I have something a little different for you this week. As an event stylist, I meet a whole host of wedding suppliers and this week I’ve invited one over for a guest post. Birmingham based wedding photographer Jo Wheeler is here to give you her top tips on how to choose the right wedding photographer for your big day. Over to you Jo!
So you’re getting married! You’ve no doubt planned your big day with military precision and on that long list of things to do is the need to find yourself a wedding photographer.
Most of us only plan to get married once and finding a photographer can be a daunting task as there seem to be so many offering a similar style but with varied price ranges.
There are no hard and fast rules on how best to find your photographer:
- Ask friends who they used, would they recommend them?
- Have a look at websites dedicated to all things wedding related.
- Can your venue recommend somebody?
Once you’ve narrowed it down to about three or four, try to meet all of them. It is so important to like the person who is going to photograph your wedding day. My experience is that for a number of hours, you will have quite an intense/close relationship with your photographer – make sure you like the person you pick.
I know a lot of brides are sorely tempted to use a friend or relative who is ‘into’ photography, but I would strongly recommend against this. Wedding venues, such as churches can have very difficult light that an experienced photographer will know how best to work with.
When you first start researching a photographer for your wedding, you will see or hear terms such as ‘documentary’ ‘candid’ and ‘photojournalistic’. These terms mean more or less the same thing. They refer to a style where the photographer takes pictures unobtrusively, without the subject really knowing they are being photographed.
I would advise against having only ‘candid’ pictures. If you are very uncomfortable in front of the camera, or have a bit of your body that you are not happy with, tell your photographer. You won’t be the first to feel this way and you won’t be the last.
A photographer will also use th
e word ‘formal’ when discussing styles of photography. This is a little more self-explanatory. These are the images that everybody recognises from their parents/grandparents wedding albums and are the pictures where everybody is gathered and posed in front of the photographer.
A list of formal pictures supplied to the photographer will guarantee that you get pictures of the important people. Sometimes these groups of people don’t come together naturally, so your photographer will get everybody together for your important formal pictures. If you have a long list of formal pictures you’d like, speak with your venue so you can allow enough time for all your photography requests.
On the day of your wedding and if you want getting ready pictures, you should consider asking your photographer to be with you from about 2 hours before your ceremony time. Please allow about 10 to 15 minutes for your photographer to get pictures of you before you leave for the ceremony.
While you are considering timings, please consider where your photographs might happen before you leave for the ceremony. If you have an outside space in mind, try to tidy it before your wedding day. If you think you’ll be having your pictures inside, does that area need to be de-cluttered as well?
Once you arrive at your ceremony, timings are pretty much out of your hands until you leave as a newly married couple. However, you should factor in about 20-30 minutes at that venue, be it a church, Registry Office or Civil Ceremony location, for some family formal pictures after the ceremony, There will also be pictures that don’t happen naturally like throwing of confetti and group pictures. Give your photographer time to organise these events.
If you decide to have your main photographs at the venue where you are having your Wedding Breakfast, then my advice would be to plan to have as many photographs as possible before everybody sits down. Once people have eaten and had a glass or two with a toast or two, they are less inclined to want to get involved in photographs and your carefully considered list of aunts, uncles and friends from far and wide may not get completed.
When compiling your photography list, put the most important pictures at the top, then if you do get photography fatigue, the most important pictures will be completed. Does your venue have a fab outside space? If it does, what will you do if it is raining, is there somewhere inside where you can have your pictures? Do you need help in deciding how best to dress your room so your pictures look equally fab if you have to move inside? Why not get an Event Stylist to advise you on how best to dress your room?
If you are unsure of anything, if you need some general advice or just want a chat about your day before meeting me or booking me, then please get in touch….. they say the only silly question is the one that goes unasked.
Written by Jo Wheeler
www.jowheelerweddingphotography.co.uk
jlwphotos@yahoo.co.uk
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