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We’re talking relationships today folks, so let’s cuddle around the campfire and talk about why the relationship that you have with your wedding photographer is probably the best investment you can make when choosing whose services you will acquire to cover your special day.

Here are our top five practical tips to identify traits that can make your relationship with the photographer the best it can be.

Photo Credit: Nordica Photography

1. Get to know the photographer

Pictures and websites are one thing, but we cannot stress enough that you should not let the online persona persuade your decision when acquiring the services of a photographer. A personal online “brand” can sometimes be a misleading in terms of who you are truly dealing with. Get to know the person, not their URL.

So, how do you do this? Well it’s a given that you’re going to meet your photographer before booking him / her / them. What strategy we advise engaged couples to do is save talking numbers, equipment, contracts or anything else to do with your wedding when you meet for a later date. Grab a beer, glass of wine, cup of tea or whatever else floats your boat and get to know this person!

Because you are the real relationship experts (you’re engaged!), you should be able to get a feeling right away whether or not this photographer you’re considering is for you or not. Just like a first date, you should know if it ‘feels right’. If it feels ‘wrong’, move on as their are many fish in the sea.

If you have the opportunity, you really should pick someone who ‘fits in’ and ‘feels right’. You definitely want someone who you can throw back a cocktail (or a coffee) with, someone you can joke with, someone who you just ‘feel right’ with. This will -  without question – improve the quality of your pictures and it goes without saying your wedding day will be a million times more comfortable.

Photo Credit: Nordica Photography

2. Google is your friend

So you’ve met the photographer and concluded that this person is a swell person! Great! Your gut feeling is steering you in the right direction and you feel this is someone who you could build a nice relationship with on your wedding day. Awesome!

Then you Google that person. Uh oh…

Even if you met this person and your ‘first date’ was amazing, it’s worth finding out if someone blogged about the gong show photographer who got smashed and dove into the pool naked (it’s happened, folks!). This is where we encourage you to use the tools that are out there online, which means Google and social networking sites.

If you’re a little bit green with the whole social networking side of the Internet, one great place to start is with Twitter. Find out what the photographers handle is (ours, for example, is @nordicaphoto, and we promise we haven’t jumped naked into a pool) and read through what the person is like. You can learn loads from this one website alone, but there are many, many more out there that can give you the personal information you need.

And have fun with this! Twitter is a wonderful networking site and who knows, maybe you’ll find the photographer of your dreams on there!

Photo Credit: Nordica Photography

3. Get more than one photographer in the same room

This is a seldom used strategy, but we’ve heard of people applying it and holy cow is it ever effective. So how do you actually do this in a practical fashion, and why would you bother?

The ‘Why’ part of this equation is very important for the decision-making bride and groom. The wedding photography community is a tight-knit one, and within your city or region, there is a high percentage chance that the photographers you are considering know one another. So why not use them as your source of information to find out who the awesome and less-than-awesome photographers are?

To actually make this happen, we recommend hosting a casual night out at a bar or coffee shop, and let it be known that you are a newly engaged bride and groom looking to meet photographers. You can set up this mingling event very simply by using Twitter, Facebook, or any other social media sites. Basically, just set this date and watch the photographers find you – because they will!

Once you’re at the location you chose, watch the magic unfold. You’ll learn very quickly who the well-respected and well-liked photographers are, and we recommend pursuing those ones for your special day.

Photo Credit: Nordica Photography

4. Style Points

Have you noticed there are a lot of wedding photographers with questionable business names?

While a name isn’t everything, style certainly is. So how do you avoid lame style and how do you identify awesome style? And what does name have to do with anything?

Let’s start here: Style isn’t one nice picture, it’s a hundred great ones. Please, please, please avoid looking at one picture on a website and settling. Make sure you see a whole wedding day example. While photographers may luck out and get that million dollar picture, if they are indeed a shot in the pan, you should look the other direction.

The best of the best – the Jasmine Stars, José Villas or Jonas Petersons – don’t distract you with questionable business names, and they don’t luck out. They have a style and you can see it oozing out of their many examples.

So, what we recommend is to avoid photographers who can’t show a lot of work and who haven’t got a ‘style’. Style isn’t easy to acquire (or earn) and if a photographer isn’t quite there yet, it’s likely they’ll try distracting you with something other then photography – like a peculiar business name!

Photo Credit: Nordica Photography

5. Make sure the photographer can deliver the goods

Let’s imagine a very unimaginable scenario here folks.

You’re viewing a battle field. There are two people on that battle field and these two people are (figuratively) going to battle one another.  It’s your decision to place your bet as to who you think is going to win the battle.

Option one, your 53 year-old aunt who is carrying an AK47. She’s never used the AK47, but she has one (for some reason) and has told you that she’s ‘very confident’ with it.

Option two is a prize-fighter from the Russian Militia who has 10 years combat experience. He has a fly-swatter, and he really knows how to use it!

So, place your bets. Who would you go with? We’d bet on the Russian.

The reason why we’re using this example is at the end of the day, you really need to go with someone who knows what their doing. You give that AK47 to the Russian and you better believe you’re going to get results. Switch that AK47 to a top of the line camera and the Russian to a photographer and that’s precisely who you want by your side at your wedding day.

There needs to come a point where you do put friendships and relationships aside when deciding on your photographer, because you only get one chance for great photos on your wedding day. Your aunt may own a nice, fancy camera, but does she know how to use it under the pressure of a wedding day? That camera may as well be the fly-swatter, and your wedding photos may not come out the way you dreamt.

So make sure whoever you hire can deliver the goods, or you will regret it later on.

Photo Credit: Nordica Photography

So, that’s it! Those are our practical tips that we really think people should consider when choosing their wedding photographer. But remember, in the very beginning of your decision-making process, please keep it practical. You’ll be glad you did.