The Basics
1. Do You Have My Date Available? An obvious question to check but you don't want to have your heart set on a particular photographer to then find out they don't have your date available.
2. How Many Weddings Do You Shoot a Year? Some photographers have weddings every weekend but quite a lot don't. Photographing weddings are something we're very passionate about and if you have family you need to make sure your weekends aren't completely consumed by work. It's also not just the day/night that you're not at home but the days/weeks of editing that it takes up. So a lot of photographers like to have a little work life balance.
3. Can I See Some Full Wedding Albums? Are All the Images Yours? I'd be worried if a photographer is showing work off that isn't there's and we know it happens a lot in the photographic industry. We have plenty of albums and a lot of the time we leave them at our regular venues so that they can show them to prospective couples.
4. Have You Worked at Our Venue Before? If Not, Will You Visit Beforehand? We always visit the venue before the wedding, whether we've photographed there before or not. We like to meet our couples at the venue, usually around 2/3 weeks beforehand to go through the locations that we think would suit for group shots or couple photographs. It's a great way for you both to see where we plan on taking you and gives you reassurance of the time scale of the day and it makes it run so much easier on the day too.
5. What's Included in the Wedding Packages You Offer? We offer 3 different packages that include both myself & Nick as your photographers. It gives us the chance to be in two places in the morning preparation and also whilst one is capturing the group shots the other is getting the more candid reportage style images of guests enjoying themselves. Each of the packages also includes a free engagement photoshoot which is a great way to get you used to being in front of the camera and get to know us better so it puts you at ease having a laugh with us. We do create albums but we've always done these as an extra as everyones taste is different so we tailor them to your design and your budget.
6. What Information Do You Need from Us Before the Wedding Day? When booking us we have a booking form that needs filling in with your contact details and times for the day, some of this information you may not know till nearer the time so we can update this as we go along. When we meet a few weeks before we usually confirm times and address of where you both will be and when we are going to get to you in the morning. We also send across a shot list, which is pretty much where you can both tell us the group photographs you would like to make sure we capture them all. A lot of people don't want many group shots as they are time consuming, but as there are two of us we get these done pretty quickly so people aren't standing around for too long. We do think they are needed though as sometimes people regret not capturing a photo with a particular member of the family or friend.
Photography Style
7. How Would You Describe Your Photography Style? It's a quite a mixture but we prefer to capture more natural light and airy images. We love chasing the sunshine! We find that having us there for the evenings gives us more chance of capturing those beautiful sunset images.
8. Where Can I Read Testimonials? There is a part on our website with testimonials and a lot of our work is word of mouth.
9. Will I Be Able to Give You a List of Specific Shots We’d Like? Yes as we've mentioned we do give out our shot list which is mainly for the list of group photographs so we have them before the wedding day and you don't have to think about them on the day, you can relax and know we've got your list you want.
10. Do You Offer an Engagement Shoot as Part of Your Package? Yes each of our price packages includes a location engagement shoot, whether it's at the venue or somewhere you like going for walks. If you have children make it a family photoshoot or if you have pets you can include them in the shoot! It gets you used to being in front of the camera and puts you more at ease!
On the Day
11. What Time Will You Arrive at the Venue? We usually arrive an hour before or if we are photographing the morning preparations then we need to be with you 2 hours before the bride leaves. Nick usually meets the groom an hour before he needs to leave, whether it's at the house or in the pub!
12. Do We Need to Provide You with Food? If we are there for the full day up until the first dance we will need feeding please. Some venues are out in the sticks and if we have to leave to get food it's taking us away from the venue which we don't really like doing. If we can be fed it helps with not getting a hangry Nick!
13. Do I Need to Cover Travel Costs? No travel costs, they are included especially for those that are local. If it's in another part of the country we may need to add fuel on or obviously for abroad weddings this would need to be added in to the cost.
14. Will You Be the Primary Photographer on the Day? Me & Nick are your primary photographers on the day. If for some reason we have a family emergency we will seek to ask another professional photographer to attend with one of us.
15. What Time Will You Stay Until? This depends on the photography package you have chosen, but most people chose the morning preparation till first dance package. We are both there all day and one of us stays to photograph the evening as one of us has to return home to our children.
16. Will Other People Be Able to Take Photos While You Are? Of course, they can take photos as much as they like. We don't mind as long as we do have our freedom to capture the photographs we want to take and also that remind themselves that they are there to enjoy the day and we need to photograph them with their family and friends too.
17. What Is Your Back-up Plan If You Can’t Attend on the Day? We do have friends that are professional photographers that we have had as cover if one of us cannot attend.
18. Do You Have Insurance? Yes we are covered with Public Liability.
Packages and Payment
19. How Much is the Deposit and When Do You Need It By? The deposit is £100 which needs to made when the booking has been confirmed along with the booking form.
20. How Will We Receive Our Photos? The photographs are put on a USB stick or digital download whichever you prefer and these are the high resolution images which you can print as much as you like. There is no limit on the amount of photographs, we tend to take 2000 photographs each for a full day and evening, which once edited there is approximately 1000-1500 fully edited for you to keep.
We also do a little slideshow of photographs to the music from your wedding, it's a nice way to show a preview to you guests. Here is a link to some of our previous ones - slideshows.
21. Can We Share the Photos Online? Yes of course, we really appreciate if you are sharing on social media that you tag us - Helen Cotton Photography. We do put all the photographs on to an online gallery so you can share with all your guests with which they can order prints and digital copies from.
22. Do You Offer a Printing and/or Album Service? Yes albums are something we offer separately as there are so many to chose from and everyone likes different designs and the quantity of pages they require. It also gives you the chance to decide on how much you'd like to spend on an album.
23. Is Retouching Included in the Price? Yes retouching/editing is included in the price.
24. How Long Will the Pictures Take to Arrive? We usually say 4 weeks but if we are busy with photoshoots and weddings it does take a little longer but we will keep you updated with the progress. We usually aim for 1 week to have a preview of the photographs to go out, which usually consists of 70-80 photographs from the day.
25. When Will We Need to Make the Final Payment? The final payment needs to be made 2 weeks before the wedding day.
26. Tell Me About Yourself! That's for when we meet, we can chat all day about us and find out more about you. Ask us as many questions as you like we're quite honest and love to have a good chat over coffee and cake :) One question we get asked a lot is - how do you work with your wife/husband? Well we're lucky we met working together and built a great friendship and respect for how hard each other works! We both come from a creative background, despite Helen starting the business Nick's knowledge and creativity helped it develop and working together at weddings helps us bounce off new and fresh ideas.
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