One of the most heartbreaking things as a wedding photographer is having to turn away brides who desperately want to work with us but did not reach out to us soon enough. There’s honestly not much that breaks our hearts more as business-owners than to have to tell a bride who has been engaged for a while that we booked her date several months ago. It’s seriously the worst!
Luke and I were talking about this issue recently, and we decided we needed to set the record straight once and for all and make sure as many sweet brides as possible know how soon they need to be reaching out to the wedding photographer of their dreams! 😉 So, let’s chat about it… How far in advance should you book your wedding photographer?
The short answer is, “as soon as possible.” Ha!! Various businesses have different policies, but the furthest in advance that we will accept a booking for a wedding is 18 months. For example, if you got engaged and were planning a June, 2020 date, the soonest we would book your wedding would be January of 2019!
The majority of our weddings are booked about a year or more in advance, and I will say that with each year we’ve been in business, this time frame only gets larger, not smaller. For example, you 2019 ladies are ON IT… I can’t believe how many weddings we already have booked for next year! And it’s only February of 2018. SO crazy!!
It’s not unusual at all for our brides to reach out to us before they are even officially engaged, just to get an idea of what dates we still have open. One of our favorite things ever is to finally get that “I’m ENGAGED!” text message or email from a bride we’ve been chatting with for a while. It’s the sweetest thing ever! 🙂
What we’re trying to say is this: Please don’t wait. Because if you wait at all, that photographer you’ve been wanting to shoot your wedding forever will probably not have your date open anymore! As soon as you get engaged, your best bet is to reach out to your dream photographer and see what they have open around the time you are getting married. Immediately begin working with your wedding photographer and venue to come up with a date that works for all three parties as soon as you possibly can, and chances are, you’ll be able to secure your date on their calendar.
Have any questions about how to know when to reach out to your dream wedding photographer? Leave us a comment below, or feel free to shoot us a note at hello@caitlinandluke.com!
Xoxo!
Caitlin & Luke
