Hiring a photographer without meeting him?

I'm getting married in my home town which is about 5 hours away from I live right now. I booked pretty much all my vendors without meeting them in person. I researched them a lot online and spoke to them over the phone a few times. I would have preferred to meet in person but that wasn't possible so I think it's fine to book vendors without meeting them in person.

If He can't come to you and you can't go to him just set aside an hour or two in a quite space where you can really go over all the details via FaceTime or Skpe and get a good feel for him to see if he is the right fit for you. I promise if he cares he is wanting to make sure he is a good fit for you too.

If you think you jive then go with it. If you get red flags, like personality clashes then go with your gut! This is who I prefer to do the consult, in person or online via Facebook/Skype. At the end of the consult most of my brides and grooms pick their package and we start planning the next step of a venue visit. Again, sometimes it's the venue staff that has us on Skyp/FT, do give us a vuee of the property and what we have access to. It's pretty awesome! Sorry a long Rant! #bestietobrides @jenniferdemophotography

Agreed on Skype'ing with him.

Also, see a full wedding gallery, preferably through his website. That is one way to verify the work he's showing is actually his work.

Ask him to talk about (and show pictures from) one specific wedding he did recently that he really liked.

Review the hell out of the contract language.

We had to hire all of our vendors long distance. We have not met any of our vendors in person but we have spoken on the phone, and via skype. Sometimes it just isn't possible to be there to meet everyone. If you have the option, I would go meet them in person just to be certain you click well.

I think this is too important of a vendor to book without face time. All of our vendors who we will be working with in person on the day of the wedding I absolutely wanted to meet to make sure our personalities mesh well. I would try to skype with them if you can't meet in person.

I couldn't meet my photographer before booking. She was 9 months pregnant and scheduled for a c-section 4 days before I contacted her, so we had a long phone chat and since she was so personable and her style fit what we were looking for, we went for it. I'm thrilled we did, because our engagement photos came out so well and we can't wait to work with her again.

We've been hired often without meeting the bride and groom. But you need a solid professional that can provide what you want. That being said, here is a list of questions we've been asked over the years.

https://droptodesign.smugmug.com/Pages/Questions-What-to-ask