How to pick the right photographer

Hi Mackenzie, this is such a grat question!! I recommend you check this article, we’ve got some tips on how to find the best one for your big day

How to Find a Wedding Photographer

Also make sure to know what photography style you like the most:

3 Wedding Photography Styles

Photography Checklist

How are your preparations going?

Yes you can definitely have different photographers for the engagement shoot and the wedding! Most people use one photographer for both so they can get a feel of how the photographer is prior to the actual wedding. (Hence a lot photographers offer engagement shoots in their packages so they can also get to know the bride and groom as well).

I've known people who used separate ones (especially if they planned to take engagement photos in a different country/province or wanted a diff style etc.)

However, if your wedding photographer offers complimentary engagement shoot, I say go for that as well! (plus i don't think you can get additional discount for NOT taking the complimentary engagement shoot if it's included). You don't have to use their engagement photos but you can get to know the photographer better

You absolutely CAN have separate photographers for the engagement and wedding photos. Most people just use the same photographer because they often offer an engagement session for free/discounted rate, and because vetting photographers is tiresome and it's one less thing to do. Plus, I loved that our engagement photos were like a trial run for how we interact with our photographer, and we got a feel for eachother. She now knows how to better direct us to get the best photos (since we're both terrible on camera)

Yes you can have separate photographers for the engagement and wedding photos! We live in CA so we had a friend take our engagement pics for us in San Diego. The wedding was in Vancouver so we found a local photographer for our wedding and our friend who took our engagement photos was a guest.

One of the benefits of using the same photographer for both is that you get a feel for how the photographer works and get to know each other so that you're comfortable interacting with them on the wedding day. Also, some photographers include an engagement session in their wedding package. But you can definitely use different people! If you are, I would recommend meeting face to face with your wedding photographer and walking the venue to scout locations so that they can get a chance to know you and your fiance and you can ask them questions about their shooting style. We were very lucky with our wedding photographer and she was a dream to work with even though we hadn't done an engagement shoot with her!