How to pick the right wedding photographer for you

Planning a wedding is no easy feat. It can be super stressful, especially with what’s been happening in the world over the last year.

There are so many suppliers out there so I know how tricky it is to make those decisions on who to hire to make your special day even more special.

What I want to do with this post, is hopefully give some insight and helpful advice when choosing the right wedding photographer for your wedding.

Let’s get into it.

Understand different photography styles

Every photographer has a unique style. This comes down to a whole host of things; how they shoot, how they edit, their personality and so much more. A great way to narrow down your search for the perfect photographer is to decide what photography style you really want your wedding to be captured with. Here are a few styles to be aware of:

Documentary/Reportage/Photojournalistic

Documentary photography, reportage photography, photojournalistic approach – they all mean the same thing. Natural, relaxed, unposed shots. It basically means, the photographer will act like a ninja/spy waiting to capture candid gold while the subject is none the wiser and doesn’t even know they’re being photographed. (Psst, this produces the best photos in my opinion).

Fine Art

Fine art photography is… something else I’m telling you. It is as the name suggests, photographers creating art out of your memories. It typically includes lots of pastel and dreamy colours, beautiful light and a fair amount of posing and direction during the portrait session. My amazingly talented photography pal Zelda is a fine art wedding photographer and the images above and below are hers. They are just YUM.

Contemporary/Editorial

Contemporary/editorial is… more fashion based. Like something you would see in a magazine or on a blog. Very modern, with a focus on epic couple portraits & details, contemporary wedding photography is for those couples who have fashion flair and want to go all out.

bride and groom celebrating intimate ceremony outside London

Traditional/Formal/Posed

Traditional/formal/posed is… quite an out-dated approach nowadays. Typically, the photographer gets heavily involved at most points of the day. Signing the register, organising group shots, couple portraits, cutting the cake, bouquet toss etc. When I think of traditional photography, I think of the photographs of my parents wedding. They only have about 10 prints of their day and they are mostly group shots, one or two shots of them together and that’s kind of it. To be honest, I think it’s a dying style as most couples want the whole wedding day captured so there are still some elements (group shots and couple portraits) that are relevant now but most people want the story of their day told from start to finish with a more relaxed approach.

So now you know what different types are out there, you can decide on a style that you like and search for those key terms. Things like:

documentary wedding photography London
natural wedding photography Surrey
modern London wedding photographer

Once you’ve found a style you like, you can then narrow your search down by looking at the editing style of the photographers and their personalities. Each photographer edits their photos differently (I know – more choice!) and it’s important to find an edit that you really love. These pictures are to last a lifetime don’t forget.

After you’ve looked through their portfolio and you’ve decided you like their work, it’s now time to figure out if you’ll get on with the personality behind the camera. I always like to jump on a video call with potential clients so that we can really get to know each other and I can understand your wedding in more detail. The conversation flows much better this way than via email. Plus you can ask your photographer as many questions as you like on the call rather than back and forth messages.

The Nitty Gritty

So you’ve found a photographer that ticks all three of the style boxes, the shooting style, the edit style and the personality. Wicked. Now it’s time to get into the nitty gritty.

Pricing, Availability and Booking

Step 1: Pricing. The first thing you want to ask yourself is, does the photographers price fit within our budget? If yes, amazing – skip to step 2. If not, ask yourself what you want to prioritise. Will you make cut-backs in other areas? Will you ask the photographer for reduced coverage to bring the price down?

Side note: I’m not going to lie, us photographers really don’t like it when people ask us for discounts or price cuts. We understand that this has been a difficult time for everyone but please be mindful of what you’re asking of us. Would you be willing to work for less hours and therefore less money in your job? I can appreciate you might be having a shorter wedding and therefore require shorter coverage and usually photographers will have a by-the-hour rate or micro wedding packages available to suit your needs.

Step 2: Availability. You gotta get in hot if you’ve got a prime date set for your wedding (basically any Friday or Saturday between April-October) and you want a well-sought after tog. It’s always good to start looking as soon as you’ve booked your date and your venue as photographers are one of the first suppliers to be secured.

Step 3: Booking! This is the exciting bit! So, you’ve nailed down your photography style and found a photographer that’s right for you. Their packages are spot on what you need, they’re available on your date so now it’s time to book.