How to Choose a Hudson Valley Wedding Photographer

Photography is the part of the day you keep. It is also the hardest thing to judge in advance, because every photographer's public work is their best forty frames out of forty thousand.

Here is how to see past that.

Ask to see one entire wedding

Not a gallery of favorites from thirty different days. One wedding, start to finish, ideally one shot somewhere similar to your venue. It tells you what the middle of the day looks like in their hands: the toasts, the great aunt, the room when nothing photogenic is happening. That is most of your gallery.

If a photographer hesitates at this, it is worth knowing why.

Find out who is actually shooting

Some studios book under one name and send an associate. That is a legitimate way to run a business, and it is only a problem when nobody tells you. Ask whose work you are looking at, who will be there on the day, and whether that is written into the contract.

Light here is not neutral

A photographer who works in this valley regularly knows which rooms go dark at four in the afternoon in October, where the sun sits behind the ridge at a west-facing ceremony site, and how long the good light lasts after a barn's doors are opened. That knowledge is the difference between a timeline that works and one that has you doing portraits in flat shade.

Ask whether they have shot at your venue. If they have not, ask what they would want to do the day before.

The unglamorous questions

• How many hours, and what happens if the day runs long? Get the overtime rate before the day, not after it.
• Second shooter, and what do they cover? Usually the answer is one of you getting ready while the other covers the other, and the reception from a second angle.
• When do we get the photographs? Six to twelve weeks is common. Ask what arrives sooner, and whether there is a sneak peek.
• What are we allowed to do with them? Printing, sharing, and whether the photographer may use your wedding in their own portfolio and on social media. Most will ask; some assume.
• What is the backup? Two card slots in the camera, and copies on more than one drive before they drive home.

Style is the last question, not the first

Documentary, editorial, film, or a mix of all three. It matters, but it matters less than whether you like being around the person, because they will be closer to you than anyone except the person you are marrying.

Photographers on the list

Spread across the counties, so you can start near your venue: Lin Pernille Photography in Hopewell Junction, Elena Skaya Photography in Hudson, Matthew Rigby Photography in Garrison, Christine Ashburn in Cold Spring, Arius Photography in Kingston, Jesse Rinka Photography in Briarcliff Manor and Elario Photography in Troy.

The whole list is at photographers.