An honest, unbiased blog (essay) on choosing your wedding photographer - from a wedding photographer.
Okay here’s where I’ll start… There are two categories of people who write blogs about ‘what to look for when you’re booking a wedding photographer’:
Wedding photographers
Wedding websites (like Hitched, Brides.com etc)
The advice given on wedding websites will generally be unbiased as they’re not trying to steer you towards booking a specific person. But I do often see some really bad advice on those blogs too and it makes me wonder, who wrote that?! Are the people writing these blogs really specialists in wedding photography? Have they ever photographed a wedding before? Probably not. I really think if you want advice on wedding photography then the best people to ask are actual wedding photographers - people who know the industry inside and out, know the work flow and everything that comes with the job.
But here’s the catch… when wedding photographers write these blogs they’re usually doing it so they can convince you to book them. So when describing what you should be looking for, they will just describe themselves. And let’s face it, that isn’t advice, it’s a sales pitch.
So why read this? I’m just going to pitch to you yeah?
No.
I’m writing this to try and dispel some of the inaccurate advice I’ve seen on wedding websites and to offer some genuine advice and raw honesty to those who are searching for their wedding photographer.
Let’s start by addressing some advice that I feel is inaccurate and explaining why I feel it’s damaging to wedding photographers. These are the three statements that bother me the most…
Inaccurate advice number 1.
“Find a photographer who has photographed at your wedding venue before.”
Why is this inaccurate advice?
You could be writing off so many fantastic wedding photographers if you’re just looking for people who have photographed at your venue previously. And how would we ever get a chance to work in new venues if everyone had that opinion? Personally, I absolutely LOVE the excitement of working in a new location and I don’t think this job would be anywhere near as fun and interesting for me if I only ever worked in one venue. Working in different environments keeps us on our toes, allows us to build upon the skills that we already have and encourages us to keep our work fresh and creative. If we worked predominately in one place, we could become complacent - dishing out the same thing to all couples and working on autopilot.
Inaccurate advice number 2.
“Make sure you ask your photographer to show you full galleries of weddings they have photographed.”
Why is this inaccurate advice?
Okay, don’t get me wrong, it is never a bad thing to see a full wedding gallery from a photographer you are interested in booking but hear me out…
Who do the photos belong to?
There are SO many reasons why a couple would not want their full wedding gallery shared with whoever contacts me asking to see it. Just think about it for a second - this is the full day we’re talking about! This means, pre-make up in your pyjamas, all the tears, all the belly laughs, all those very personal moments. Some couples are actually really protective of their photos, and I know when my wedding comes around I will be protective of my photos too.
You also have to think about the people attending the wedding, specifically kids! Do the parents of the kids want me to share those photos with whoever enquires with me? And it’s not always just the kids I have to be careful about… I’ve also had adults approaching me at weddings asking me to please not share any photos that feature themselves. This could be due to their job or maybe a more personal reason - the reason isn’t important, what is important is that I respect my client’s wishes and their wedding guests too!
As a wedding photographer, it would be so great if every single couple and every single wedding guest were happy for me to share any photos anywhere I wanted to. It’s really important for me to be able to use photos for advertising, marketing etc - I wouldn’t get any bookings at all if I couldn’t share photos. But the reality is that not everyone is comfortable with photos being shared, and that’s fine, I get that. And because I am so respectful of my clients, it does make it really difficult when people enquire with me and ask to see some full wedding galleries. The truth is that I don’t have permission to share most of the online galleries I have, because most weddings have at least one child present where the parent of that child doesn’t want photos shared. And I’ll be honest I don’t even bother asking a lot of my clients whether it’s okay for me to share their full galleries, because I just think it’s a huge thing to ask someone!
What I do instead is I blog. I blog as often as I can and I make sure to show off a really decent selection of photos from all parts of the day. So you can see how I capture the day as a whole. I make sure to blog about all different types of weddings, full day, half day, elopements. Coastal venues, rustic venues, hotels. I do this so that everyone who enquires with me will be able to find lots of photos from weddings that are similar to the one they’re planning, and they can get a good idea of how I might capture their day for them. But what you won’t see in the blogs I upload is the children I have been asked to keep offline and any other specific moment or person that I have been asked to not include in the blog. Most couples are more than happy for me to blog about their day because saying yes to having roughly 300 of their photos online is much easier than saying yes to having every single photo (sometimes 800 to 1000 images) shared with someone they don’t know.
But look, I completely understand why wedding websites advise you to ask to see full galleries. It is really important that you don’t just book a photographer based on their ‘hero images’. Hero images are the ones they’ll put front and centre on the website homepage (the photographer’s best and most interesting work). You definitely need to see how the photographer captures the full day and you need to ensure that the editing is consistent throughout the day. Look at how well they shoot in bright direct sunlight? Is the wedding dress over-exposed and the clear blue sky completely blown out? Then look at their evening work, can you notice a drop in photo quality when they’re shooting in low light on the dance floor? Are the photos sharp and in focus? I could go on but I’m getting off topic now. My point is that I do share enough images on my blogs for you to be able to see how I capture a full wedding day. I put time into my blogs because I don’t particularly want to ask my clients about sharing their full galleries and I know most would have to say no, due to children present at the day. No photographer should be sharing their clients full wedding galleries to anyone who asks to see it, unless they have the blessing of their clients. And if they make exceptions for you, how can you trust that they will respect your wishes when it comes to sharing photos from your wedding day? Now, I’m not saying people who share full galleries are wrong - if they have permission that’s great!
Inaccurate advice number 3.
“Make sure you meet up with your photographer before you book them.”
Why is this inaccurate advice?
Again, I totally understand why people say you should do this. It is really important to have a wedding photographer that you are comfortable around. But here’s the cold, hard, brutal truth… you could meet up with the photographer, really get on with them, be really confident in booking them, and they could still disappoint you when the time comes or worse, scam you (the con artists are famously the best sweet talkers). I hate this notion that you can’t trust a photographer unless you’ve met them in person. You might think you’re a really good judge of character but realistically the s*** could still hit the fan, with or without a pre-booking meet up. It’s a dice you roll with all of your suppliers, it’s scary and it really sucks but this is reality.
The truth is that most of the really good, sought after photographers just don’t have the time to do these meet ups. I used to do pre-booking in person meetings when I first started and I was utterly desperate to get the work, but I can’t offer it now that I’m busier and more in demand. I used to drive all over the place to meet potential clients, giving up my free time and spending money on fuel, knowing that there was no guarantee I’d actually get the booking. And here’s the thing, 9 times out of 10 I’d sit in front of the couple (often after driving an hour or more to meet them) and the couple couldn’t think of what to ask me. Their minds would go completely blank before coming up with a few generic questions like ‘how long have you been doing photography’ and then they’d fill some of the silence by telling me what colour scheme they’ve chosen. It was a job interview with no interview. And it was always so clear to me that they really just wanted to see me, to see that I’m a real person, that I look professional and I’m polite and well mannered. In order to make the journey worth it for myself I would end up talking A LOT! Answering questions they probably wouldn’t have thought to ask and just trying to give them as much information as possible. Nine times out of ten, they would book me, so I was obviously happy about that. But there were some occasions where I’d have lost 3-4 hours of my day and however much diesel for no return at all. Essentially, asked a few generic questions (that could have been emailed) and then told I was out of their budget or they’ve found someone cheaper (even though they knew my prices going into it).
And as you gain experience in life and in your profession, you start to value yourself more and value your time. Life gets busier as you get older and finding the time to drive all over the place meeting potential clients isn’t so easy. During the pandemic, things shifted for me. The option to meet up with couples was taken away completely because of government restrictions and so more and more couples were booking me with email correspondence only. And the penny dropped that I don’t need to keep doing these in person meetings - so I stopped and I haven’t looked back since. I now use my spare time to ensure that I’m sharing plenty about me and how I work online. Literally everything you could think to ask me is here on my website. There’s the About Me page, an in-depth look into my Style and Approach an extensive FAQ’s section and so much more! I still put the time in, but just in a different way to how I used to.
And here’s the thing, every wedding photographer will run their business slightly differently. Some will offer in person meet ups before booking, other’s wont. Some offer phone calls or video calls, others won’t. Some offer albums, other’s won’t. Some do their own editing whereas others will outsource the editing to someone else. I’m only just scratching the surface in talking about how different we all are from each other. And there’s no right or wrong way! We’re all just running our businesses in a way that is sustainable for us. We all need to strike that healthy work-life balance, just the same as you do with your career and home life. If we don’t put these boundaries in place we’re in danger of burning out, not delivering on our promises and running our business into the ground. So if we say no to in person meet ups that is not a red flag, and it’s upsetting that so many wedding websites make out like it is. I have never let a couple down in 12 years, never received a negative review. I feel like the boundaries I’ve put in place regarding meet ups, phone calls, video calls etc - they help me to keep delivering the high standard and five star service that my clients have come to expect from me.
The truth is
We (wedding photographers) structure our businesses in a way that suits us, suits our lives. There is a huge breadth of photographers to choose from, and we all operate in many different ways. I’m not going to use this blog to say that the way I do things is the right way and anyone who works differently is a red flag and should be avoided at all costs. But unfortunately I do feel like most of these ’what to look for when you’re booking your wedding photographer’ blogs are written in a very biased way. These blogs put fear into the general public and make couples feel like they need to put their photographer through a series of tests, asking things of them they would never consider asking any of their other suppliers to do. And yes, your wedding photographer is a key supplier, we often spend more time with you than any other supplier and your photos are often the only thing you have left to enjoy after the wedding. So definitely do your research!! Take your time, ask questions, read reviews, explore their websites and socials. Just remember that if they’re not inviting you around to their house for coffee, giving you their mobile number and sending you all their galleries, it doesn’t mean they’re hiding something or they can’t be trusted. It just means they’ve put work-life boundaries in place, they’ve found a way of doing business that works for them and they’re also respectful of their client’s boundaries regarding what photos they share with others.
So what should you be looking for?
Style of editing - look out for exposure, colour and consistency.
Naturally, this should be the first thing that draws you to a photographer. You either like the way they way their photos look, or you don’t. There are many different editing styles out there. If you like the bright and airy style, my advice would just be to ensure your photos aren’t so bright that they are over-exposed. Look at the wedding dress as a guide, can you see what material the dress is made from and the detail on the dress? If it’s too over exposed it will just be a white chasm in the photo. And I assume you’ve picked your dress because you love how it looks and want to see it properly in the photos? So make sure you’re hiring a photographer that can consistently deal with that super bright daylight and won’t overexpose your dress or other highlights in the photo (like the beautiful blue sky). Another thing to look for is the colour of the dress because not all photographer’s edit ‘true to colour’. Most photographer’s edit with slightly warmer tones (like I do) but it’s important not to go too far and have an orangey looking dress in your photos. I’ve also seen a lot of photos where the photographer has managed to get the dress looking very blue, this is due to editing and not having a good understanding of white balance. Again, I assume if you wanted a turquoise dress you’d have bought one? So if you want your dress and your wedding colour scheme to look true to colour in your photos, keep an eye out for this when you’re looking at photographers. It’s also worth looking at the photographer’s evening photos and checking if these are the same quality as the photographer’s daylight images. Photographing in low light can be tricky, especially if you’re not that experienced. Don’t be convinced to book a photographer when all you’ve seen is their daylight photos!! When looking at their evening photos, zoom in and check the quality - are the photos in focus and sharp? How grainy are the photos? Grainy photos are not a bad thing - it’s a style of shooting that lots of couples want. But your photographer’s work should be consistent throughout the day, if their daylight photos are grainy then you should expect to see that also in the evening photos. But if the daylight photos are smooth, the evening photos should also be smooth. Consistency is key!
Did you know…
The majority of the general public do not actually know what constitutes a good photo. They will look into the photo rather than looking at the photo. When looking into the photo they are looking at what the photo is portraying. For example: they see a Bride with her hair and make up done, wearing a gorgeous expensive dress, looking the best she’s ever looked. She’s smiling, holding stunning flowers and her incredible wedding venue is behind her - it’s like something from a fairy-tale! And so people see that scene before them and they say ‘what a gorgeous photo!’ BUT… if they looked at the photo (rather than into the photo) they might notice that the photo is incredibly over-exposed (or under-exposed), it’s not really in focus, the Bride doesn’t look natural in the way she’s stood, the colours are really wrong and the dress is blue… etc etc. And so because of this, so many photographer’s get recommended for the wrong reasons - because the subject looks good and not actually because the photography is good. So try not to be swept up in those winning smiles from beautiful brides and make sure you look at the photos as a whole.
2. How they capture a wedding.
So, you love their editing style - that’s great! But are they what you are looking for? How do you want your wedding day captured and what things do you want your photographer to focus on for you? Maybe the photographer you’re looking at advertises themselves as someone who does ‘no posing whatsoever’. This might sound ideal to you if you feel a bit camera shy but does this mean your photographer won’t do any group photos for you at all? What about portraits of just the two of you? Perhaps this is something you need to ask them about before you book. Yes the natural, un-posed photos are so important and they really help to tell the story of the day, but the majority of my print sales are actually photos of the people looking directly into the camera. Group photos and the couple’s portraits are what people tend to frame for their walls, not the candid photos. Would you really be happy with no group photos at all?
Did you know…
Most photographers will do a bit of everything for you. Just because they have marketed themselves as a documentary/reportage photographer who captures natural moments doesn’t mean they won’t offer direction, pose you and do formal group shots too. However, there are some photographers that will ‘stick to their lane’ and really mean it when they say they’re going to capture your day completely un-posed.
3. Price.
So their editing style and how they capture a wedding is just what you’re looking for, but what do they charge? Some photographer’s will have their prices available to view on their website (like I do) whereas others will only send you a price list when you reach out and enquire with them. You probably have a rough idea of what you’re willing to pay for photography and I’m here to tell you that you will always find someone within your budget - whatever that budget is. But the quality of photographer you are getting will obviously vary, depending on how much you are willing to pay, just as with anything in life. Being a wedding photographer myself, I’m obviously going to tell you that your photographer is one of the most important suppliers at a wedding. When the day is done, the food will be eaten, the dress will sit in a wardrobe (never to be worn again) and your photos will be the main thing you have left to reminisce about your special day. But I did say I wouldn’t be biased in this blog, so I’ll stop the sales pitch there.
According to Google, the average cost of a wedding photographer in the UK (for the full day on a weekend) is £1500 - £1700 and I’d say this is a fair estimation. But as I’ve said, there are photographers out there for all budgets so there are some that would do the full day for £200 and some that would charge £5k or more. For £1500-£1700, you are likely to get a really competent, experienced and technically skilled photographer. But typically if you are able to pay more then you’re likely to get a better standard of photographer - a photographer that other photographer’s idolise perhaps. Unfortunately there are some people who will charge above what they should be charging for the level of work they provide, and they’ll hope you don’t notice. And of course you also get some who really don’t charge enough for the level of work they’re providing. So make sure you don’t focus on the price too much as it doesn’t always determine the actual worth of the photographer.
One thing you should look at is what is included in the price. Because let’s say you have a photographer who is charging £1000 for the full day. But in that package you also have a pre wedding photo shoot, a canvas, an album, prints, a second photographer, video highlights and a USB and presentation box. Now the album, canvas, prints, USB and box would cost the photographer a few hundred pounds at least (and that would be for quite a cheap, small album). Then the second photographer would need to be paid too, so that’s a couple hundred more again. Then you have their expenses such as fuel and costs of doing business like insurance, tax etc to factor in. And before you know it, that photographer is actually worth less than £500 but they’ve made themselves look like a higher end supplier just by bulking out their packages with extras. You might feel like you’re getting a really good deal because there’s so much included but you may not be getting the standard of photographer you thought you were.
Did you know…
Wedding photographers work a lot of hours behind the scenes. You may feel like you’re paying £1500 just for one day of work but that is not the case. There’s lots of preparation before the wedding and lots of editing to do after the wedding. Plus there are also a lot of expenses the photographer has to factor into their pricing. You are not just paying for their time though, you are paying for their skill level too.
4. Reviews and Recommendations.
So I’m going to remind you of something I said above, ‘The majority of the general public do not actually know what constitutes a good photo.’ And as a result of this there are some photographer’s out there who get a lot of praise when their work is in fact very poor (from a technical standpoint). So keep in mind that art is subjective and when reading reviews, pay attention to comments about reliability, professionalism and communication. Don’t get me wrong, hearing that people were happy with their photos is always fantastic but you’ve decided you like their work already, and what you’re really wanting to gauge at this stage is whether you can trust the photographer and rely on them for one of the most important days of your life.
Did you know…
Reviews are not always verified but Google and Facebook are generally decent places to check. Businesses cannot remove reviews on Google or Facebook, so if there’s a bad review on one of those platforms, you would find it. If the business does not have reviews section set up on their Facebook or Google this could mean they have disabled that feature. Perhaps they have had some bad reviews that they cannot remove, so as a solution they just shut down the whole reviews section completely. So if I’m looking at a business on Google or Facebook and I cannot see any reviews at all, I would instantly have that ‘red flag feeling’ that the business owner has hidden all reviews in order to cover up some bad ones. Lots of photographers will have reviews on their website (just like I do here for example) but bare in mind that these could be made up by the photographer so do check their Google or Facebook to make sure these positive reviews actually exist!
If you’re happy with their editing style, the way they capture a wedding, their price and their reviews…
book them, before someone else does!
There are of course a lot of questions you could ask your photographer before you book with them but make sure you check their FAQ’s on their website and as you may find that all of your questions are answered there already.
Thank you for reading my loooooong blog (essay) on choosing your wedding photographer. It’s definitely a wordy one and I applaud you for getting through it. Hopefully it’s given you an honest insight into wedding photography.
There’s definitely a lot more I could say on the subject but this blog is way too text heavy already! I’ve tried to be as unbiased as possible and not use this blog to pitch my services to you in any way. I wanted this to be different to all the other ‘what to look for when booking your wedding photographer’ blogs out there - most of which really do dehumanise photographers and make the couple feel like they need to approach every photographer with their guards up. At the end of the day we’re just humans, running our businesses as best we can.
Perhaps you’d like to check out some of my other wedding planning blogs? Don’t worry, these ones are not as wordy…
