Choosing the sort of wedding photography style that you want for your wedding can be a bit of a minefield. There are hundreds of options available and lots of jargon describing what is on offer. Documentary wedding photographer, alternative wedding photographer, candid wedding photographer are just a few of the terms being used to describe photography. Chances are you are looking for someone whose images you connect with and who you connect with as a person.
To make it simpler, there are typically three types of wedding photography:
A Traditional Wedding Photography Style – Traditional wedding photography is normally very posed. There can be lots of group shots and can often include lots of direction on where to put your arms and legs. You can expect to look directly at the camera a lot and the photos can often be a little more formal than emotional.
A Contemporary Wedding Photography Style – A contemporary wedding photography style is often the middle ground between traditional photography and reportage photography. There is still some posing and direction from the photographer but there is more creativity in the photos. You’ll be able to spot a contemporary photographer because there images might look similar to those you would see in fashion. They are glamourous and poised. Again the focus can be on getting the shot and creating the art, rather than capturing the feeling on the day.
A Documentary Wedding Photography Style – Reportage wedding photography is natural, it’s relaxed and it’s more of a fly on the wall approach to wedding photography. If you want your wedding photographs to capture what you felt on the day, if you don’t want to pose for long periods of time and if moments are really important to you, then this is the style for you.
I wanted to take a bit of time to talk about you about how I shoot weddings. The best way to describe it is that I look for the moments that pull your heart strings. There are lots of points during a wedding day, that might involve a few leaky eyes…those are the moments that I look for. Dad’s face when he sees his little girl in a wedding dress for the first time….giggles during the best man speech…glances from the groom to the bride that definitely say that he has no idea how he got so lucky.
As well as the big moments, I love looking for the in-between moments that you perhaps won’t see. I love interacting with guests and getting in on the fun.
I love to be as creative as possible with my couples. If you see my leaning at weird angles, using bizarre things to get reflections in front of my lens, or if I’m handing you a smoke grenade, its all in the name of creativity and I promise, you will rock it.
I do think that the formal family portraits are important. They are an opportunity to take a record of your family at that moment in time, what they were wearing, how tall they were, how happy granny looks. You may have been to weddings where the group shots took 3 hours and my couples have often told me that they definitely don’t want this to be the case on their wedding day. I advise couples to think carefully about their group shot list so that we can zip through it as quickly as possible. You can read more about how I organise group photos here.
Most importantly, I won’t interfere with your day. I will allow you to sit back, relax and enjoy yourselves. I will photograph events as they happen and not force or stage anything. Im incredibly relaxed in how to I approach a wedding day and I love that my couples are happy to let me do my thing.
If you are looking for a wedding photographer who loves shooting for relaxed couples and who might make you laugh so hard that you snort, then I would love to hear from you.
You can also check out more of my work here: Portfolio
I also have lots of work on my social media platforms: Find me on: Facebook + Instagram
I also have some helpful wedding planning blog posts for you to have a look through here.