely different levels of experience, coverage, equipment, editing, image delivery, planning assistance, and reliability.

Ask what is included. Look through their work carefully. Read the contract. Ask about their experience photographing actual weddings rather than styled shoots or portrait sessions.

Most importantly, make sure you actually like the way they photograph people.

A bargain isn't much of a bargain if you spend years wishing you had different photographs.

Your Photographer Should Feel Like Someone You Can Trust

There is no single photography style, personality, or price point that is right for every couple. Some couples want bright and airy photographs. Others want true-to-color documentation, dramatic editorial portraits, documentary storytelling, or something artistic and unconventional.

What matters is finding someone whose work feels like you and whose professionalism makes you comfortable trusting them with the day.

Look at full bodies of work, ask questions, understand exactly what you're purchasing, and pay attention to how the photographer makes you feel during the process.

Your wedding photographs aren't simply content from one day.

Someday, they may be the photographs your children and grandchildren use to remember who you were.

Special thanks for Pexels for providing quality stock images to support my blog posts. Image credits:

Letícia Alvares, Kaboom.com, Kawê Rodrigues, Ron Lach, and Büşra İnce

Styled Shoot: The Rebel Rebel Bride

• Styled by Tori Hardman
• Model: Nicole Swaim
• Photographer: Blue Arden Photography/Ollie Wills
• Flower Crown: Graham Jordan
• Cake:  Ollie Wills
• MUA and Hair: Tori Hardman
• Dress: Target Maxi Dress
• MUA: Ollie Wills
• Shoes: Coach
• Bouquet: Tori Hardman

Wedding Trend: Great America Carolina Malt

Rustic Wedding. Check. Burlap and Lace. Check. Mason jars filled with glorious alcohol. Check and Check. Yeah..you heard it right; alcohol filled mason jars to complete the whole look.  That's where Great America  Malt comes in.

Shopping in the wine section at Wal-Mart, I found these two babies stacked high right across from the refrigerated beer.  There were flavors such as Apple Pie and Clear (this one).  What attracted me to this? Well, the mason jars of course.  There's nothing like the feeling of sitting on my front porch and throwing back what feels to be moonshine but tastes more like a clean and clear mead.

This would be a great talking piece for any backwoods rustic wedding. There's nothing like "Great America's Apple Pie Malt Substitute Beer! Brewed and bottled in the foothills of the Blue Ridge Mountains here in North Carolina." Nothing more rustic than that!

Candace + Gary Wedding at St Mark's Lutheran Church and Trump National Golf Club

They met when they were 13. They married in their 60s with children and grandchildren between them.  This family was a force of love and acceptance. No butterflies. No tension. No crazy wedding trends.  They just wanted to be married and marriage is what they got.  Take a look through my beautiful lens.

NEW Custom Packaging for Blue!!

The devil is in the details.  I say again, THE DEVIL IS IN THE DETAILS. 

I have always been one for the details.  Symmetry is best friend.  In recent months, I have worked on a design I felt would fit the new image of my business.  When Blue Arden was Ollie Wills Photography, though my business had a name, it didn't have brand.  It did not showcase the things I love which are: antique, vintage, rustic, modern, and simple.  I like bold colors.  I like aged things.  I like new things made to look old and old things made to look new.  That's my SCHTICK.  My brand, instead, was all over the place with constantly changing watermarks, editing styles, and imprints, as I tried to find myself. 

Finally, this year, the name Blue Arden found me and with it came a brand.  What came with it was specificity and direction. What came with it was a THANK YOU NOTE.  I believe my clients should always know how thankful I am for them choosing me.  It is a huge honor to be the number one choice! With that being said, I am proud to introduce what will now come standard with all large packages and weddings. It's so cute, I think I'll make one for myself.

Bridal Trends 2015: Suarez Bakery

Window shopping is a poor girls dream.  Heck: It IS THE BRIDE'S DREAM.  Dreams are made and shattered in the very reflections of the window shopper.  I am a perpetual window shopper.  I like to fill my cart up with everything I see, touch, and feel, then leave the cart.  I'm that annoying shopper that shops short of the cash register then gives you all of those things to re-shelve at the end of the day.  I'm really not a unthoughtful person.  I just like to feel what it feels like because it always eventually comes back around to me.

Today's BRIDAL TREND happens to be the dream all of all for this year's 2015 Bride.  Bridal Trend pick of the week is "Suarez Bakery" of Charlotte, NC.  How do would one describe Suarez? Well, Charlotte Magazine would call it "Guns and Butter."  I would call it Carlos Suarez.  Be sure to read more about the Bakery here. Here are some pictures from my adventures ever so rustic, sleek, wonderful, and whimsical.

BTS ( Behind the Scenes) of the "Styled Vintage Bride" Shoot

Styled Shoot Sneak Peek

Brides, Bouquets, Flowers, Sunlight, STYLED SHOOT.  I'd write more about this, but I'm saving it for some upcoming blog love about the shoot and Behind the Scenes (BTS)  Stay tuned!

Three BIG Reasons Why I LOVE Weddings

I love weddings. I'm in the process of planning my wedding which the date is undetermined.  We are in NO HURRY.  Plus, planning a wedding, to me, is like when you enter the first stages of an awesome relationship: you want to stay inside of your little bubble and tell the world nothing until you're good and ready.  At least, that's how it is for me.  But, I digress.

1. Weddings showcase family love.

There's nothing more beautiful then watching a sister (below) help her older sister get dressed for her big day.  Sometimes there are tears. Most of time there are laughs. All-in-all each wedding I have shot has one thing in common.  Weddings bring families together.

What was  your greatest experience at your wedding?

2.  You capture the most candid shots.

It is in my personal opinion that when you shoot a wedding, you have the greatest opportunity to capture those candid shots.  Most of the time, brides (and grooms) are so concerned with keeping up with the schedule that they forget that I'm even there. Most weddings are around 6-8 hours.  So, that's 6-8 hours of the most beautiful opportunities.

3.  You capture those very first moments between man and wife.

It's really a beautiful thing.  Just a few hours ago, they were boyfriend and girlfriend.  They were engaged.  Now, they are husband and wife.  They now share families.  When they hold hands, it means something to the world because they are both sharing this new life together.  It is something I have never seen with any other form of photography.