Who do you pick to take your wedding photographs? There are lots of companies out there offering deals and special offers, but take time to pick wisely. Eilidh Robertson, who is a favourite of the farming fraternity for their wedding albums gives us some tips on what to think about before signing on the dotted line.

There's a photographer that's quite close to me, should I just use them?

No, it’s best to choose someone who’s work you love! The majority of photographers will travel across Scotland (or further afield, I’ve been as far as New Zealand to document a wedding) so finding someone who’s style and approach you love should be your main priority

What’s the process – do you meet them beforehand, check out their previous work?

The majority of my work comes via word of mouth, so I tend not to meet couples before booking, but its likely I have met them before at another wedding or we have mutual friends/past clients. If you don't know the photographer, then it is best to meet up with them and ask lots of questions.

Do you have to like them (you do spend a lot of time with them)?

Yes, it definitely helps to have some common interests as your photographer will likely be with you throughout your whole wedding day. You want to ensure the photographer understands how you’d like the day to feel (especially for your guests) and how you would like it captured (ie informal, relaxed, storytelling) .

How do you know you are getting a good deal?

Make sure you see at least one full gallery from one wedding before booking so you know exactly what you are getting when it comes to quality and final product. Full day coverage varies hugely as does the end product. A full day package may only include 75 photographs in an album, or more than 800 digital files, but no album, with another. Have in writing the package you have chosen and exactly what is included, ie the number of photographs, length of time they will be shooting on the day, are the digital files included or is this extra? Will there be one photographer or two?

What should you expect, prints, jpgs, albums?

Any reputable photographer will offer professional quality albums and prints, some photographers include these in their packages, others only include digital files with albums and prints being additional extras.

How long should it take before you get your images?

Depending on the time of year, this can vary from 3-8 weeks, every single image taken on the day (sometimes up to 8000) is viewed and a conscious decision is made on whether or not it is worth keeping, before being culled down to the final number of images being delivered. These images are then individually edited, which basically involves a lot of very particular changes to the file which make a huge difference to the finished image.

Do you do a pre-wedding photoshoot?

I used to, but a few unwilling farmers made me realise these weren’t essential! If you have the time, it’s nice to get some relaxed informal images of the two of you together, but I wouldn’t say it’s essential as a good photographer can still get the same natural images on the day without meeting for a pre-wedding shoot before.