One thing I’ve never really done is a destination or traveling wedding. The majority of my weddings are in Northwest Arkansas, and the farthest I’ve traveled is about 4 hours by car. I do see a lot of other photographers traveling all over the country, so I started thinking about if people should hire a local photographer or bring one in from out of state.
Hire a Local Photographer or Out of State?
Some photographers might lean one way or the other on this topic because of how it might affect their business, but I’m going to try to look at both sides fairly. Truthfully, hiring a local photographer would help me out more right now, but at some point, I would love to travel around the country shooting weddings.
Let’s start by looking at hiring a local photographer for your wedding. The first thing that pops into my mind is price. In almost all cases, it’s going to be more expensive to bring in someone. There’s a fee for traveling and you usually have to get them a hotel room for the night. You wouldn’t have to do that for someone local. In general, photographers that travel have a higher starting rate anyway. Another big plus is you can actually meet the photographer if they live close. You can talk to them and really form a relationship. Most likely, there will be other people who have used the photographer before as well, so you can always ask for opinions.
There are plenty of reasons to hire someone to travel to your wedding as well. This way, you have lots of options. You can basically look all over the country and find the perfect match for your wedding. With local photographers, you’re going to be very limited. If cost isn’t an issue, you can get the best photographer in the whole country to come to you. Besides getting great photos, you can also tell everyone about how your photographer flew 6 hours to just be at your wedding.
Whether you hire a local photographer or go find someone in another state, make sure you are finding an amazing wedding photographer. Do your research and get a good one. Don’t settle for a relative or a friend that kind of does wedding photography. It’s a super important day and you want to make sure it’s captured in the right way.
