Booking the photographer should be high up your list of priorities when planning your wedding, so start looking as soon as you have confirmed your venue. Ask around for recommendations from friends or your event coordinator and look up your area in the supplier directory of Loveweddings.co.uk Photographers' web sites are a great introduction to their style and techniques and you will be able to narrow down your search by finding images that are to your taste.

Before meeting a photographer make sure you are clear as to what their rates are and what is included. Prices and options vary greatly but you can expect to spend around 10% of your overall budget on the photography. To get great pictures in a hard-wearing album is going to be an investment but if you are restricted by how much you can spend, ask if you can opt to make your own album and put one on your wedding list. Also most wedding photographers are willing to give discounts for weekdays or out of season dates.

Make sure you see sample albums from whole weddings, not just a selection of lucky shots. You should be able to get a good sense of what the couple's day was like as this is what you will want for yourself. There should be a balanced mix of portraits, reportage and groups and everyone should have their eyes open. If the bride and groom look relaxed and happy they probably had a fairly good rapport with the photographer. Examine the albums closely to judge if they are going to last, real leather is more hard wearing than simulated though linen can be a good option. Library bound is more permanent than pin hinges and interleaves can become creased easily. Ask what would happen if something marked your album after you received it, can a page be replaced quite easily?

Think about how your album will seem in a few years time. If you want to avoid it looking dated then don't go for anything too contemporary with lots of graphics and digital effects. Regardless of whether your photographer shoots on film or digital, it is more important that you like their work and their personality. You are going to be spending a significant part of the most important day of your life with them and they should make you feel comfortable especially if you want coverage when the bride is getting ready. You want to be grinning not grimacing in your wedding pictures!

Find out when and how the photographs will first be presented to you. On contact sheets the images are quite small and hard to see; proof prints often have the copyright information stamped across them; if you are getting a print run, are these what your final album will be mostly made up with? If so can you keep the spares? Ask how much deposit is required and when the balance is due. Also find out the cost of reprints and enlargements as it is likely that the photographer will hold on to the negatives.

Ask about their experience and how they became a wedding photographer. If you want photos that are original it can be better to use a photographer with a background/sideline in other areas of photography so that they are not bored of weddings. Expect to be asked to sign a contract but make sure it details what would happen if either you or the photographer has to cancel. Also check out what back-up equipment they carry and if they work with a second photographer or an assistant.

Make sure that they have already shot a wedding in your venue or would be prepared to meet you there to look around. Will they be using flash during your ceremony, it can be off-putting? What will they do if the weather is bad on your day? Finally if you need further reassurance ask if you can contact one of their former brides to find out how the photographer coped on the day and how happy they are with the final result.