Choosing the Right Wedding Photographer

There are lots of highly talented wedding photographers in every region of the UK; and with the emergence of very high quality digital cameras and AI editing there is no excuse for poor quality imagery. So it is becoming increasingly challenging for couples to select the right photographer for their special day. All too frequently, couples will start with the internet and search phrases such as “Cotswolds Wedding Photographer” and then narrow down the candidates who appear on the first page of Google by price, availability and deliverables (number of images, albums, wall art, USB memory devices, etc). Personally, I would recommend that couples start by deciding what style they want first.

When it comes to style, there are 4 main categories (acknowledging that the lines are blurred): creative, fine art, traditional and documentary (aka photojournalistic).

Creative
Creative wedding photographers typically concentrate on compositions, poses and props. Many of the shots will be carefully planned in advance of the wedding day, with couples often invited to exchange mood boards with their photographers. Frequently, these creative images are the ones you see in ‘high-end’ publications with orange smoke, sparklers, carefully rehearsed sunsets, lightning bolts, crazy jumps, etc.

Fine Art
At its core, fine art wedding photography is about creating visual art - something aesthetically beautiful and impactful. It is typified by pastel colours, shallow depth of field and attention to detail. It is often highly-staged, intimate and time-consuming.

Traditional
Traditional wedding photography generally works to a preconceived idea of what photographs you should have at a wedding. A typical list might be: groom waiting at the alter, bride arrival, the vows, the rings, the first kiss, the confetti, the family shots, the bouquet toss, the cake cut, the first dance, etc.

Documentary
Documentary wedding photographers concentrate on telling the story of the wedding day as it unfolds. There will be a very few posed shots, with the photographer preferring instead to capture spontaneous moments of laughter, fun, emotion and love. It’s about shooting what it feels like rather than what it looks like.

I am a documentary wedding photographer and videographer who aims wherever possible to have little or no impact on the conduct of the wedding day. The biggest compliment I can receive is where couples and their guests say that they forgot I was even around.