Eight questions before choosingwho photographs your wedding

You receive three proposals and all three say similar things. The problem is not that the truth is bent: it is that almost nothing that decides how the film of your day will turn out is written on any website. These eight questions separate two proposals that seem identical.

1. When do you deliver, and what happens if you are late?

It is one of the few that many photographers answer in writing, but with very wide ranges: from a few weeks to several months, with differences by area. Ask for the lead time in writing, and for your date. A solid answer gives a specific day, not a season: "late autumn" is not a deadline.

2. What does the price include and what is extra?

Ask how many hours are covered, how many images are delivered, whether there is an album, whether travel is included and how VAT is treated. Between a proposal with tax and one without there is a difference that has nothing to do with quality. In a sector where almost nobody publishes figures, comparison exists only if you build it question by question. And what to do afterwards with the album and the copies. If you want aerial images, what to ask and what the rules allow.

3. Are stills and film made by the same team?

It is not a question of price but of who is in charge on site. Two teams that do not know each other get in each other's way at the ceremony and the first dance, the two moments that cannot be repeated. You should know who will be there, how they share the space and what happens if they want the same spot.

It is not a question of price but of who is in charge of the space. Qué cambia en la isla: photo and film from one team.

4. How many weddings do you accept on the same weekend?

It is the question that most changes the real service in July and August, and nobody publishes it. A team that works Saturday and Sunday arrives on Sunday with Saturday still undownloaded. A solid answer is a number and, if it is more than one, how it is handled.

5. When does the light leave at my place and on my date?

Here you immediately see who has visited your venue. The answer is not "at sunset": it is a specific hour, which changes each month and depends on which way the place faces. On an island, between June and October there can be more than two hours' difference in the last usable light. What is solid is an hour, and what to move if it does not fit your dinner. On seeing each other before the ceremony: the first look, what to bear in mind.

The answer is not “at sunset”: it is a specific time.

6. Who actually photographs my wedding day?

A name appears on the website; on the wedding day another may turn up. Working with a second team is nothing wrong, but you have the right to know who is coming and to see their work, not only that of the person who received you. On family photos: how to organise them without losing the cocktail. To ask about the way of working: documentary or posed.

7. What happens if you fall ill?

The wedding is not postponed. Ask what the contract says: who covers, with what equipment and who decides. The answer matters less than the fact that there is one.

8. Whose are the images and where will they be published?

Two sides: what you may do with them (print, share, give copies to family) and what the author may do. If you have guests who prefer not to appear on social media, now is when to say so, not when it is already published. What is solid is a contract where it is stated, and the option to say no. The music of the film and the trailer also has an owner: what each piece is.