15 questions to ask your photographer before you book
Fifteen questions that clear everything up before you book a photographer. Honestly: a good photographer enjoys questions like these.
Lazar Mihajlović
Published: 31 July 2026
The worst questions are the ones you think of only after the wedding, when the answers change nothing anymore. Everything else can be asked in time, at one calm meeting before booking. This list grew out of hundreds of such conversations and out of the questions couples most often keep to themselves and later regret.
And let us clear up the most common doubt right away: not one of these fifteen questions is impolite. A photographer who does this for a living has answered each of them countless times and will be glad to meet a couple who knows what matters to them. Those meetings are the easiest ones for me, because it is immediately clear that we will understand each other on the day itself too.
Style and portfolio
The first group checks the most important thing: whether you genuinely like the way the photographer sees a wedding.
- Can we see two or three complete albums? Everyone has their best shots, the average of an album tells the truth about quality.
- How would you describe your style? The answer should match what you see in the albums, without big words.
- Have you photographed in a space similar to ours? A dark hall and midday sun outdoors are two different crafts.
- Who exactly photographs our wedding? Let the agreement refer to the person whose work you have seen.
The wedding day
The second group reveals what working together looks like in real life, when the emotions start and the schedule begins to wobble.
- How many hours of coverage do you suggest for our plan for the day? An experienced photographer will first ask what your day looks like and only then suggest something.
- How do you work during the ceremony? The answer tells you whether you will notice him or whether he stays invisible to the guests.
- Do you come alone or with someone else from your team, and what does that change in the album in concrete terms?
- What do you need from us before the day itself? A list of family photographs and the best man's phone number are a sign that someone knows his job.
Experience shows fastest in this group. Whoever has been through hundreds of weddings talks about specific situations, not about equipment.
Photographs and delivery
The third group removes the most common misunderstanding after the wedding: what exactly you get, how and when.
- Roughly how many photographs do we get? More important than the number is the answer to how the selection is made.
- In which format and resolution do the photographs arrive, and can we print them freely?
- When can we expect the complete gallery, and does a smaller selection of photographs arrive before it?
- Is every delivered photograph edited? The answer reveals how much the album as a whole matters.
Feel free to ask to see a gallery that has already been delivered. The way it is put together says a lot about habits, and those same habits will be waiting for you tomorrow.
Contract and security
The last group is the least romantic one and in the end the most important. These are the questions that separate a hobby from a profession.
- What happens if you fall ill on the wedding day itself? A backup plan has to exist before anyone needs it.
- Do we sign a contract and what is defined in it: the date, the duration, the delivery, the rights to the photographs?
- How do you store the photographs after the shoot? Copies in several separate places are the only serious answer.
None of these three questions invites bad luck. On the contrary, precisely because they are discussed in advance, nobody thinks about them on the day itself.
How to read the answers
While you listen to the answers, notice how comfortable the photographer is while giving them. Someone who does this for a living enjoys such a conversation, because he knows that a couple who asks today will not worry tomorrow. Vagueness about concrete things tells you more than any portfolio.
If you are only at the start of your search, read the wider guide to choosing a photographer first. And since it is only fair that I answer the first question on the list myself: my complete albums are publicly available in the gallery, from the preparations to the last dance.
Lazar Mihajlović Photography
Ask me all fifteen
Send me the date and the location of your wedding and ask anything you want to know. I answer personally and concretely, without beating around the bush.
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