This is the eighth in a series of articles by Monroe Payne about weddings, photography, vendors and what you should look for - and avoid - in anticipation of the perfect wedding day.

Today, in our fast paced world and frantic life, we are always looking for ways to cut corners and have to do "one less thing". Nowhere is this more evident than when you are planning your wedding. The commitments are adding up, the reception is going to cost thousands more than you thought, the DJ you wanted is unavailable, and you have to use your second choice at a higher cost. If you live out of town, certain issues make another trip home necessary, and on, and on and on.....

I know I've mentioned this before, but when you are talking with a wedding photographer and viewing his or her images, listen for the stories. I had the pleasure of photographing a wedding this past June for a family I have known for a number of years. This particular father's love for his daughters was palpable. His other two girls were happily married, and now it is time for him to walk his third and last daughter down the aisle.

 

What little girl hasn’t looked at Cinderella’s Castle at Disney World, and thought how extraordinarily wonderfully awesome it would be to be married at Disney….

The dream usually involves our bride being dressed by fairies in pink and blue, then magically transported on Cinderella’s coach drawn by six miniature snow white horses to the base of the castle, where Prince Charming waits in breathless anticipation of the first sight of the love of his life…… it is a very good dream.

A Possible dream!

I have this nightmare – I’m in college, it’s finals week, and I haven’t felt it necessary to go to classes all semester – but here I am at the final without a clue.

Of course, it’s a dream. I shake off the cold sweat, realize that the world is where it’s supposed to be, and then go about my day.

I have never met a Bridezilla.

You see, I absolutely adore photographing weddings.

By the time the wedding day arrives, we have spent enough time with our brides and their families to have moved past a vendor-client relationship and are now friends. How could I have a bad time when fulfilling a real need for a beloved friend?

It’s going to cost WHAT?!?

Photographers are an interesting animal. They are perhaps the most passionate artists you will ever meet.

The operative word here is “artist”. Your photographer is first and foremost, an artist. Not a vendor, not a contractor, not a hireling, but a real, honest to goodness artist.

Passion.

Does the photographer you are interviewing have passion for his craft?

Does it matter to him what your images look like?

One of the key questions to ask, while he is showing you all of the beautiful images in his portfolio, is “Are these images posed, or are they real?”

I’ll be honest.

I’m not coming at this from an entirely unbiased perspective.

I am a portrait and wedding photographer, and I think, a good one.  My partner and daughter Mindy Porter and I have been blessed to photograph the weddings of some of the nicest and most genuine couples in the Northeast.