You’ve probably seen at least a dozen lists of questions to ask wedding photographers before you officially ask them to be a part of your wedding. Many lists include topics such as what equipment is used, and how long it will take to get the photos…but I have never seen anyone mention what should be considered one of the most important questions! I’m actually embarrassed to say that when I wrote my Questions to Ask Your Wedding Photographer post earlier this year, even I missed including it!
Just about all of the “qualifying interview” questions you are asking has to do with the days leading up to the wedding day and the actual day itself…but what about after? You’ll likely ask what the turn around time is for being able to view your photos, how the album design process works, and approximate cost of parent albums, which is all pretty exciting!!!
Ask About Your Photographer’s Backup Plan
…your photos are gone. FOREVER!
BUT…what happens if your photographer’s computer crashes before you receive your wedding photos?! Imagine receiving a phone call or email from your wedding photographer, they take a deep breath and begin to explain to you that they had a virus on their computer and your photos are gone. Forever.
This may sound extreme but it actually happens way more than I’d like to believe! I’ve seen far too many photographers post in different forums asking how they can break the news to their couples that the images are irretrievable!
My computer had a nasty virus earlier this year, which caused me to lose files that were on the hard drive, including client photos. Yet I didn’t sweat at all. You’re probably wondering how the heck I could lose someone’s memories and not care (pretty heartless, huh?!).
Benefits of having a ‘Crash Plan’
Having multiple backups of the photos on separate external drives and also online, the biggest thing was having to reinstall all of my programs (bonus for being married to my own personal computer tech support guy!). I didn’t have tell my clients any bad news, and all of the photos were easily retrieved from my backups.
Always be sure to ask about your photographer’s “crash plan”, making sure they have multiple copies of your photos on separate storage devices. This will save you from being on the opposite end of the “I’m sorry your photos are lost” conversation.
Interested in more MUST ASK wedding photography questions? Click here!