Choosing a wedding photographer and videographer: 12 questions to ask

A portfolio always looks great, because it holds the best 20 shots from years of work. After your wedding you will receive something like 600 photos of a single evening: relatives at their tables in a dim hall, faces caught mid-dance, a long toast on stage. A photographer's real level shows in those ordinary frames.

Take these 12 questions to your meeting. The answers will tell you more than the portfolio.

Portfolio and team

1. Can I see one full wedding gallery?

Ask for every photo from one wedding, start to finish, not a best-of. Ideally an evening wedding in a şadlıq sarayı (a wedding banquet hall), like yours. Check: are faces clear in the dark hall, do skin tones look natural, are everyone's eyes open in the big family shots? If the photographer avoids showing a full gallery, that is an answer too.

2. How many hours do you work, and how is overtime charged?

In many families the day starts in the morning at the bride's parents' home, then comes the photo session, then the hall. Which hours does the package cover? Does it include the bride getting ready and leaving home? If the wedding runs an hour late, what does that hour cost? Find out now, not on the day.

3. Will one person shoot, or two?

One photographer cannot cover the stage and the guests' reactions at the same moment. If the bride and groom get ready at the same time in different homes, one person cannot be at both. Is a second shooter included, who are they, and can you see their work too?

4. What happens if a camera or card fails?

A professional should carry a backup camera. Many professional cameras have two card slots and can write every frame to both at once. Ask: do you use the second slot, when do you copy the files after the wedding, and in how many places do you keep them?

What you get, and when

5. How many edited photos, and when?

Ask for a number: «lots» is not a number. Timelines depend on the photographer, but the rough picture looks like this: a few previews within days, the full gallery in 3 to 8 weeks, the film in 1 to 3 months. Queues get longer in wedding season. Whatever you agree, write it into the contract.

6. Do you hand over RAW files?

RAW is the unprocessed file straight from the camera. Many photographers do not hand them over: the files are huge, and their style lives in the editing. That is normal. A more useful question: how can you get frames that did not make the edit but matter to you? For example, the only photo of your grandmother dancing, even if it is slightly blurred. And ask how many years the archive is kept.

Video: the film, reels and music

7. Highlight film, full film, or both?

A highlight film is a few minutes of the day's best moments cut to music. A full film keeps the toasts, the dances and the flow of the evening over several hours. Which one is in your package? Is a vertical short video for Instagram (reels) shot separately? Vertical framing has to be planned: a clip cropped from a horizontal film often looks cut off.

8. Will Instagram mute the music in our film?

Under Meta's music guidelines, a video that uses music without proper authorisation can be blocked, muted or removed. For example, Murad and Nərgiz's film has a well-known song in it: lovely to watch at home, but on Instagram the sound may be muted. Ask your videographer: do you use a licensed music library, and do you make a separate version for social media?

9. Will there be a drone, and does the hall allow it?

Drone shots look impressive, but in Azerbaijan a civilian drone needs a special permit and state registration. Ask: is your drone registered, and who gets the flight permission? The hall may have its own rules too. And a drone indoors, above guests' heads, is rarely worth the risk.

On the day: light, lists and the contract

10. How do you shoot in a dark hall?

Wedding halls are dim in the evening, and the light is often coloured. A photographer works either with flash or with video light (an LED panel held by an assistant). Flash bounced off a wall or ceiling gives soft light, while direct flash makes faces flat and shiny. Video light shines straight into guests' eyes during the dancing. Ask to see photos from a hall with purple lighting.

11. Who makes the family photo list?

Your photographer cannot tell your father's sister (bibi) from your mother's sister (xala). Make the list of groups yourselves and ask a relative who knows everyone to call people to the stage on time. The list might look like this:

• Bride and groom with the groom's parents
• Bride and groom with the bride's parents
• Grandparents from both sides
• Siblings with their families
• The couple's friends

Add the moments that must be captured, too: cutting the cake, the first dance, the arrival of a special guest.

12. What does the contract say about the deposit, illness and lateness?

The deposit amount and when it is refunded should be in writing. If the photographer falls ill, who comes instead? Ask for the name now. Lateness, delivery dates and whether your photos can appear on their page also belong in the contract. If you do not want your photos published, write that in.

Practical tips for the day

• Send the team the day's plan with times: the bride leaving home, the photo session, arrival at the hall, the first dance, the cake.
• Name one contact person. Not the bride, the groom or the mothers: they are all busy that day.
• Print the family group list and give it to the contact person.
• Agree in advance when and where the team will eat: it is a long working day.

Plan the photo session around the sun. The softest light comes in roughly the last hour before sunset. In Baku the sun sets between 17:15 and 17:40 in November, and after 20:00 in June. For example, Fuad and Gülnar's wedding is in mid-November, with sunset around 17:25. So an outdoor session has to start by 16:00 at the latest, and they will reach the hall after dark.

Send the invitation link to the photographer, the videographer and the decorator as well. The address, the map button and the wedding programme are all in one place, and nobody calls on the day to ask which entrance to use.

If you want one link for both your guests and your team, browse the templates.

Quick answers

How many photos should you expect from a wedding photographer?

A full-day shoot usually produces several hundred edited photos. Ask for the exact number at the meeting and put it in the contract.

When are wedding photos ready?

Roughly: previews within a few days, the full gallery in 3 to 8 weeks, the film in 1 to 3 months. The exact timeline depends on the photographer, so it should be in the contract.

Should the photographer and videographer be one team?

Not necessarily. One team knows how to stay out of each other's shots and set up the light together. If they are separate, introduce them before the wedding.