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 organize weddings nor book photographers on a daily basis, it can be a bit confusing to navigate the whole wedding process.

That's why I've created this guide to help you with advice and tips on how to go about the process and how best to find a good wedding photographer.

Brides and grooms have very different ideas about what their wedding photos should look like. Some have a relatively fixed idea of what style they're going for. Others like to leave it entirely up to the photographer. But whether or not you've put a lot of thought into the style of your wedding photos, it can be a good idea to work out what you actually think looks good.

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

There are different styles of wedding photography that you can explore. Once 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 photo

Pros and cons

• Captures spontaneous situations.

• The bride and groom don't have to pose.

• The photographer is the fly on the wall.

• Creates a visual narrative like a photo essay.

• Not so traditional.

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

Documentary wedding photography is also called photojournalistic wedding photography. The genre is roughly the opposite of posed wedding photos and fixed conventions of what wedding photos are. A photojournalist is the fly on the wall, taking reportage photos where the photographer does not take an active role in making things happen. In the wedding context, this means that a photographer goes for showing the real and raw emotions that come out during a wedding.

Set-up portraits, where for example the groom's family is on one side of the bride and groom's family on the other, are not normally part of the repertoire of a photojournalist, nor when it comes to a wedding.

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

Portraits and wedding pictures

Pros and cons

• Brides and grooms know what they're getting.

• Photography lasts for a measured period of time.

• The photographer controls what happens.

• Good portraits require empathy and posing.

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

The antithesis of the photojournalistic style are posed portraits. These pictures are based on the bride and groom posing in different places. This could be at the church, at a pre-determined location or in a studio. Here, the photographer will typically tell the couple how to stand, how to hold each other, etc. This way the photographer is in control of the portraits that have been agreed beforehand. It gives the bride and groom peace of mind that they know what they are getting.

Some also like that the shoot lasts a fixed amount of time - typically around an hour. Then they have the rest of the day to enjoy their wedding without the photographer snapping away around them all the time.

But portraiture is not necessarily an easy discipline. To achieve a good result, the photographer needs to be able to relax the couple. The danger with posed photos is that they end up looking like just that - posed. As humans, we are experts at decoding facial expressions. That's why we can tell in a split second what emotions people in a picture are expressing. In other words: If the bride and groom aren't feeling their best, there's a chance it'll show in the photos too.

In the case of an hour set aside for portrait photography, the time itself can seem stressful. It takes no time at all to say 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. Because often the bride and groom have to be in a certain place at a certain time after the shoot. And of course that takes precedence. This means that the portraits might get a bit rushed.

Different styles make the best wedding photos

In my experience, many brides and grooms want a combination of styles. For example, it could 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 of many emotions, combined with a portrait session where the bride and groom spend time getting the good portraits.

Inspiration for wedding photos

Many brides and grooms find inspiration online. Both when looking for photographers and looking for inspiration for their own wedding photos. It can be a great way to find out what your wedding photos might look like. Wedding photography is a big industry in the US, for example, so you might come across a lot of American images. Here you can easily find good inspiration for set-ups, poses and good ways to get your pictures taken. But many of the pictures may be taken under completely different lighting conditions than what is typically the norm at a wedding in Denmark.

For example, if the photos are to be taken in a softer light, in a Danish summer context this would mean that the photo session should take place at the same time as the dinner typically takes place. In other words, sunsets and Danish summer weddings can be difficult to reconcile. It's certainly possible to take these kinds of photos, but there will often be some logistical challenges to overcome first.

If you have specific location requirements or have seen a particular image 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 be able to quickly assess whether that particular location and time of day can produce the desired result.

Find a lot of wedding pictures on the web for inspiration.
Think about what style you like.
Find a photographer and tell them what you want for the day and the photos.
Make sure you 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 settle on a budget, there are a few things to 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 photo packages. It can be a small package, where the photographer is for example in the church and after the wedding takes portraits of the bride and groom. And at the other end of the spectrum, the photographer may be there from the time the bride gets ready before the wedding 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 provide a fixed number of images and offer additional costs if you want more images. Other photographers send all the images from the day, with a small number edited and the rest not.

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

1. A photographer takes many pictures to get this shot.

2. You've chosen a photographer because you trust them to capture your wedding. Therefore, also trust that the photographer can choose the right ones afterwards.

3. If you have to choose images from a pool of several thousand photos, it's going to take a really long time.

4. A big part of a photographer's job is selecting images. In other words, the photographer is trained to spot the best images.

Find the right price for wedding photography

In my view, the best and easiest price 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.