Wedding photographers are quite literally a dime a dozen. As one of the most saturated vendor categories in the wedding industry, it can be incredibly difficult to figure out which photographer is the right one for you.

After all, your wedding photographer is going to be with you for a lot of your wedding day.

They'll probably be there while you're getting ready, during some of the most emotional moments of the day, through portraits, family photos, the ceremony, and at least part of the reception. You'll spend hours with them—and long after the wedding is over, their photographs will be what you use to remember it.

So yes, you should love their work, but your photographer should also be able to help make your wedding photos feel like you.

For Episode 4 of Set the Stage, I sat down with Alexis Stuart of Lex Take Pix to talk about what couples should actually know before booking a wedding photographer, and dug deep about what it means to find someone who you trust to tell your story the way YOU want to tell it.

Don't Just Look at the Highlight Reel

Lex be honest... (pun totally intended!)

The photos that you see on a photographer’s social media page are going to be some of their best work.

Its super easy to scroll through Instagram or Pinterest and fall in love with a particular photographer.

But before you sign that contract, you have to remember that a real wedding isn’t made up of 100 perfectly edited golden-hour portraits.

There are dark getting-ready rooms. Family formals. Reception lighting. Indoor ceremonies. People moving around and a smorgasbord of emotions being captured in real time.

That's why Lex recommends asking photographers to show you a full wedding gallery before you book.

This gives you a much better idea of what their work actually looks like throughout an entire wedding day and in a variety of lighting situations.

A photographer's portfolio should show you more than their ten best photographs.

You want to know what they can consistently deliver.

Make Sure You Actually Like Your Photographer

Not to be Captain Obvious here, but this one is so important!

Your photographer is one of your core vendors on your wedding day. They are usually one of the first people you’ll see and they’ll be with you during some of the most vulnerable moments.

Lex talked about the importance of finding someone you genuinely "vibe" with and how important it is to have a real conversation with your photographer before you book.

Pay attention to how you feel during the conversation.

Do you feel comfortable?

Do they listen?

Can you imagine having them around while you're getting ready?

Can you picture trusting them during an emotional or stressful moment?

Because your wedding photographer isn't just documenting the day.

They're part of the experience.

Ask the Questions That Protect Your Memories

There are also some very practical questions you should ask before signing a photography contract.

Lex recommends asking about things like:

• How does the photographer back up your images?

• What happens if something goes wrong with their equipment?

• How long does it typically take to receive your finished gallery?

• What exactly is included in your package?

• How much additional coverage costs if you need it?

These aren't the most exciting questions -- but they're important.

You're trusting someone with irreplaceable memories. You should know what their process looks like before something goes wrong and whether or not they’ll be prepared.

And one red flag?

A photographer offering to simply hand over all of the raw files.

Raw files aren't the finished photographs. They're large, unedited files that require specialized software to open and process.

A professional photographer's job isn't simply to take hundreds or thousands of images and dump them onto a hard drive.

It's to curate the story, select the strongest images, and deliver a finished body of work.

Your Photographer Should Be Helping You Plan, Too

One thing that Lex offers all of her couples is a 25+ page planning guide. It helps guide everything from recommendations for other great local vendors to prepare for your engagement session and what planning for the big day should look like.

She's also incredibly detail-oriented and, though it may sound like a lot, has a 10-page questionnaire that she gives her couples to work through all of the little details before the big day.

Things like:

• Family portrait combinations — including family dynamics and, if necessary, who should be kept away from who.

• Venue rules and regulations — so there are no surprises on the wedding day.

• Comfort levels and things to be aware of — like what your good side is and anything you might not want accentuated.

Each question is asked with intention, because as the experts, it's our job to make sure to cover all of our bases.

This is something I believe a lot of couples overlook when they are hiring their vendors.

Your vendors shouldn't just show up the day of.

The good ones are going to use their experience to help you prepare for the thing you're paying them to do.

You Don't Necessarily Need Photography Until the Very Last Dance

Here's another place where couples can potentially save money without sacrificing the parts of photography that matter most to them.

Instead of automatically booking photography coverage through the very end of the reception, Lex recommends working backward from the end of the night.

Ask yourself:

What is actually happening during those final hours?

Is there a formal exit?

Is there a final special moment you want photographed?

Or is it simply more dancing?

If there's three hours of dancing, with no grand finale, you probably don’t need a photographer to stay all night (and that can make a huge difference in your photography budget).

Her advice?

Book what you can comfortably afford now and add coverage later if you need it.

It's much easier to add hours than to try to remove services you've already committed to.

First Look or First Touch?

There are plenty of practical reasons photographers and planners like first looks. One of those reasons is that they can help open up your timeline and allow you to complete portraits before the ceremony.

But Lex has a different approach.

Lex doesn’t love the first look. For her own wedding, she opted for a first touch where she and her husband-to-be stood on opposite sides of a wall and touched hands to get those first nervous jitters out, have a moment of connection and still honor the tradition of not seeing each other before the ceremony.

That being said, she mentioned supporting her couples in whichever approach they prefer as your wedding timeline should support the experience you want to have—not the other way around.

Your Wedding Doesn't Have to Look Like Pinterest

Pinterest is usually one of the first places couples go when they start planning their wedding. But it should be used sparingly.

Lex mentions that while it's great to have a few images to convey a feeling or inspire the aesthetic you're going for, trying to recreate 100 different photos exactly isn't realistic—or particularly helpful.

Every photographer's style is unique, and Lex mentioned that many of her couples actually prefer to use photo inspiration from her own social media portfolio. That makes sense: if you already love the way a photographer edits and captures their couples, their work is probably the best example of what you can expect from your own wedding photos.

Your wedding photos should capture your uniqueness.

The raw emotion. The movement. The flow of the day.

Not someone else's idea of beauty.

You want your photographer to understand what you love—and then use their expertise to capture you.

Your Wedding Photos Should Tell Your Story

Lex describes her photography style as poetic storytelling.

And rather than relying on stiff posing, she uses movement and prompts to help couples interact naturally.

To paint a picture for you, that doesn’t mean you’re going to be standing there like a deer in headlights expected to figure out the next move.

But instead of forcing a specific pose, the goal is to create an interaction that produces a genuine reaction.

And sometimes that takes a minute.

Lex explained that couples often need a little time to warm up to being photographed. That first 20 minutes can be less about getting the perfect image and more about getting comfortable.

Which brings us to one of the most important parts of hiring your photographer:

The engagement session.

Your Engagement Session Is a Practice Run

If you're nervous about being photographed, you need an engagement session.

Seriously.

Not only is it a great way to get quality photos to use for your save-the-dates, your engagement session gives you an opportunity to learn what it's actually like to be photographed by your photographer before your wedding day.

Lex gave a great analogy for this.

Think about a hair and makeup artist. Generally speaking, you aren't going to hire a makeup artist for the big day without doing a makeup trial first.

The engagement session is just that—a trial run with your photographer.

You'll learn:

• How they direct you

• What kinds of prompts they use

• What poses feel natural to you

• What makes you uncomfortable

• How your photographer communicates

• How you interact together in front of the camera

And your photographer learns those things about you, too.

They get to learn what makes you feel comfortable, what you're self-conscious about, how you naturally interact with your partner, and what brings out the most genuine reactions.

By the wedding day, you're not meeting for the first time and hoping everything clicks.

You've already built some chemistry.

And when you're already comfortable with the person behind the camera, it's a whole lot easier to forget the camera is even there.

What About a Destination Wedding?

If you're getting married somewhere other than your hometown, there's another decision to make:

Do you bring your photographer with you or hire someone local?

There are benefits to both.

A photographer who already knows you has an established relationship with you and understands how you photograph together.

A local photographer may know the area intimately—including locations you would never find on your own.

Neither option is automatically right.

The important thing is deciding which matters more to you.

Tell Your Photographer About Venue Restrictions

This is one of those details that can easily get missed during wedding planning.

If you're getting married in a church, house of worship, historic property, or another venue with photography restrictions, tell your photographer before the wedding day.

Ask:

• Can they use flash?

• Where are they allowed to stand during the ceremony?

• Are there restrictions on movement?

• Are there specific moments they aren't allowed to photograph?

Your photographer can prepare for those limitations—but only if they know about them.

And this is super important, because for example, if your ceremony space has limited or low lighting and doesn’t allow flash photography, your wedding photos are going to come out drastically different than you may expect.

Your Venue Comes Before Your Photographer

There are many items on your wedding planning checklist that can be booked in whatever order you choose. But when it comes to photography especially.

Book your venue first.

Your venue establishes your date and location, which means it affects almost every other vendor decision that follows.

Once you have the venue secured, you can start building your vendor team around that date.

And if you have your heart set on a specific wedding date, the further ahead you need to plan, the more important this becomes.

Let's Talk About the "Wedding Tax"

Here's another misconception that comes up constantly:

"Why does this cost more just because it's a wedding?"

There isn't some magical "wedding button" that vendors press to double the price.

Wedding services cost what they do because weddings require a different level of labor, logistics, preparation, coordination, and responsibility than many other types of events.

Your photographer isn't just showing up for eight hours.

They're communicating with you beforehand.

They're planning.

They're preparing equipment.

They're backing up files.

They're editing hundreds or thousands of images.

They're delivering and storing your final gallery.

And they're responsible for documenting a day that cannot be recreated.

That's not a "wedding tax."

That's the cost of professional wedding photography.

Don't Be Afraid to Talk About Your Budget

Lex and I talked a lot about pricing woes. From both the couples perspective and for vendors.

Lex says,

“Couples should be honest about their budget.

And vendors should be transparent about their starting prices.”

Nobody benefits from spending an hour on a consultation only to discover that the photographer is nowhere near what the couple can afford.

And as a wedding planner, I feel your pain. Oftentimes, unless a couple specifically requests a specific vendor, if a vendor doesn’t have pricing on their website I won’t even bother.

Because I don’t want to waste my time or my couples time by setting up a consultation with a vendor that we have no idea what pricing realm they fall into.

That's why I love seeing vendors clearly communicate starting prices.

It helps couples determine whether there's a potential fit before they invest time into the consultation process.

And couples should feel comfortable saying:

"Our budget for photography is X. Is that realistic for what we're looking for?"

That isn’t rude – it’s responsible.

Your Wedding Should Be Yours

If there was one theme that kept coming up throughout my conversation with Lex, it's this:

You don't have to plan your wedding according to someone else's rules.

That goes for the traditions you choose to honor (or not). The guests you want to invite. The food you want to eat. The first look or first touch – or choosing not to do either.

Your wedding should reflect your relationship, your priorities, and the experience you actually want to have.

And your photographer should help you preserve that—not turn your wedding into a copy of someone else's.

Meet Alexis Stuart | Lex Take Pix

Alexis Stuart of Lex Take Pix has been involved in photography since high school and spent nearly a decade working in church marketing before transitioning to photography full-time in 2025.

After years of photographing weddings part-time, she brought that experience into her full-time photography business, with a focus on storytelling, movement, emotion, and creating images that feel authentic to the couples she photographs.

And she's also a big Disney photographer, which makes her a particularly fun fit for couples incorporating Disney into their engagement sessions, weddings, or love stories.

So, if you're looking for a photographer who wants to understand your story rather than simply recreate someone else's, Lex Take Pix is worth getting to know.

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