• Before you go:
• Consider which options are top priorities. Among those to consider are: hours of coverage; an album along with size and type; parents' albums; engagement photos; bridal portrait; prints; digital negatives; photo montage; online viewing; and online ordering.
• Take a look at your chosen photographers' websites. Examine their style: are the photos posed or did the photographer capture the moment? Which type do you prefer?
• Talk with your fiancé about your photography budget within the context of your overall budget. What would you ideally spend on your photographer and how much more would you or would you need to spend to get exactly what you want?
• Consider to what extent you want your photographer to be in on every moment of the day. Do you want them there documenting you and your bridesmaids as your prepare for the day? Do you want them with you and your husband as you share your first quiet moments as husband and wife?

Questions to ask:

• Does he or she offer packages of service? If so, are there restrictions on:
• - Hours of coverage
  - Frames shot
  - Black and white or color coverage
  - Album types and/or pages
• Ask to look at an album from a recent wedding. Take close look to see if he or she connected with the couple and captured the mood of their day. If possible, ask to see a proof book. These are the shots the photographer took before the couple made their final album choices. This is their work in the raw.
• Ask the photographer if he or she will be the one covering your wedding day.
• Ask them what their policies are if he or she is ill, or has a death in the immediate family the day of your wedding.
• Ask about your photographer's policy on keeping, sharing or selling negatives of your pictures.
• - Some choose to keep the negatives which means you'll have to go through them to get copies of any pictures.
  - Some offer to share them, meaning that you both have the right to use, print or disperse them as you like. This allows you to send them to anyone or any printer you like, but also means you may one day see your faces on their website or other promotional materials.
  - Finally, some photographers will reserve rights to your pictures immediately after the wedding, but may offer to sell them to you after a certain time period (most do so after 1 year).
• If they offer a bridal portrait, does that fee include the sitting fee, print and framing?

Don't Forget:

• Before the big day arrives, you'll want to consult with both families to create a list of must-have pictures to be taken the day of the wedding. Of those, some can be taken before the ceremony. But if you don't want to see each other before the "I dos," you'll have to wait until after the ceremony for the rest, so try to keep the "must haves" to the "really must haves" or you'll spend the entire reception taking pictures.
• A fun way to fit in all those fun group shots is to pull everyone on the dance floor during the reception, pick a great song and say "cheese!"
• Tipping is purely optional, but a $20 to $25 monetary gift is considered appropriate if you are satisfied with the service you received in the months leading up to as well as the day of your wedding. 

• Limit hour coverage.
• Save the album for a post-wedding gift to yourselves, perhaps for your first year anniversary.
• Opt for one of their assistants as your day-of shooter. Many studios have several photographers on staff, with tiers of pricing for each.
• Some photographers offer a la carte services which may better suit your needs and your budget.