Today on Monday Wedding Madness we will talk about one of my most asked questions "How far in advance should we book a wedding photographer."
~Shout out to my second shooter for this behind the scenes photo.~
For a lot of couples, after they have set their wedding date they immediately start looking for a wedding photographer. For other couples, they may wait until after the venue is booked and their dress is picked out. Most couples book their wedding vendors in one of two ways, they book the vendors they find most important for their wedding first or they book the vendors that they immediately know they want without having to do research first.
There are two types of wedding vendors. The first type (photographer, venue, videographer, dj, etc) are usually only able to service one wedding per day. There is only one of them and they can only be at one place at a time. The second type (cake decorator, florist, hair/makeup, etc) are usually able to service a few weddings per day, although some will perfer to only service one per day. Since they do not have to be present for the whole wedding, they are able to service multiple weddings per day. If you have a popular wedding date, the chances of a vendor who can only service one wedding per day booking up will be greater than the vendor that can service multiple weddings per day. Although, keep in mind, that if you are looking at a vendor who is popular and is able to service multiple weddings per day, they may already be booked up since they can only service so many weddings per day.
I tell my clients to book all of their vendors as soon as possible to lessen the risk of them already being booked for their wedding date. For wedding photographers, we book up early, a year or more out for popular wedding dates. What are the popular wedding dates? June, July, August, September, and October are the most popular and January, February, and March are the least popular. It also depends on when you are having your wedding. Saturdays are the go-to days for weddings so if you are looking for a photographer last minute for a popular month you will have better luck if your wedding is on a off day.
My advice to all of you, as soon as you know what wedding photographer you want (or any vendor) book them as soon as possible! There is nothing worse then finding your perfect vendor and finding out that they booked your wedding date the week prior.
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Monday Wedding Madness is a blog series that occurs every Monday and answers the questions you have about wedding photography. Have a question you would like to have answered or something that you wish you would have known before your wedding or are you a wedding professional who would like to contribute? Send your questions to jasminenorrisphotography@hotmail.com.
