How to Find Them
- Ask your venue for suggestions. Perhaps they can offer a photographer who is already familiar with the venue. Bonus points!
- Ask friends and family for references.
- Use sites like The Knot or Wedding Wire.
Style Matters
- Photojournalism: These photographers take a more candid approach to documenting your wedding. They stay out of the way and let the magic happen without having to tell you to stop celebrating to pose for a picture.
- Fine Art: These photographers use interesting angles, textures, filters and lighting in order to create visually stunning photographs. This requires lots of positioning and posing though, so be patient.
- Fashion: This style is popular in large, metropolitan areas. Like Fine Art, it uses unique lighting and backgrounds, but it focuses more on poses. Thus there is more photographer/client involvement.
- Traditional: In this style, the photographer becomes more of a director and focuses on posing the bride and groom and groups in order to obtain the images.
If you don't want your photographer to interrupt intimate moments and you want them to capture moments as they happen so the images are genuine, go with a photo journalistic style. This style is becoming more and more popular. If you're lucky, you'll find a photographer that does a blend of all styles. My photographer, Josh Jones, achieves this beautifully!
Experience is Key...
...So is Personality
Know Your Budget
How to save:
- Give a rookie a chance! Aspiring photographers need the business and will give you a great deal.
- Perhaps a friend or family member does photography on the side? It's perfectly fine not to have a professional, but choose wisely! Again, these photos are what you will have to remember your wedding day.
Book Early!
- Adina