And then you have your budget to consider. Weddings come in all shapes and sizes, and thankfully so do photography starting prices in Virginia. But how do you find what works best for your artistic eye and budget? Beyond our “get the best option you can afford” advice, that’s not exactly easy to figure out… until now. With our new friends at WedMatch, we are so excited to share about this new Virginia wedding resource to help couples and photographers find each other in the most streamlined and destiny kind of way, and it’s 100% free to use!
A Virginia wedding photographer himself, Steven of WedMatch saw a need in our community and knew couples were struggling to identify their own wedding day photography wants. Unless you’re already in the wedding world or had a wedding before, everything about the wedding planning process is new, and that brings totally new terminology to decipher.
Well, Steven decided to put some algorithms and tech know-how together to solve this problem and created WedMatch to help couples find their wedding photographers with ease and precision!
What is WedMatch?
WedMatch is a new wedding photography directory website that is essentially a mix of Pinterest, a dating app, and a Buzzfeed quiz for finding local Virginia wedding photographers. With a click of a few buttons and selections, WedMatch does the hard work and curates a list of your top five photographers who are available for your wedding date in addition to matching your artistic style and your budget.
Since launching in Virginia, they have about 120 pre-screened wedding photographers who are already live on the site, so there are beautiful options to choose from all over the state.
How to Use WedMatch
The simplified process is: answer some questions, tap some photos, and the results come in! That’s literally how easy it is. But for a more in-depth look at the process, that’s what we’re showing you today! You’ll just need to set aside about 8 minutes to complete the quiz.
First you’ll need to answer a few questions about your wedding day. If you’re not 100% sure on something, that’s okay. WedMatch has a “we haven’t decided” or “not sure” option for you to click on every page. Then you’ll choose your Editing Style preference -- without words and just photos representing each style, so you don’t need to know the terms of what you love.
Priorities also come into play as you then choose what’s most important to you for photography coverage and how many hours you might need. (This is important as it takes your budget into consideration. Some photographers offer fewer hours and some offer full-day coverage.)
Next is getting more of your wedding preferences fine-tuned using real photos from the photographers who meet your criteria. What does your wedding look like? Are you having a beach wedding? Are you getting married at a winery? Are you looking for an inclusive photographer who welcomes all couples? How involved do you want your photographer to be?
All of these questions determine which photos you are shown as your potential photographers have all given keywords to their WedMatch photos to help you see photos that look most like your envisioned wedding.
Now for the fun part with the quiz where you choose the photos you’d most like to have on your wedding day. Don’t overthink it! Choose what speaks to you most. Photos are broken up into categories: Ceremony, Couples Portraits, Wedding Party, and Formal Dances.
After everything is chosen, you get your Top 5 photographers best suited to capture your wedding day! There are no obligations, and you can choose whether or not you’d like the photographers to contact you directly.
With the state of the wedding world right now though, don’t wait long to book your photographer if you’re getting married within the next 2 years, especially if you want to hire one of your Top 5. The pandemic has literally changed everything, and many wedding vendors are completely booked far in advance because of unfortunate reschedules.
WedMatch For Virginia Wedding Photographers
WedMatch isn’t just for couples! They need you to help make it a diverse eco-system of photo awesomeness from all over Virginia, and they limit the number of photographers in each city for each budget range to help make WedMatch a solid and trusted resource. Because Steven is a fellow wedding photographer, he knows the importance of directory success and where marketing dollars go, so WedMatch is a free platform for Virginia wedding photographers to sign up to become part of couples’ planning process. The only time you pay is when you book a wedding as a small referral fee. Just like couples who seek out photographers who are the right match for them, photographers also need to align with their potential couples, so you will need to input your business details for perfect matching. It’s really a win-win for everyone!
Ready to find your Virginia wedding photographer? Head over to WedMatch to take your free style quiz! It’ll be the easiest part of planning your whole wedding! Happy quiz taking!
Many thanks to WedMatch for partnering with Tidewater and Tulle for this informative article on a great Virginia-based wedding planning tool! And while the disclaimer is that we were compensated to write this, the words and our love for WedMatch are all our own.
PHOTOGRAPHY CREDITS FROM WEDMATCH PHOTOGRAPHERS
[from top to bottom] Marshall Arts Photography, Echard Wheeler Photography, Caroline Martin Wedding Photography, Leigh Skaggs Photography, Jontell Vanessa Photography, Erin Schrad Photography, Xiaoqi Li Photography, and Awesomesauce Photography
Looking for Wedding Style Ideas? Shop These Inspiring Looks!
Editor's Note: Specially curated by us, the above product links are partner-connected and purchasing through these links means we get a small commission from those brands that helps support this website. You can find our full affiliate disclosure policy here on Tidewater and Tulle.
