Bride-to-be Blogger Alyse: Choosing our Photographer—and Videographer

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Picking the photographer and the videographer was one of the first things we tackled during the wedding planning process. Recently, I’ve been revisiting those decisions as I piece together the day-of time line—but first, a little bit about how I came to pick those very important vendors.

I am very lucky that a very close family friend is a wedding photographer and has agreed to do the photography for the wedding. Relax, this isn’t a “friend with a camera” that every bride has been warned about. She is Julie Gosse and is a professional wedding photographer with experience. I did search around a bit at first to see what was out there (and admire all of the pretty photography blogs), but in the end, the choice was clear. Julie is extremely detail-oriented and, as my dad said when we were making the decision, “No one works harder than Julie.” Because I am the oldest child and Julie used to baby sit me, I think I can safely blame her for my perfectionist tendencies. The best part is that knowing Julie very well has allowed me to completely relax about the photography. We had a meeting to discuss the day of and I am so glad to have a familiar face among the vendors—especially one that gets so close to you—who will be there on the Big Day.

Next up was the videographer. I know some people forgo the videographer altogether, but for me, the “must have wedding video” advice was one that I was not going to ignore. Don’t tell me that I won’t ever watch my wedding video, because I will. We actually did very little research on videographers —because just like the photographer, the choice was clear, although not for the same reasons. We chose the videographer immediately after we fell in love with a short video of a wedding of people we have not met. We both watched the video and cried. (By the way, “we” in this post refers exclusively to my mom and me. Kevin had no part in this, the crying, nor the decision). After watching the video multiple times, we did some minimal research, called up Blue Sky Films and asked where to send the check. I think the connection to the couple in the video was something like my sister’s-friend’s-cousin’s-brother-in-law. So pretty much the opposite of realizing that your most perfectionist friend is also a professional wedding photographer.

The photographer and the videographer are probably the two vendors most concerned with a precise day-of timeline. Meeting with Julie helped me get over my thought that I would be ready early enough to get lots of pictures done before the ceremony. She also reminded me to have the rings and anything else I wanted photographed at my house where I am getting ready, so that she can take pictures of them there.

I spoke to the videographer a few weeks ago, and she wanted to talk about the day-of timeline, as well. Not that I haven’t thought about the logistics of the day, I just wasn’t prepared to make any commitments yet. But I realized that because we have the videographer for a set number of hours, and there is a gap of time between the ceremony and the reception, I have to decide whether I want the videographer to take a break and not film the in-between pictures, or end a little early. Thinking about these two vendors certainly make the wedding seem very close and emphasizes how important the little organizational details are.

How did you choose your photographer and videographer? Did you discuss your day of time lines with them, or just go with the flow?

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