Where’s the best place to find a wedding photographer? I know!

It’s really not all that hard, even if it can be time consuming. There are 5 steps.

1. Start the search. If there is a bridal show, and you love crowds, it can help. You can do searches on the internet. You can read the bridal magazines. You can go to the bridal forums such as TheKnott, WPJA (wedding Photojournalist Association, The Fox hot list in your town, you can ask married friends and family who they used, and many, many others. This should give you a bunch of names to start with. I would have a tendency to avoid Craigslist, but that might just be me.

2. Take your list and go to the photographers website starting with the ones you think might be the best fit first. Remember that any photographer I know would have no problem covering a distance of up to about 75 miles with no or low travel costs (this is my experience and is true for my own business), so you have more choices than you might think. Then make a folder of your favorites and the cost of each.

3. When you have your list, you can email or call each and see if they are available for your date. I would tend to go easy on the compliments since we photographers are a vain group and if you tell us you love us and leave us, we tend to take it personally.

This is Josie's wedding and is just here to confuse you

4. Set up meetings with as many photographers as you think you need and can handle without going crazy.

5. Lastly, before booking, talk to references, do a bridal forum search to see if anyone has any problems with the photographer, check the Better Business Bureau (although very few bad eggs turn up there), and then take the plunge. You’ll thank me in the morning.