Photograph courtesy of Tina Halturin Photography
Article By Diana C. Losciale

He's unobtrusive, invisible, non-disruptive, and fairly silent. So is his equipment. He often wears a tux (which he probably owns) and he's polite to all the guests, including your Aunt Tilly who wants posed pictures with everyone. He's on time, unflappable, and has uncanny instincts. Tipping him is neither required nor expected. You can feed him or not (though it's courteous to do so), but he's too busy to linger over food.

He's up front about what he can and can't do and he understands the meaning of beauty being in the eye of the beholder. His world spins on the axis of your approval. He's your wedding day photographer.

How do you get one of these?

Book him or her well in advance, at least twelve months prior to your wedding date, even earlier if you're a May/June or September/October bride, the major nuptial months. Choose likely candidates by using grapevine or girlfriend referrals, which can help whittle the list of yellow-page possibilities. Once you've gleaned some possibilities, start calling your first round of choices.

Though photography is a visual art, a great deal of your initial interview can be accomplished on the phone. (Keep in mind, if he's not a match, a professional photographer will be able to recommend to you another photography studio better suited to your wedding date, picture preferences, or budget.)

Here are some questions to ask after you discuss your wedding date and the photographer's availability.

• What are the price ranges?
• Is the pricing done on a package basis, with everything included, or à la carte, which means each photo and each album is priced individually?
• Does the pricing include a sitting for your engagement photograph?
• Will the photographs be in color and/or black and white?
• What style of photography does the photographer specialize in -- traditional, contemporary, photojournalism?

The next step is to visit the studios of those photographers you now have on your short list. Page through the portfolios, do a personality check, verify who would actually be taking the photos on your wedding day (some studios have several associates) and discuss budget (again), package possibilities, and exactly what you want. And confess if you don't know. A good wedding photographer is also an advisor, a great source of experiential information.

Discuss the number of hours you want a photographer available. Photographers sign on for hourly stints, from two to eight hours, depending on what the bride needs. Some will stay beyond the arranged time if necessary. The pros agree that brides often want to squeeze too much into that amount of time. Part of their job is to help the bride arrange the wedding day shoot so it doesn't turn into a photography tournament.

Traditionally, the bride's parents assume the photography costs, and years ago it was the bride's parents who selected the photographer. "In many cases, today, we don't meet the parents. Now it's the bride. She's heavily involved in getting the wedding her way," says wedding photographer Joel Marion. He guesstimates that thirty-five to forty percent of the time, grooms come along on the call, as they tend to be more involved in the planning process than they were years ago. They're also most interested in a photojournalistic style of wedding photography, Marion adds, because it doesn't require posing.

What should the bride be looking for besides great pictures? Photographer Robert George, of Robert George Studio, suggests you consider these three things: Style, because that's what you're buying and styles do vary; customer service, exemplified by the studio's personal attention to you throughout your long-term relationship; and budget, which has to be right.

Style can be broken into three categories. Traditional photographs are arranged, posed, and perfected. They have a formal, expected appearance. Contemporary photographs walk on the artsy side. They are tradition "unraveled", with styled angles and an accent on fashion, postures, and arrangement. The third and currently most popular style is photojournalism. Ask your photographer for his definition of this as some interpret photojournalism as meaning merely candid shots.

Wedding photojournalist Al Horton of Horton Photography defines the term as the telling of the wedding story in a completely unobtrusive way. "It's standing in the corner with no direction (from anyone) whatsoever, using available light and various lenses. It's the glimpse of every aspect of the day, and lots of little details -- a button on the bride's dress, her shoe on the floor, the makeup artist's tools, a tiny bridesmaid in the doorway as the bride gets ready. Some shots are grainy; some are sharp; all have mood."

To a good wedding photographer, customer service includes the twelve months prior to your big day and extends a few months past it while photos are being developed, proofed, chosen, matted, put into an album, and so on. "It's all custom work -- that's why personal service is important," George says. Prior to the wedding, some studios work up a list of must-have pictures. This doesn't exclude other photo ops as they present themselves, it only assures that nothing important to you is left out.

Finally, the budget has to be right. Though not carved in stone, figure ten percent of your total wedding budget will be spent on photography.

After the studio confab, with its multiple decisions and final agreement, the photo deal is on and your picture worries are off. Having chosen well, you can enjoy your wedding day and are not required to pay any attention to the person behind the lens nipping around corners, standing in the shadows, snapping everything through the camera's eye.

And what will a wedding photographer be doing for you after the wedding is over? Some studios will have your wedding album ready several weeks after the wedding, some after several months. But so much of this timing depends on you taking the time as soon as your proofs are in to look them over and make your selections. Photojournalists shoot a lot, often 500 to 800 photos, so there may be hundreds of shots to pore over and just as many people (it may seem) interested in helping you choose. Note that some studios will have proofs available for you on video.

And some studios will choose your pictures for you. Pro photographer David Hilgendorf at Saratoga Studio offers a thoroughly successful option for his brides. They can have him choose the photos and build the album. Approximately six weeks after the wedding, they have the finished product in hand. It's a matter of trust that comes with a promise to exchange anything they don't like.

Doing the pre-wedding photo footwork is an investment that pays off for a lifetime. How else will you see the expression on your mom's face as she adjusted your veil, bobby pin in her mouth; or the look of blushing intensity on the ringbearer's face? How else will you see your own wedding kiss sealing your vows? How else could you take note of what your guests were doing while you and your husband were dancing?

This article was contributed by Saint Louis Bride Magazine. If you have questions or comments about this article, please email their editor at nancy.slade@wheremagazine.com.