What I can expect from my wedding photographer

Let's see, you want really nice pictures of you in your dress, great shots of the boys being boys before the ceremony, lovely getting ready shots with your mum and the bridesmaids, cute shots of the flower girls and the page boy. Shots, which capture the moment you exchange your vows and promise to be together forever. A great confetti shot of you and all of your guests enjoying the day, some formal shots of the family - but you do not want this to go on for too long as this can become very tedious. Then you would really like some very special shots of you together as husband and wife for the first time and you also want to be back in time to mingle with your guests before the wedding breakfast and lets not be late as this will upset the caterer and possibly ruin the food.

It sounds to me as if you really want someone who knows what they are doing on your wedding day or are you expecting too much?

No, I don’t think so. Forget trying to save money by using your best friend who “has a good camera” to capture the images of your wedding day, this will end in tears. You really want someone who has lots of experience, someone, who before they started shooting weddings, was an assistant to an experienced photographer and not someone who has just last week bought a digital camera and set themselves up in business shooting weddings. You must view the photographers’ portfolio in fact you should look at the books of several photographers, (three I would suggest) of people whose work you like.

This brings me to another point to be considered. What do they mean in the glossy magazines by reportage, or classical or candid or in a magazine style and why should you expect a photographer who shoots lots of portraiture or fashion to be different from the guy who only shoots weddings and does nothing else. Well I think it makes an enormous difference but you should be able to see this difference when you view their work, you may not be able to understand the techniques employed but you will identify with the results and that is what is going to make your wedding photography different and special, so do your home work.

Perhaps this article should have been titled “What should I look for in a wedding photographer” well we have covered style, you can see his/her work but do ask to see a complete wedding and not just selected shots from lots of weddings.

Now you have to assess the personality of the photographer remember they are going to play a very large part of your day and you really should feel that they fit in with you. So how do they do make you feel comfortable? For those who are not professional models and can’t “turn it on” making you feel comfortable and confident is the key to great images. How many times have you heard someone say they only look good in the photographs that they did not know where being taken? Well this is your wedding day and you can be sure you will know that you are going to know that you are having your photograph taken so you better make sure that the person on the other side of the camera has lots of people skills and can make you relaxed and feel confident.

I think it is too much to ask of any one be they photographer or the bride to go into this special day without some form of practice, it works for both parties, they will perform better on the day if they have had some constructive role play.

You as the bride may take to it like a duck to water. You may love being in front of the camera and will radiate, on the other hand you may not like something about yourself and would like this to be played down, you may feel for example that your nose is too big and you would prefer that you were not shot in profile. Talk to the photographer and tell them your concerns, there are lots of ways to shoot people, which can be flattering. A word of caution, it is not realistic to expect a photographer to be a miracle worker, again talk and take the advice, it is in everyone’s interest that you look your best.

Another word on style, the current trend is for a very relaxed informal concept with very little posing. Posing unfortunately has connotations of stiff and ridged but it is my experience that if you are not given some form of instruction from someone whose job it is to make you look your best, who is familiar with overcoming the effects of a two dimensional image, creating a three D feel, then there are occasions when a little posing will make you look wonderful. Remember the camera flattens so you have to create shape to overcome this. The trick is to make the posing fun and you will enjoy being a super model and will love the shots.

All this work is done at the practice session before the wedding, building confidence so that on your day you are sure you are going to look your best and get on with enjoying the day.

We now come to acid test how much does it cost?

You could look at this another way. Does expensive mean quality or does cheap mean good value? How come photographer A is charging twice or three times as much as photographer B?

Well your photographer is running a business just like every other professional so there is a price put on his or her time. There could be a clue here why B is cheap, may be he is a semi-pro and has another day job and shoots weddings at the weekend. Look at the work, does it live up to your expectations or has A got more flare? Is B devoting lots of time to you before the wedding doing the practice shoot and does B work with an assistant who also shoots at the wedding giving you two perspectives. Do you like the albums they produce? Is the quality vastly different? Is there an option not to have an album but perhaps create it at a later date as an anniversary present perhaps? How long have they been in business? Do they charge VAT or is it in included in the price? You will not be able to claim the VAT back as getting married is not a business expense (an expensive business I grant you) but if your photographer is charging VAT directly or indirectly this may be an indication of how successful they are.

Have they got lots of thank you cards from satisfied customers and lastly was your first impression of their website a reflection of the person when you first meet them?

These are all of the considerations you will have when choosing your wedding photographer.