To choose a wedding photographer, look at two or three complete weddings they shot in conditions like yours, then test how they would run your day: the timeline and the light, the family photos, and how photo and video will work together. Style gets a photographer onto your shortlist; the full galleries and the plan decide who stays.
Most regrets come from a handful of predictable mistakes, and each one has a simple question that prevents it. Here they are, in the order they usually happen.
Mistake 1: Judging them by the best ten frames
A portfolio or an Instagram grid is the best ten frames from dozens of weddings. Your wedding will be delivered as one complete gallery, so that is what you need to see: two or three full weddings, from getting ready to the last dance.
Read them for the hard parts, not the pretty ones. How do faces look in a church with mixed light, in a reception hall after dark, at a ceremony in harsh afternoon sun? Do the family groups look directed or thrown together? Is the color the same from the first image to the last?
Mistake 2: Ignoring what the light will do on your date
In the Charleston area, the last hour before sunset is the best light of the day for couple portraits, and your ceremony time decides whether you get it. Set the ceremony too late in November and the portraits happen in the dark; set it too early in June and they happen in flat midday sun.
The sunset moves by more than three hours over the year. Times below are for the 15th of each month in Charleston, from the U.S. Naval Observatory, with average monthly rain from NOAA’s 1991–2020 climate normals for Charleston International Airport.
| Month | Sunset (15th) | Portrait light starts about | Average rain (in.) |
|---|---|---|---|
| March | 7:28 p.m. | 6:30 p.m. | 3.4 |
| April | 7:50 p.m. | 6:50 p.m. | 3.3 |
| May | 8:12 p.m. | 7:10 p.m. | 3.3 |
| June | 8:29 p.m. | 7:30 p.m. | 6.2 |
| July | 8:29 p.m. | 7:30 p.m. | 6.6 |
| August | 8:05 p.m. | 7:05 p.m. | 7.0 |
| September | 7:26 p.m. | 6:25 p.m. | 6.0 |
| October | 6:47 p.m. | 5:45 p.m. | 4.3 |
| November | 5:18 p.m. | 4:20 p.m. | 2.7 |
| December | 5:15 p.m. | 4:15 p.m. | 3.4 |
| January | 5:36 p.m. | 4:35 p.m. | 3.4 |
| February | 6:05 p.m. | 5:05 p.m. | 3.1 |
Two things follow. In late fall and winter, a 4 p.m. ceremony followed by family groups can leave the couple portraits for the last minutes of daylight, or for after dark, unless you plan a first look or a portrait window before the ceremony.
From June to September, when the monthly rain average roughly doubles, the timeline needs slack for a passing storm and a heat plan.
A photographer worth hiring will ask for your date and venue and talk about this in the first conversation. If they never mention the light, ask.
Mistake 3: Hiring photo and video as strangers
Plenty of couples book a photographer and a videographer who have never met. On the day, that means two sets of questions about the timeline, two people aiming for the same spot during the vows, and sometimes a light stand standing in the aisle of your ceremony photos.
If you hire separately, introduce them early and ask them to agree on positions for the ceremony. If one team does both, ask how the photographer and videographer split the room. If you are still deciding whether you need both, read our wedding photographer vs videographer comparison.
Mistake 4: Leaving the family photos to chance
Group photos can eat a timeline. They need a written list with a name attached to every group, and one person from each side of the family who can recognize those faces and round them up.
Language matters here too. If one side of the family speaks Portuguese or Spanish and the other English, ask whether the photographer can direct the groups in both. A grandmother who is told where to stand in her own language gets into the photo without a relay through a translator.
Mistake 5: Buying hours before you know the shape of the day
Coverage should follow your day, not a package. A courthouse ceremony followed by lunch needs a few hours; a full Saturday with getting ready, a first look, a church in Summerville and a reception downtown needs a team that can move between locations. Describe your day first, then ask what covering it properly takes.
Mistake 6: Never seeing them work before the wedding
An engagement session is the closest thing to a test drive. It produces photos for save the dates and your website, and it shows you how the photographer directs two people who have never been photographed together. It also means the wedding day is not the first time you hear their instructions.
If you cannot do a session, at least have a video call and notice who does the talking. You want someone who asks about your families and your day before talking about themselves.
Mistake 7: Not asking what happens after the last dance
The wedding ends at night; the photographer’s work does not. Ask how images are edited (by hand, one frame at a time, or with a preset), when the gallery and the film are delivered, how you receive them, and what you may print and share.
Ask about albums and prints as well. A wedding gallery that lives only on a phone tends to stay there.
Mistake 8: Waiting until spring to book
Around Charleston, spring and fall Saturdays are the dates that go first. If your venue is already held, check the photographer’s availability the same week. The engagement session can be planned in the same conversation.
What changes the price of wedding photography
Prices vary widely, so compare what is included rather than the number at the bottom.
The main factors are how many hours and locations the day covers, whether you want photography, film or both, how many guests and family groups there are, travel between venues, an engagement session, and albums or prints. Ask each photographer to quote the day you described, not a standard package, and the quotes become comparable.
Questions to bring to the first call
- Can we see two complete weddings, including one in a venue like ours?
- What ceremony time would you suggest for our date, given the sunset?
- Who covers video, and how do the photographer and videographer share the ceremony?
- Can you direct family groups in our languages?
- How are the images edited, and when is the gallery delivered?
- Is an engagement session part of the plan?
Studio FB USA photographs and films weddings across Summerville, Charleston and the Lowcountry with one team led by our photographer, Fabio. We plan the timeline around the light and direct in English, Portuguese and Spanish.
See how we approach wedding photo and video in Charleston, then send us your date, venue, guest count and whether you want photography, film or both. Check your wedding date with Studio FB USA.
