Plan Your Central Florida Wedding

Questions Couples Never Ask Their Wedding Photographer

May 06, 2020 Orange Blossom Bride
Plan Your Central Florida Wedding
Questions Couples Never Ask Their Wedding Photographer
Show Notes Transcript

Wedding photography usually ranks pretty high on couples list of priorities for their wedding. When it comes interviewing your wedding photographer, there are those questions that couples always ask, like how many photographers will be shooting my wedding or how long are you photographing but there are also questions that are just as important that couples never think to ask their potential photographers. In this episode, we are going to be talking with Steve Miller of Steven Miller Photography about why these questions are so important. 

spk_1:   0:00
Hey, that's that's great. And you will certainly feel that through your photographer during the consultation, or especially when you have your engagement session if you have your engagement session with them. But I just think it's a really great question to make sure that they truly care.

spk_0:   0:23
Welcome to the plan. Your Central Florida Wedding Podcasts. I'm your host. Manish Mint, editor of Greater Orlando's top wedding publication, Orange Blossom Bride. I'm sure when you said yes, you had no idea you were jumping on this roller coaster. That is wedding planning goal of this podcast is to make the wedding planning process less stressful and more fun. We'll provide you with great tips and ideas, along with expert advice from some of the areas. Top wedding pros. So let's get started planning your Central Florida wedding. What name photography usually ranks pretty high on couples List of priorities for their wedding. When it comes to interviewing your wedding photographer, there are those questions that couples always ask, like how many photographers will be shooting my wedding? Or how long will the photographer be photographing the wedding? But there are also questions that are Justus important that couples never think to ask their potential photographers. In this episode, we're going to be talking to Steve Miller of Stephen Miller Photography about why these questions are so important Now. Steve is a professional photographer for the past nine years here in Orlando, and he takes pride in building a photo team that offers some of the best personalities, professionalism and just plain fun on your wedding day corporate event or really any event that you host. He's made it his personal life goal to make some kind of difference on this planet. So he has started several ICO initiatives as a company to provide a purpose to their work, including free tree or pollinator plants to every couple in client and dark sky sessions as a way to raise awareness about light pollution and inspire others to appreciate our planet's beautiful space. So welcome, Steve.

spk_1:   2:06
Thank you. Thanks for having me

spk_0:   2:08
very excited to have you. I always love talking to you, Steve. You're just a happy guy.

spk_1:   2:12
Well, thank you. I appreciate

spk_0:   2:14
it s so we're gonna be talking today because you have been in the business for quite some time. So you have probably heard every question that couples could ask. But there are those questions that they don't know to ask. And that's what we're talking about today.

spk_1:   2:31
Sure, awesome. I'm happy to help in any way.

spk_0:   2:34
But let's start with the 1st 1 which would be backup equipment because that's really important because you're working with equipment and it's not perfect. And something could happen.

spk_1:   2:45
Absolutely, absolutely. And the rule of thumb is if you think something can happen, it might actually happen. So ah, you know, I think one thing that is very different between Let's say somebody that's doing photography part time or, you know, just more for fun or just for supplemental income versus somebody that actually does it full time is how much equipment that they can or choose to invest in. Um, and you know, when you get to a company that does this full time, we know for a fact that we're gonna need to have backup equipment in case something decides it doesn't want to work anymore because, you know, in every aspect of technology, it is not perfect. So I've had in the past Ah, camera that just decided during an engagement session. Let's say I think I'm done. I think I'm just gonna go ahead and lock up and not really work anymore. I've had a lens that's gotten stuck to the camera before while trying to detach it, and then you can't reattach it. So it basically now it's not functioning and you can't do anything with it. So, you know, when it comes to engagement sessions and family portrait sessions and things like that, Yeah, that's not the end of the world. If you really can't get your camera working again, it's like, Oh, well, let me let me run to the car. Let me make a phone call and see if I could meet up with one of my other photographers. You guys go to lunch and I'll see if I can go get their camera and I'll be right back. But what if that happens on a wedding day when you know, let's say you guys are exchanging our vows and all of a sudden the camera says, Hey, guess what? I'm done here. We Oh, what's your photographer going to Dio? And I don't think a lot of couples really think about that. They might just assume that that it just comes in your camera bag like, Oh, sure, of course, you have a second, a second camera and you have a backup lens and, ah, you know things like that. But I hardly ever get asked that question during the consultation, which I think is such a critical time to ask that question. That's when you're shopping for photographers. That should be part of your question list. In our case. Of course, I wouldn't I wouldn't feel that question without saying yes, of course, we have backup equipment, but, um, you know, all of our photographers on the team absolutely have a full set of backup gear in their camera bag, not even in their car in the parking lot of your wedding venue, but actually on hand. So in case that camera or or if the battery connection somehow has an error message or memory card stops reading and goes corrupt for whatever reason, if any of that happens taken just about, throw that camera on the ground, pull out the other one, turn it on, get their settings back in place and just continue as if nothing ever happened. So because you know that that rule of thumb if something's going to happen. It's gonna happen. You can supplement that with. Well, if it's gonna happen, it's going to happen in a very crucial moment where I have 30 seconds to decide before you guys actually have no kiss. So you have to You have to prepare for the worst. I I have a term for it. I call it professional paranoia. So take every take, every step in measure you can to prevent something that was preventable from happening

spk_0:   5:46
well. And there's no there's no like, Oh, hold on. I got to do this. Like the whole point of having a wedding photographer is for them to be. The incognito would not bother you just to capture all those moments so they can't stop to be like, Oh, I got to go running in my camera. This one broke. Please don't have your first kiss yet.

spk_1:   6:03
Yeah, Everyone, stop what you're doing. Yeah,

spk_0:   6:06
that would be great. That would

spk_1:   6:07
be quite a negative, memorable moment for all of the wedding guests involved.

spk_0:   6:12
It might be your last time as a photographer

spk_1:   6:16
and you know it. At the end of the day, if all of that could have been prevented by just having a second camera. They're ready to rock and roll. Then you know how easy that is. But you know, if you do it, if you do it part time or it's not necessarily full time yet or you're aspiring to people time and you're just getting started, you may not have the funds to have, you know, two identical sets of camera gear because that stuff is expensive. When you actually Adam the camera body and then the batteries in the battery grips, you can have two batteries at once so your batteries don't die three times during the wedding day. And I only die once during the wedding day on the flash and and batteries and memory cards and lenses and everything. It it gets overwhelming. So I just think like if a if a couple is really gonna put a lot of importance into into picking a great photographer and a professional photographer, that should be one of the questions on their list. One Sure, they're really getting somebody, does this all the time and is ready for chaos to ensue.

spk_0:   7:09
Right? And so now, with those pictures that they're taking with her back up here if they need Thio. Another question that people don't couple somethingto ask is how our wedding images backed up because I've actually heard of one of my friends before. I even had the publication. She had hired a friend to do their photography, and then they went on their honeymoon and there photos were lost because they didn't back it up. So they had no photos from their wedding. And I'm like, How did you even focus it? After that, I would have been, like, devastated home, but I mean, that's it's such a It's such a crucial thing that that's not all that glamorous, but it's very important.

spk_1:   7:50
Absolutely. Yeah. And I to this day, after nine years so far of of doing this professionally, I have never been asked that question by a couple during a consultation. So I I always constantly voluntarily bring it up and say, Hey, did you think about this? Oh, no, no, I haven't And yeah, like you. Like you said, I've got stories, too, and you know, videographers and photographers stories that ah, they they lost photos or their their card wouldn't download or they accidentally formatted it during the wedding or or shortly after the wedding they had, let's say, two or three weddings in a row, a man by the third wedding, so tired I wasn't paying attention and accidentally formatted card that had yesterday's wedding on it. Those stories are out there, and it happens, and it is terrifying. So to me, as part of my professional paranoia initiative, I think it is crucial to to have a really good image backup plan in place. Um, and you know, if if the photographer that they're meeting with doesn't really put a lot of priority on that, I think it's a great question. They should ask, kind of just spur of the moment during the consultation and see whether the photographers thrown off by that question or if they do this so regularly that they already know how to answer the question. I think that's a really I think it's a really good surprise pop question to ask the photographer and see how they respond. Um, and in my opinion, they should already have that stuff in place and should be able to answer that question in a very solid, confident way. Um, for instance, with us on a wedding day itself, even if they book a wedding package that has one photographer on, not to photographers that one photographer will still bring an assistant, a photographer assistant with them on the wedding day. So there's technically two people on the staff. And there's other reasons for having us then assistant, such as carrying the camera bag, having lenses and memory cards and batteries, ready to swap with the photographer to keep them nimble and focused instead of fumbling in the camera bag during crucial moments. But during the wedding reception, that assistant will grab all of the used memory cards from the photographer so far. And while the couple is dancing or cutting the cake or doing whatever during the wedding reception, they are actually backing up all of those memory cards on site to one of our laptops. Every every one of our photographers has a laptop that they bring to each wedding, Um, and then the assistant will back up all the memory cards to the laptop and then from the laptop. They also backed them up again to an external hard drive that will typically go home with the person who is not going home with the laptop, if that makes sense. So just in case of emergency, if there's a car accident or if if somebody were to get robbed or something like that, then at least their wedding photos are in two different locations when they leave the wedding venue. If that makes sense, Uh,

spk_0:   10:40
no, absolutely. And that's a great precaution. Take. I mean, that's that's next level precaution that I love Steve, because once again, there's no there's no second takes is one thing to try to second take a first kiss. But when you're trying to second take a whole wedding, absolutely. It's not gonna happen. So and you

spk_1:   10:57
look at these memory cards now, they're so small, we actually we make a habit of still photographing with compact flash cards as long as cameras were still being manufactured with that capability. But you know, the trend is moving towards smaller memory cards like SD cards, and I just I can't imagine storing somebody's one and only precious wedding photos on something that I could snap in half by sitting on it the wrong way in my back pocket or with my E could literally snapped the memory card in half of my fingers, and I just that that terrifies me so much. Um, you know, leaving, leaving a wedding day with all of their photos and everything that they paid for just in my pocket or is in a little pouch in my camera bag. I don't know. It's just that's kind of intimidating for me. I I have a hard time with that. So I feel better knowing that we were able to safely download every single photo, no memory card, showed a knish you or had a problem downloading. I like knowing all of that during the wedding. I like knowing that everything went down without a hitch and downloaded properly during the wedding or by the end of the wedding. So, you know, hypothetically, let's say that the family portrait memory card was having some issue, and it was like, Oh, for some reason, it's not downloading to my hard drive. I'm not sure why. Ah, while we're here, let me go to the dance floor. Let me tell the couple This is, of course, an emergency situation, but I would feel better being able to walk to the couple and saying, Hey, do you mind if we just just recreate a few family portrait ce here on the dance floor? I know it's not super romantic and formal and all that, but where we might be having an issue with the memory card tonight, I'm glad that we're finding out now rather than two weeks later when your family's all back where they go back home, where they so worst case scenario. I think it's a much better situation than not knowing until after the wedding or after everybody's gone home. So and then that, of course, eliminates the risk of you accidentally. Four men in the card on the wedding day the next day when you're already exhausted, um, or, you know, losing a memory card or falling out of your pocket on the way home. If it falls out of my pocket on the way home. Well, hey, guess what? I already have him in two other places, so life is good and then, from there, technically, to get to get particular once you go to the office here in East End Market, we have a mainframe computer that has over 50 terabytes worth of space, basically storing everything from 2011 all the way until yesterday, Um and then every now and then from there, there's also a mirrored external hard drive that goes home with me every day. That has everything from this year so far. 2020 20. So and then there's a copy of every year that goes home to either my parents that live up in Maryland or to a friend of mine that lives in Altamonte. He's agreed to kind of store some extra hard drives of mine in his room. So there's every year from 2011 all the way until 2019 that is archived either in another state or in another city, um, as well as this computer, as well as a backup that I have everything. So just in case, just in case

spk_0:   13:50
something, yeah, you're definitely prepared on that aspect. And that really comes from, you know, your experience and being a professional and really being committed to giving your couples the best that you can not, you know, having any issues the

spk_1:   14:05
day. Yeah, absolutely. And you know, of course, with every industry, there's always something beyond your control. There's there's acts of nature or acts of God you know, in a lot of wedding contracts, things like a corrupted memory card or a camera failing are considered an act of God, because there's nothing really that you could do to prevent that from happening. When it's time to go, it's time to go. You know, when your iPhone has a glitch or your laptop decides, Hey, guess what I'm shutting down and there's nothing you could do to start me back up. It happens. So in a lot of cases that's considered a fact of nature. But anything that's preventable, I feel like a professional should have plans in place for that.

spk_0:   14:42
And when it comes to being a professional, one of the things that couples don't ask is about their wedding day timeline, which is so very important to keep the day running smoothly. So what, Um, what do you recommend they ask about? Like managing their wedding day timeline?

spk_1:   14:59
Sure. Well, I always tell couples that if you if you don't end up having, let's say, a full service or day of wedding planner on your wedding day, um or or if you don't have somebody on the hotel team or the catering team, the venue team, I should say, um, that helps you kind of put together a map or an outline of how everything is going to flow. Okay, here's your ceremony. Time after ceremony. You should probably give 30 minutes for this and then 45 minutes for that dinner will probably take this long. You should probably do your cake cutting at this time. There's ah, unless you have. If you don't have somebody on your wedding team that's helping you kind of map out the entire day. I think that that wedding planning hat ends up falling on your photographers head. Uh, because if there's one, if there's one vendor, I think that loses the most time out of other vendors running late, it's your photographer. If hair and makeup ends up running late, that usually comes out of any first look or pre ceremony portrait time. Your photographer was planning on, um, or if there's a dress emergency or if the groom's shoe falls apart. Uh, you know, it has to be super glued back together. Temporarily. Ah, lot of that stuff comes out of our timeline and not really anybody else's, because we still try very hard to everyone still wants the ceremony to still be on time. Everybody still want the catering and the food, the food serving to still be on time. So a lot of times we kind of we get the short end of the stick when it comes to making up for lost time. Um, so I think it's in a photographer's best interest to really help a couple plan a perfect wedding timeline because, you know, other other than I would say, videographers. And in some cases, wedding planners were really with the couple from start to finish relatively throughout the wedding day. I mean, were there for prep ceremony. First, look if it's before ceremony Family portrait, bridal party, portrait's personal portrait's reception, dancing dinner, grand exit at the end. If they do like sparklers, air bubbles or anything, we are with them all day long, so I almost say that we should have a little priority. And how the wedding Timeline is is set up. So that way were ableto to document every aspect of that entire day. Um, not a lot of couples, I think, really think about how their wedding day timeline is going to be created unless they do have a wedding planner because I'm sure when they interviewed with their wedding planner, they said that that's part of the package, or they will help do that. So most couples that have a wedding planner kind of know that someone's going to help them with that. But even so, even if they are given a wedding day timeline, we still like toe have I like to call the final phone call. Usually, like two weeks before the wedding day, just to go over everything that they have written down. Everything they have planned, what time they get up in the morning and have breakfast And what time hair and makeup arrives on. But who They said it's gonna be first. Who's gonna be last? What time they're supposed to be finished. What time did the flowers arrive? Just so just so we know that that were covered. If we do plan on doing a first look. Okay. Well, what time are the flowers arriving? 00 yeah. I think they said it was gonna show up, like, 15 minutes after you wanted to do the first look. Okay. Well, then were you If you can please reach out to the florist and see if they can deliver 30 minutes before our first look. Time that way of case they're running late. We're not really flirting with the first look time. And then we have so and then we have the right amount of time for Portrait's before the ceremony like we're planning. So, uh, I I have been a guest at weddings before, and of course, I can't help myself. I kind of just I'm constantly looking over their their photographer to see what's going on and see how they handle things and just to see their work ethic and just just kind of spy on him a little bit. I can't help it. I can't turn that

spk_0:   18:37
off. Um, so just know people. If Steve's at the wedding shooting, he's watching

spk_1:   18:43
always, Uh, but, you know, it's amazing some of the some of the work ethic I've seen and just the you know that when I think when the photographer asks the couple, okay, what should we do next? It's like, Oh, come on, now, you should know what we do next. You should be telling the couple what we do next. Um, so I think That's a question that not a lot of couples ask and, you know, kind of again. I'd like to be a fly on the wall and just kind of look over the tac birds. You have the answer. That question. Okay, go. You're put on the spot with a very important question. What you gonna say? Um, because, you know, a photographer really should own the wedding day timeline, because other than a wedding planner, there's really gonna be nobody else around them telling them what's next. Andi. Okay, we are running 10 minutes behind per the timeline. So we probably should get those bridal the bridesmaid dresses on. So that way we can get the bride and the dress. 10 minutes isn't the worst thing in the world, but we really need to kind of get moving here. Ah, photographer. I think it's really crucial to keep things on time even with a wedding planner. Because a wedding planner can't be everywhere. They can't be hanging out with the bride and the groom the whole time because there's still some setup aspects for them and making sure the ceremony is set and vendor communication they need to go meet the deejay cause the deejay requested this table, but they can't find it anywhere. There's there's all kinds of things that wedding Planner's gonna get pulled away for on the photographers really there with the bride and groom the whole time. So I think it's a really important question and just bullet point item that they should feel confident that their photographer will take that, uh, take their timeline and rocket throughout the wedding, too, and memorize it and know what's next and not really waste time. If that makes sense,

spk_0:   20:19
absolutely. And that goes to finding a professional is well, because they're gonna be able to any changes cause changes happen on the wedding day. That just happens to be able to react quickly and not just be like sitting there thinking, What do I do next? They know because they've done it so many times. So that's really important. Now the last thing we're gonna talk about is kind of I mean, I guess you can kind of consider it a personal question for them, but it gives a lot of insight, and that is why did you become a photographer?

spk_1:   20:46
Yeah, absolutely. I think it's a great question. Um, not necessarily to, you know, get to know your photographers, childhood and history and and and schooling and all that stuff. But I I would use it as a way to just make sure that your photographer truly cares about what they do. And, you know, if there's just a beautiful reason why they love to capture weddings or events or or anything like that, that's great. You know, if if they just truly have a passion for photography like me, Hey, that's that's great. And you will certainly feel that through your photographer during the consultation, or especially when you have your engagement session if you have your engagement session with them. But I just think it's a really great question to make sure that they truly care. I mean, I again as a wedding guest. I've seen some photographers, and I guess in any industry, no matter where, if you go to a restaurant and you experience you haven't experienced with your server or something, you can really tell who enjoys what they're doing versus just It's kind of just a job. It turns out it pays well. So I do it, you know, and wedding photography can be like that, too, because it is an exhausting job. You know, especially for full day wedding timelines. You definitely leave with something in pain or sore or tight. Uh, so, you know, it's definitely a demanding job. So finding, finding a photographer that truly, absolutely loves doing this and cares and puts a lot of priority on paying attention all the time and not sitting down during the reception and checking their phone. And you know all that? I've seen that as a guest. So, you know, I ah, that always reminds me like, Oh, yeah, man, I guess you know, work ethic really is important here and always paying attention and always having the camera in front of your face just in case somebody sporadically lefts or starts crying or makes a funny face that somebody how great it is that I got that shot just because I was paying attention that I really cared about getting as much as I can. Um, I think that's really important. So I think, you know, asking photographer why they do this. Ah, you know why anybody does? I think I think when you run into somebody in any industry that is, that you could just tell our is not enjoying what they're doing. Some people even have the the, uh, the courage to say, Why are you doing this?

spk_0:   23:01
What were you

spk_1:   23:03
in this role? Because you obviously don't enjoy it. So I think it's a great question to ask a photographer at the consultation just to find out why they enjoy doing it, or even subliminally if they enjoy doing it. So I hope that makes sense.

spk_0:   23:16
Oh, it does. And that's what you kind of took the words out of my mouth there with the you know, you can tell. Like any profession, you can tell if they really even when you guys. Because I've talked to so many photographers, really at all vendors in our local industry. But you couldn't tell when the photographers are in the heat of busy season, and you just can't see it in their face how exhausted they are. But you can still see those who have that light for photography. Still, like they still have the passion for it. Even though they're exhausted, that doesn't go away. You know when you can tell those can get weeded out. Who really don't have the passion

spk_1:   23:50
for Webster

spk_0:   23:51
for for shooting weddings. And it is important because you do want your photographer to be connected because even though you guys have probably seen I know Stevie, how many weddings have you done not to put you on the spot? I know you've done so. So many really over

spk_1:   24:05
over the course of my career. Just meet personally, I've gotta be close to 200 or just surpassed something.

spk_0:   24:11
So 200 weddings most. I mean, everybody's got their little, you know, uniqueness to their wedding, which is wonderful. But for the most part, it's the same flow. You know, you've seen, it's you've seen it 200 times, but you love what you do, Steve. So you still get excited about each of your couples, and that's really important. So you're not, you know, worn out by Oh, this is my 210th wedding. Here I go, you know, so that is really important.

spk_1:   24:36
And I think it's also a matter for lack of a better word. I think it's a matter of respect, you know, uh, in the grand scheme of things, if you really step back and look at this job. A couple is basically paying you probably more money than there. Usually comfortable paying somebody like one person in their in their eyes, even though it's a team in the business and insurance and all that other stuff that the money goes to. But, um, you know, they're really paying you to show them how you see their wedding date. They say, Oh, I like the way I like the way you show off weddings. I like the way you capture weddings. Uh, here, here, here's Here's some money. Show me how you see mine because I'm pretty sure I'm gonna love it. And it's like, Man, that's that's a lot of trust, you know that they basically say, Yeah, just show up with with all your gear and show me what you see is basically what we're doing in the grand scheme of things, and you know it for a photographer to kind of slack off and not pay attention. And, you know, maybe look at the family portrait. They just kind of get one shot and say yes, all right. I think I got it. It's like, Wow, like all the money that they spent on everything. The effort that all of their family took to get here a ll, the vendors that they had to coordinate with all the stress, all the you know, the once in a lifetime aspect of a wedding. And you can't You know, even if you're exhausted or even if your feet hurt, you can't just, you know, just treat them like they're the most important people in the world. And during this nine hours of coverage, which you should anyway. But, you know, it's like I think they deserve it. I think they deserve to be to be treated with with a lot of care and respect and a lot of great work ethic, considering how important that wedding day really is to them. So

spk_0:   26:16
yeah, absolutely well, on that note, because we have given them really good points and things that they should be questioning, not questioning, but asking their photographers when they're looking for the right one. Because if it does go so much more beyond style and all that stuff, So just to keep that in mind. So if couples listening would like to contact you Steve to capture their wedding, how would they do so

spk_1:   26:41
in any online or telephone method possible. Um, uh uh, you can You can pretty much contact us through any social media platform. But I I like to stay organized the traditional way. Like via email or or voicemail. Ah, and phone calls. So I just kind of find that to be the best. Ah, most organized way to communicate, you know, Facebook messages and instagram messages. You could lose the notification or, you know, the app doesn't work necessarily all the time. So my personal preference is to actually send us a contact form under website or call me on the phone old school, um, or er, or send us an email. Those were probably the best, easiest ways to do it.

spk_0:   27:25
Wonderful. So pretty much any way they can think of. They can get in touch with you.

spk_1:   27:29
Yes, absolutely. Consent

spk_0:   27:30
it. They can send

spk_1:   27:30
a signal to the stars, and I'll see that.

spk_0:   27:32
Yeah. Help

spk_1:   27:34
the Milky Way

spk_0:   27:34
way might. That might be the best way to find him, actually. Well, thank you so much, Steve, for joining us.

spk_1:   27:44
Absolutely. Thank you. Thank

spk_0:   27:50
you so much for listening at this episode of the plane. Your Central Florida wedding podcast. For more Orlando wedding inspiration and tips, head on over to orange blossom bride dot com. And if you're looking for amazing wedding pros to help bring your wedding day together, make sure to check out our wedding vendor directory until next time. Happy planning.