As an industry, we consider photographers who have only worked with other shooters apprentices; less than 20 weddings are just starting out; 20 - 50 is somewhat experienced; and more than that is very experienced. As photographers, we improve with every wedding we do (or we should, anyway), so you have some excellent grounds for asking.

Every couple has a different feeling about whether they care if their photographer is learning during their wedding, or has the experience to handle whatever unforeseen circumstances happen during a wedding day.

Will's Answer: Lucia and I have been shooting together for over a decade, and had years when we lived in Southern California where we shot more than fifty weddings in just that year. At this point we've photographed more weddings than I want to know the total of, but the total is still less than five hundred.

Photographers might be members of national or local photography guilds; be certified by a professional group; or tell you about their photography education and experience. Many people are good with a camera, but that doesn't mean you should pay them to photograph your wedding.

Will's Answer: I'm one of six nationally certified photographers in the state of Maine; the current president of the Maine Professional Photographers Association; a three-time winner of Kodak's Gallery award; and the 2010 and 2011 winner of the Wedding Album of the Year award for Maine.

So those are some of my credentials, and perhaps what qualifies me, but not the most important thing you should know. I love weddings, maybe more than anything else we do, and I'm constantly expanding the skill and techiniques that I and all my staff bring to weddings. This year, we're going to create wedding images that will make people gasp, laugh, cry, and fall in love all over again. It's going to be a blast, and I hope you'll come back to our galleries all summer long to see the amazing new images we'll be posting.

This is a good question to ask to get photographers to tell you about what style they shoot. You might hear 'I'm totally hands off - I just let the action unfold', or 'I work on a time line and everything happens when it's scheduled', or 'I'll be providing enough direction to get the images you've told me you want'.

Will's Answer: We bring a horsecrop and a referee's whistle to every wedding we shoot. Wait, that's a joke. Three people just clicked away because not everyone has a sense of humor, or knows when I'm being sarcastic.

Okay, real answer. We're kind of schizophrenic on wedding days. We've always got a schedule and a plan, but that plan calls for us to act differently at different times.

We're unobtrusive when we should be (when you're hanging with your friends or during the ceremony, for instance), choreographers during some of the romantic shots, ring leaders when we have to be (because sometimes you need to crack the whip to get the family photos done), and then back to unobtrusive during the reception.

But, we're not just there to document what's happening. Any kid with a cell phone can do that. Our job is to tell the story of your wedding day, in a way that will let you relive how in love you were, how beautiful your dress looked, and how perfect your day was. Sometimes that requires a little direction on our part, as we're going to make sure you look your best in every image we create of you.

We're not going to document your maid of honor having a meltdown because she doesn't fit into her dress the way she wants - we're going to show her caring about you, making you laugh, and lacing you into your dress.

Does that make sense? We're not going to photograph people talking with food in their mouth just because that's real photojournalism. Who cares - weddings aren't real - they're perfect, like Disneyland, and wedding images should reflect that.

By the way, that's why every image we print is completely retouched before it goes to pring. We want every image to be perfect, with no exit signs in your hotel, no blemishes on anyone's skin, and definitely no wine stains on anyone's dress. Choose Focus for your wedding, and every image will be flawless!

Just asking this question does not make you a bridezilla - it's okay to ask. You're just wondering, what if, and its a good thing to know in advance. This is one of the issues that's caused so many problems between family members when a cousin or uncle volunteers to be a photographer, florist, or DJ.

But when you talk to professionals, you should insist on a written policy of what happens if things don't work out. There's no excuse for images being incorrectly exposed, out of focus, blurry, missing, or just lacking the quality of images your photographer presented to you as sample work.

Will's Answer: This is an easy one - insist on a written guarantee. We've offered a money-back, keep the negatives guarantee for as long as I've photographed weddings, and though we've never had a bride and groom unhappy with their images, I want every couple to know we stand behind everything we do.

At Focus, that commitment helps us treat every wedding with the level of importance it deserves. Your wedding is not just another work day to us - it's a once-in-a-lifetime celebration that cannot be recreated, and so we're going to treat it that way.

Bummer of a topic, right? But things do go wrong, and there should never be a gap in your wedding coverage because of an equipment glitch.

Will's Answer: We bring three of everything when we come for a wedding, because even with the top of the line equipment that we use, if a groomsman knocks a camera over a balcony, it's going to break.

Capturing images is only a small part of why you're hiring a professional photographer for your wedding. After all, you don't want to look at your wedding images the same way you look at your younger brother's frat party pictures, do you?

Your photographer should be able to show you examples of several different types of albums, finished prints, wall portraits, frames, cards, and anything else you might like to display your wedding images.

Will's Answer: We're a full service studio, and you don't even have to pick your favorite images if you don't want to. We've worked with brides and grooms who were too busy, and just asked us to design a rocking good album for them, and make them some prints to hang on their walls.

Whatever you need, we can provide, and because we do this every day, we're good at it.