This time of year is the most popular time to get engaged! John and I got engaged both times around the holidays (long story…and no, we never broke up!) and so many of our couples have too! That being said, lots of people are going to start planning their 2014 weddings right away…this means if there are certain vendors you REALLY want to work with, you should book them as soon as you can! Some vendors, like florists or large catering or dj companies can book multiple weddings in a day, but most photographers can only book one wedding a day…and some photographers only book one wedding a weekend! This means once a date is booked, I can no longer work that day.

Most of my couples (unless they have a very long engagement or are getting married in a really popular month) book their wedding with me between 8-12 months of the wedding. In some instances I have booked weddings as close as two months – two weeks before the wedding date, but this it’s so much harder to guarantee availability if you wait too long. April-June, and Sept-Oct tend to be the most popular months for weddings in Virginia (before the weather is too hot or too cold!) so these prime season dates can go quickly if you wait too long:)

That being said, there’s also such a thing as booking too early. Booking earlier does have it’s benefits (one of which is possibly locking in the prior year’s pricing) …but a wedding can’t be booked until your date is set in stone. Without a wedding date, your vendors have no way to know if they are available and no way to guarantee that they will be free when you choose one.

But if you have a date picked out, start booking your vendors, photographer included! I’ve booked as far as 21 months out before! John and I actually had to push our wedding date back because the venue we wanted to get married at wasn’t available until December of that year! Not wanting a winter wedding, we just chose to move our date. Once we had the official date locked in, we booked our photographer, DJ, Coordinator, etc as early as we could because we didn’t want to end up in the same position and not be able to hire our first choices:)

If you’re not sure if the photographer or vendor you want to hire is available on your date, or you are afraid maybe they’re already booked, just ask! And if they are booked, ask them if they have suggestions of other vendors who may still be free. Most of us have other professional photographer friends with similar styles that we respect and are more than happy to share their info!:)

Hope this helps you guys! If you have any other questions feel free to comment or email me!