3 things that couples never ask their wedding photographer - but they should...

Today I'm talking about a few things that I never get asked by our wedding couples when they first meet with us. These are three topics that actually could have a detrimental impact on their wedding photography experience but yet I never get asked about them. Perhaps prospective wedding couples just trust us with this [boring] stuff, but I'd be willing to also bet I never get asked about these 3 things because couples don't know to ask.

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BUSINESS INSURANCE. Why is this important you might ask? Well what if someone hurts themselves tripping over a tripod at the wedding or perhaps the photographer knocks over a lit candle while shooting & causes damages (or worse, a fire!)? If your photographer doesn't have the appropriate business insurances then you as the client could be financially liable. Now if that seems a little far-fetched then maybe it's as simple as the photographer being ill & not able to shoot your wedding... Photographers should have insurance policies & contracts in place to ensure that you as the client are not left without a photographer. Additionally professional photographers have equipment insurance for their gear in case of damage or loss, which helps ensure minimal business disruption when things do go wrong.

LET'S TALK ABOUT THE EQUIPMENT. Whether you're getting a friend starting out in photography, 'Uncle Bob' who just bought a new camera or a professional to shoot your wedding - they need to have back up equipment. Why? Camera gear is not infallible. What happens if their camera plays up or suddenly dies in the middle of your wedding ceremony? We carry back up gear on us at all times so if a camera or a lens starts mis-behaving we can swap it out, keep on shooting & our clients will never even know (in fact we've done just that before!). 

Additionally, while I thoroughly believe a good photo is more about the photographer than the equipment, there is a difference between consumer grade and professional grade gear. Cameras come in various levels of quality, and lens are certainly not all made equal. Another huge difference between a professional & a hobby/amateur/enthusiast is the maintenance of that gear. Just like with your vehicle, camera gear needs serviced and checked over on a regular basis. 

HOW SAFE ARE OUR IMAGES? Having just discussed equipment back up, let's look at another area where back ups are critical. The digital data: your photographs. What measures are being taken to safeguard & protect all those precious moments and details captured?

While each photographer will have different systems here's ours as an example: Our cameras have dual card slots which we put to use by saving every photograph on to 2 separate memory cards; the first level of protection in case of card failure. Secondly we're shooting on the highest grade memory cards we can buy & we don't use cards more than 2 years old as another level of precaution. Then at the end of a wedding day the images are immediately backed up to another 2 hard drives, one hard drive is then stored in a different location to the second. Our back up system also includes cloud storage, a fireproof safe and a 'RAID system' which backs up our computer every night just in case the computer decides to go on the blink. Our back up system is rigorous (and boring) but it's part of running a professional business.

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There is always room for errors & mistakes - but having insurance policies, systems, routines & contracts in place certainly helps me sleep easy at night knowing that I'm taking a number of actions to safeguard our clients' memories and investment.