Here are the real questions you should be asking your photographer (and videographer) during your interview.

Now that you’re engaged and you’ve booked your planner and venue, it’s time to start building your creative team. Your Blissfully Styled Events Planner will curate the best matches for you based on your personality, style, and investment plan, but we still want you to meet with these teams to ensure you also have an emotional connection with them.

Since your BSE Planner only refers professionals that we have fully vetted and typically have already worked with, we know the answers to the basic questions that most blogs will tell you to ask: How many shooters/hours/images are included? How do they back up their images/footage/batteries/equipment? How are photos or videos delivered? Do they include a photo album or highlight reel? These technical questions may not mean much to you, but are very important to confirm.

When we refer our curated selection of photographers and videographers to you, we still ask you to meet with them. Get a feel for their personalities and vibe to see if you’ll enjoy sharing your wedding day with them. This is your Wedding! It’s a super emotional time, so we want you to have a personal connection with your creative team.

Here are a few questions to get the conversation going:

How long have you been shooting weddings and what brought you into the industry?
What do you love and/or dislike about shooting weddings?
What is your favorite wedding story?
What is the craziest thing that happened to you on a wedding day and how did you manage it?
How do you handle wedding day stress and family dynamics?
Who is your second shooter or team and why?
Why is having a second shooter important to you?
Photographers: How do you feel about engagement sessions and why? (ie. is it as important to you as it is to your BSE planner? )
What inspires you?
How do you select your couples?
What do you do when you're not shooting or editing?

These are great starters… let their responses and the natural flow of the conversation guide you further! That flow will tell you if you could have fun spending your day with this person, too.

You could also use a few of these while interviewing your other vendor teams, such as your Band or DJ, Florist, or professional Officiant. Just tweak them as needed!

If you think it might be awkward to ask these things… trust us, it’s not. If we’ve learned anything over the years, it’s that the teams you want to work with on your wedding day are those who are passionate and emotionally connected to their couples. Your perfect matches will appreciate these real conversations!

We hope this helps you get to know your creative partners better and forge a deeper relationship with your teams. And remember, we’ve done all the research and technical work. We want you to choose with your gut. Hiring the teams that you feel really connected to will make your wedding day even more special!