Know your preferences and find the best wedding photographer

I photograph weddings all the time. Therefore, I have been a part of the preparations and weddings a lot of times. But for a couple who neither arranges weddings nor books photographers on a daily basis, it can be a bit overwhelming to navigate the entire wedding scene.

Therefore, I have created this guide that can help with good advice and tips on how the process proceeds and how to best find a good wedding photographer.

There is a huge difference in bridal couples' ideas about what their wedding pictures should look like. Some have a relatively firm idea of which style they are looking for. Others are happy to leave it entirely up to the photographer. But regardless of whether you have given much thought to the stylistic expression in your wedding pictures or not, it can be a good idea to find out what you actually think is pretty.

This will ultimately mean that you get wedding pictures that suit your taste.

There are different styles within wedding photography that you can investigate further. When you have looked at examples of the different styles, you may find it easier to communicate with the photographer about how you would like to be photographed.

Documentary photojournalistic wedding photography

Advantages and disadvantages – ultra short

• Captures the spontaneous situations.

• The bridal couple does not have to stand up and pose.

• The photographer is a fly on the wall.

• Creates a visual narrative like a photo reportage.

• Not so traditional.

• Difficult to predetermine how many portraits etc. will be taken.

Documentary wedding photos are also called photojournalistic wedding photos. The genre is roughly the opposite of staged wedding pictures and fixed conventions about what wedding pictures are. A photojournalist is a fly on the wall and takes reportage pictures, where the photographer does not take an active role in making things happen. In a wedding context, this means that as a photographer you aim to show the genuine and raw emotions that emerge during a wedding.

Staged portraits, where for example the groom's family stands on one side of the bridal couple and the bride's family on the other, are not normally part of the repertoire for a photojournalist, not even when it comes to a wedding.

A photojournalist is good at telling stories visually. This means that when a wedding is photographed with a documentary or photojournalistic approach, the photographer has the opportunity to put a very personal touch on the images. You can see many more examples of this type of wedding pictures here at wpja.com.

Portraits and wedding pictures

Advantages and disadvantages – ultra short

• Bridal couples know what they are getting.

• The photography session lasts for a specific amount of time.

• The photographer directs what will happen.

• Good portraits require empathy and posing.

• Time is always short at a wedding, and portraits take time.

The opposite of the photojournalistic style (also quite roughly set up) is the portrait-based wedding photos. The pictures are based on the bridal couple standing and posing in different places. This can be at the church, at a predetermined location, or in a studio. Here, the photographer will typically tell the couple how to stand, how to hold each other, etc. In this way, the photographer ensures that the portraits that have been agreed upon in advance are captured. This gives the bridal couple the security of knowing what they will get.

Some also find it nice that the photography lasts for a specific amount of time – typically around an hour. Then they have the rest of the day to enjoy their wedding without the photographer constantly snapping away around them.

But portraits are not necessarily an easy discipline. To achieve a good result, it requires that the photographer manages to get the couple to relax. The danger with posed pictures is that they end up looking exactly like that – namely posed pictures. We humans are experts at decoding facial expressions. Therefore, in a split second, we sense what emotions people in a picture express. In other words: If the bridal couple is not completely comfortable, there is a risk that it can also be seen in the pictures.

In the event that an hour has been set aside for the portrait photography, the time itself can seem stressful. Time quickly passes by saying hello to a few guests, maybe a car needs to be parked, the wedding dress is difficult to walk in, etc… There are really many things that all take time away from the actual photography. Often, the bridal couple needs to be in a specific place at a specific time after the photography. And that naturally takes precedence. This means that the portraits may end up being a bit rushed.

Different styles give the best wedding pictures.

My experience is that many bridal couples want a combination of styles. It could e.g. be a combination of the photojournalistic and portraits. The fly-on-the-wall approach captures the joy of the day and shows that the wedding is a celebration with many emotions, combined with a portrait session where the bridal couple spends time getting the good portraits taken.

Get international inspiration for wedding pictures and translate it to Danish conditions.

Many bridal couples find inspiration online. Both when they are looking for photographers and looking for inspiration for their own wedding pictures. It can be a really good way to find out what the wedding pictures can look like. Wedding photography is a big industry in e.g. the USA, so therefore you may come across a lot of American pictures. Here you can easily find good inspiration for setups, poses and good ways to get your pictures taken. But many of those pictures may be taken under completely different lighting conditions than what is typically the norm at a wedding in Denmark. The harsh light from the sun on a Danish summer day offers different opportunities than sunset pictures in an epic and magnificent American nature reserve.

If the pictures, for example, are to be taken in a softer light, it will in a Danish summer context mean that the photo session must take place at the same time as the dinner typically takes place. Or in other words, sunset and Danish summer weddings can be difficult to reconcile. It is certainly possible to take such pictures, but there will often be some logistical challenges that must be solved first.

If you have specific wishes for a location or have seen a particular picture that the photographer should be inspired by, it is therefore a good idea to discuss the possibility with a photographer. Preferably a good while in advance. The photographer will quickly be able to assess whether that particular location and time of day can give the desired result.

Find a lot of wedding pictures online for inspiration.
Think about which style you like.
Find a photographer and tell them what wishes you have for the day and the pictures.
Make sure to have aligned expectations.
Find a photographer where you feel you have the right chemistry.

Price for a wedding photographer

Just as weddings have different budgets, you can find wedding photographers in many different price ranges. But before you commit to a budget, there are a few things you can consider first.

What are our needs?

In general, the price depends on how long the photographer will be present on the wedding day. Many photographers have a fixed price for fixed defined photo packages. It can be a small package where the photographer, for example, is present in the church and after the ceremony takes portraits of the bridal couple. And at the other end of the spectrum, the photographer can be present from when the bride gets ready before the ceremony and follows the couple until the bridal waltz is over, or until the party ends.

It can sometimes be a bit difficult to understand the different price compositions. Some photographers deliver a fixed number of pictures and offer add-ons if you want more pictures. Other photographers send all the pictures from the day, where a smaller number are edited, and the rest are not.

It may seem like a tempting and obvious thought that more pictures from the wedding day are better than fewer pictures. But there are still a few arguments that I think speak for not getting all the pictures from the day:

1. A photographer takes many pictures to arrive at this shot.

2. You have chosen a photographer because you trust that they can immortalize your wedding. Therefore, also have confidence that the photographer can choose the right ones afterwards.

3. If you have to choose pictures from a pool of several thousand photos, it will take a really long time.

4. A large part of a photographer's work is about selecting pictures. In other words, the photographer is trained to spot the best pictures.

Find the right price for wedding photography

In my opinion, the best and simplest pricing structure looks like this:

Photos of an all-day wedding will yield a pool of images on the good side of 2000 images. That pool can be scaled down to a maximum of a few hundred. The photos show everything from preparations, wedding, reception, portraits, party etc. In these photos you have the opportunity to reproduce the day in detail and without it being boring to look at.

Use this checklist to find your wedding photographer

• Make plans in due time. There are many wedding photographers who have booked their calendars well in advance. The wedding season in Denmark usually runs from April through August. There are of course plenty who get married outside the high season, but the big demand for photographers is between April and August. And if you want to choose between the best photographers, you need to be out in good time.

• Talk the day through with the photographer. You don't need to know the wedding day down to the minute, but talk to the photographer about the day in broad strokes. A good rule of thumb is that you can usually do fewer things on your wedding day than you want to. Guests, friends and family rarely have the same sense that the day has to follow a particular timeline. Which, in a way, is a good thing, because they're there to enjoy themselves and have a good time. It just means that they don't always rush from church to reception, for example. If the weather is good and they're having a good time after the wedding, it can take a little extra time. There are many more examples of time wasters on a wedding day. Keep this in mind when planning how long you'll spend on wedding sports, for example.

• Have a firm agreement on the delivery of photos. It's a shame to find out after the wedding that you get a different result to what you thought was agreed. Images are usually delivered as digital files. Some photographers include printed versions of the images as part of the delivery. But you can't count on having your images developed at no extra cost.

Wedding photographer on Zealand

If you are getting married on Zealand, it may be a good idea to find a photographer who is also based on Zealand. That way, you won't have to pay extra for bridge or ferry crossings.