✦Aisle & After

A buying guide · affiliate links disclosed below

the one vendor that outlives the day

Photography, decided

Cake gets eaten, flowers wilt, the photographs are forever. Here is how to book them well: the hours, the second-shooter question, the honest cost — and the twelve questions that separate professionals from portfolios.

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Hours & cost, for your day

Tick what you want covered; we return the hours to book and what that should cost in your market.

before you sign

The 12 questions to ask

  1. Are you free on our date — and is that a yes or a “probably”?
  2. Can we see two complete weddings, not a highlights portfolio?
  3. Who exactly shoots our wedding if you are ill?
  4. How many weddings do you shoot per weekend?
  5. What is your delivery time — in writing?
  6. How many edited photos should we expect for our coverage?
  7. What does overtime cost if the day runs long? (It runs long.)
  8. Do you carry backup bodies, lenses and insurance?
  9. How do you handle family group photos without eating an hour?
  10. Are the full-resolution files included, and printable by us?
  11. How long do you keep our gallery — and then what happens to it?
  12. What do you need from us to do your best work?
Question 11 is the trap door. Most galleries expire within a year, and two thousand photographs quietly become a dead link. Decide where the photographs will live before they arrive — a story website is our answer, but any answer beats none. The photo backup checklist is free ✦
one or two?

The second-shooter question, honestly

One photographer suits

  • Weddings under ~80 guests in one location
  • Days without a big getting-ready story
  • Budgets where the money is better spent on hours

Two photographers earn it

  • Both partners getting ready, photographed simultaneously
  • Ceremonies where reactions matter as much as the aisle
  • 120+ guests, multiple locations, or a packed run sheet

Where we recommend photographers or marketplaces, links may be affiliate links — disclosed here, and never the reason for a recommendation. Our curated photographer directory is being assembled with our founding couples.