Is The Most Expensive Wedding Photographer The Best?
It’s true, once all the confetti has been swept up, the cake eaten, and the dress dry cleaned all you have left of your wedding day is the rings on your fingers and your images. But this isn’t a blog telling you to pick the most expensive photographer. Quite the opposite, I want you to ignore price to start with.
What's Your Style?
Just like you have an idea of the style of dress that will suit you (or the type of gentleman’s attire). It is a good idea to pick your photographer based on the style of pictures you would like.
You might want very traditional or classical pictures, like the ones in your parents (or grandparents wedding albums). These photographers will likely specialise in weddings. You should be prepared for lots of direction and posing and a heavier focus on portraits and group photos. .
Another type of photography style is Photo Journalism or PJ. This style is also sometimes called ‘Reportage’ as well. True PJ style will involve no posing or styling at all. Photos will be taken ‘as they happen’ so next to no posed photos and if there is a distraction in the frame, like a coke bottle on the top table it won’t be moved.
A lot of photographers are neither one nor the other but a hybrid of styles. Like me, I like to capture the story of the day as it unfolds naturally but I will also move distractions out of the way to make the final image more attractive and capture group portraits.
For me, group portraits are important as these will form part of your visual history and for people in your family that might not even have been born yet, they will be important in years to come. I also think a small amount of posing is important to make sure you look your absolute best. I want to capture you and your partner naturally but I also want to make sure that you don’t look back at your images and say things like ‘This image would be lovely if I didn’t have a double chin’, etc. The bottom line is that hardly any of us are models. We don’t know how to stand or sit in the most flattering way and we need a teeny bit of direction!
Wedding photographers all have different looks and styles. If you are getting married by a beach or country garden you might find someone with a style described as ‘light and airy’ style will suit you best. Going for a more gothic vibe or prefer deeper colours opt for someone with a more ‘dark and moody’ styl
What Else?
So far price hasn’t come into it, has it? The good news is that there are photographers that specialise in all of these styles at every price point. Of course, you have to work within a budget, we all do. But if you just look for the cheapest photographer in your area you might miss out on the type of wedding images you always wanted.
While doing your wedding photographer research some other things you might want to look out for are:
- A website with images that look consistent (not just a Facebook or IG account)
- Access to a full wedding gallery if you request it (so you can see more of that consistency)
- Their cancellation (you and them) policy and payment policy.
- Hidden costs like travel costs that might bump up the overall price
Above all have a meeting or call them up and see if you get a good feel from them. After all, they will be with you pretty much all day on your wedding day. So you want to get on with them!
