Seattle Wedding Photographer and Videographer

You just got engaged (congrats!) and now you want to find your wedding vendors. Personally, the most important wedding vendor to me is choosing a wedding photographer and videographer. This is because your wedding is going to be one of the best days of your lives and countless people will tell you it goes by in the blink of an eye. That is why you want someone who you trust will do a great job documenting your wedding.

There are a lot of great resources for finding your vendors!

• Google

  • During your wedding venue search, it is a great idea to find someone’s full gallery of a wedding event. You get to have a more comprehensive view of photos taken at the venue as well as a photographer’s style. This can help build out a list of photographers you like!

• The Knot

• Wedding Wire

• Friends and Family / Word of Mouth

  • I’ll include my list of photographers and videographers at the end

When I was creating my list of dream photographers and videographers, I made an excel spreadsheet. In fact, wedding planning meant I had A LOT of spreadsheets. I had the following categories I wanted to track and compare:

Photographers

• Photo Style

  • light, soft lighting v. dark, bold colors

  • are photos clear or have a gritty quality to it

  • do photos give you a photoshopped feel

  • is the photographer good at drawing out emotions from the couple

  • are they good at capturing moments/candids

  • do their photos move you

• Personable

  • do they seem personable from their website or is there “about” section bare

• Investment

  • range $4,250-$7,000; average $5,000 for 10 hour coverage (summer 2020)

• Travel Fees (if any)

• Number of Photographers

  • I’m a fan of having a second photographer on board. This will allow for moments to be captured from different angles. Also, it allows photographers to be available for both wedding parties while they’re getting ready

• Photo Booth

  • Not necessary, but quite convenient if your photographer offers photo booth services too

• Complimentary Engagement Session

  • Complimentary or not, I’d recommend you do an engagement photo session with your wedding photographer. This will give you all an opportunity to work together and get to know each other. That way you’re not just working with them for the first time on your wedding day.

• Digital Images

  • I’d assume every photographer in this day and age is going to give you access to a digital album. Some will even include a thumb drive!

• Prints

  • Some may have a print shop and give you credit towards their print shop

Videographers

• Video Style

  • cinematic quality and good edits

  • good background music

  • is it heartfelt and romantic

• Personable

• Investment

  • range $3,900-$5,500; average $4,600 for 10 hour coverage (summer 2020)

• Travel Fees (if any)

• Number of Videographers

  • good idea to have a second videographer for when there are separate locations for the couple and for different angles

• Ceremony/Extended Feature Film

  • some offer full ceremony, edited version of ceremony, or up to 30 min. of ceremony

• Toasts

  • some offer full toasts, edited version of toasts, or up to 30 min. of toasts

Selection Process

I narrowed it down to my top 3 photographers.

Had hubby help me pick the top 2.

Set up a video meet up with our top 2.

After our video meeting with our photographers, we just knew they were the one!

We picked the one we felt like we had the most chemistry with. I emphasize the importance of liking your photo and video team. If y’all get along and like each other, that’s going to help you feel comfortable in front of the camera. Also, you’re going to spend your entire day with them. I can vouch after our wedding that we spent the most time with our photo and video team. My husband and I probably hung out with them even more than than with each other and our own wedding parties, because they were there every step of the way helping us record our happy moments.

If you’d like to know which photographers and videographers I considered, I’ll include my lists below:

My List of Photographers

1. Sam and Sola Lee

   Our photo and video team! We loved working with them and cant’ say enough good things about them. They’re experienced professionals. They’re also super kind and lovely humans. We felt like we had our friends with us on our wedding day. Our family and wedding party members kept complimenting them. They felt like they were experts in their field of work and were in good hands. <3

2. Kelly Robbins

3. Laurken Kendall

4. Jenna Bechtholt

5. Victoria Carlson

6. Alli/Sunspell Photo

7. Sasha Reiko

8. Steven Zhang

My List of Videographers

1. Sam and Sola Lee

2. Emerald Media

3. Jeffrey H Le

4. Austin + Emily Creative

5. Green Attic Films - relocated to Atlanta, GA

6. Bogle Productions