How To Choose Your Wedding Photographer
Choosing the right wedding photographer can feel overwhelming, especially with so many new photographers entering the wedding photography industry every year. There are endless options, and knowing who you can trust with such an important day isn’t easy. Luckily, I’ve compiled five helpful tips to guide you in finding your perfect wedding photographer. Before we dive in, lets discuss that truly makes a great wedding photographer.
What Makes a Good Wedding Photographer
While it may seem that the difference between a ‘good’ and ‘bad’ wedding photographer comes down to the quality of their work. While this is definitely a major part of it, there are more variables. Finding a good wedding photographer is much more than someone who takes beautiful wedding photos. They know how to lead, guide, support and take care of their clients throughout the entire process – from the pre-wedding until the wedding photos are delivered.
In fact, the client experience matter just as much as the photos. Think about it. Why does everyone love brands like Apple? It’s not just their product, it’s their customer support. You know that if you need help with anything you can count on them.
When you’re investing your hard earned money, you deserve a professional experience that’s both effortless and enjoyable. Our job as wedding photographers is to make sure every process of your wedding is as painless as possible. That means from helping you plan your wedding day, to the wedding day itself. Your wedding photographer should be able to connect with your bridal party and guests. While you’re the heart of the day, everyone at the wedding play a huge part in your celebration. Creating a positive and memorable experience of your wedding day should always be kept as your top priority.
Now, let’s get to the fun stuff!
1. Find Your Style
When it comes to choosing your wedding photographer, the look and feel of your photos is one of the first things you need to consider. What sets photographers apart is their style, and finding the right style that resonates with you is important. The style of your wedding photos will dictate the feel of your wedding day, from the colours of your photos down to the posing of your portraits.
There are a large range of wedding photography styles – from light and airy, editorial, traditional or photojournalistic. Most couples have a general understanding of which style they’re drawn to, but they don’t know how to communicate the style. To make this process easier, I’ve broken down the most common styles you’ll see. This way you’ll get a better sense of the look and feel of each.
Light and Airy Wedding Photography
Light and airy wedding photography (often referred to as bright and airy) is simple, beautiful and timeless. This style is all about natural light, soft tones, and pastel-inspired color palettes that create a clean and romantic look. The images are bright, with a dreamy feel that’s easy on the eyes and effortlessly beautiful.
Light and airy photographers often avoid darker backgrounds in favour of naturally lit spaces. Wardobes make all the difference with how these photos look, so you’ll want to stick to neutral and earthy tones for your engagement sessions, as bold dark colours will make this look difficult to acheive.
If you’re looking for a style that will be timeless, this may be one to consider. Click here to check out our featured wedding galleries!
Dark and Moody Wedding Photography
Dark and moody wedding photography is bold and dramatic. It’s the complete opposite of light and airy. It’s known for having really deep shadows and high contrast, and can, to a degree, look like a renaissance photo. Despite being a bit of a fad, it’ has’s gained a lot of popularity in recent years in the wedding industry.
These photos usually have a really warm, orange tone that looks completely unnatural. Photographers specializing in this style of wedding photography shoot in darker environments and use shadows to create depth. Darker backgrounds, foliage and lighting such as golden hour play into this style.
If you’re drawn for darker moody tones, this is the style to go for. However, understand that this style of photography will not be timeless.
Traditional/Neutral Wedding Photography
This is your classic style of bridal photos where colours are true to life. While modern wedding photographers typically compose shots in a more artistic way, the traditional approach focuses on a balance of ‘classical poses’ and focusing on more genuine candid moments. It’s clean, timeless and perfect for those who want their day to be true to form.
This style shines during receptions where flash photography is involved, as it captures everything very clearly without over styling the photos. Those who prefer natural photos with classic storytelling will enjoy this style, which is fairly similar to editorial photography.
Photojournalistic Wedding Photography
A photojournalistic wedding photographer focuses on storytelling that’s candid and unposed. Rather than directing the day through posing, they let the day play out as it. Every event and emotion is genuine and spontaneous. They capture every quiet in-between moment. This type of photography requires a lot of patience and anticipation as most of these moments happen very quickly. They don’t follow any trends, but rather keep things authentic.
Each style of wedding photography directly influences how your wedding photographer shoots. From the lenses we use, to the lighting we seek out, to how we guide you throughout the day. Once you identify the style that resonates with you, the next step is to look for a photographer whos work you enjoy.
The easiest way to find a photographer is to use certain keywords in google similar to ‘wedding photographer near me’ or ‘Toronto wedding photographer’. Even keywords in different combinations such as ‘wedding photographer Toronto’, ‘best Toronto wedding photographer’ etc. help.
2. Decide your budget
You’ve nailed down your photography style and you’ve narrowed down all the wedding photographers near you. The next step? Deciding on a budget for your wedding photographer. This will vary based on your overal budget, but when it comes to wedding photography, you truly get what you pay for.
While everyone’s budget is different, it’s important to understand the value behind the cost of wedding photography. You aren’t only paying for beautiful wedding photos that you’ll love, but you’re also investing in the experience and professionalism that you’ll receive during the most important day of your life. Typically, couples who invest in the $5,000-$6,000 range tend to get not only incredible wedding photos, but a better experience.
On the lower end of the spectrum, you’ll find inconsistencies in overall quality, impacting your journey leading up to your big day. This brings us to step three!
3. RESEARCH!!!!
Now that you found your style, you’ve determined your budget and narrowed down a couple of photographers, the process gets much easier. There are a few things you’ll want to look into before going ahead and booking your photographer.
Review the photographer’s work online and don’t be afraid to ask for full galleries to make sure the work they advertise is consistent with the work that they don’t post on their social media. In a lot of scenarios, photographers publish only their best photos, which can often be very misleading as the rest of the gallery may be sub-par. Not only this, but most newer wedding photographers with little to no experience litter their portfolio with styled shoots, or even worse, use AI generated images. Take your time and review a photographer’s full wedding day.
4. Contact Prospect Photographer
If there’s one thing I love about my job, it’s when I receive an inquiry from an enthusiastic couple. When you reach out to ask for availability and pricing, be sure to include any details about your wedding. For example, tell us how you met and why you want to work with us. We LOVE a little backstory (and complimenting our work!). If that photographer is available, set up a call to get to know each other.
The consultation is incredibly important when discussing how to choose a wedding photographer. This is where you and the photographer find out if you’re a right fit for each other. This, in my opinion, is the most important thing to look for in your photographer because you can see their professionalism and if you vibe with them. The reason I rank this as the most important factor in choosing your photographer is that you will be together for 8-15 hours on your wedding day(sometimes even 30 hours if it’s a multi-day South Asian wedding). You’ll want to make sure your personalities match and that your photographer’s presence will enhance your wedding experience. Most of our day isn’t necessarily photographing your wedding, it’s managing the day, talking to the two of you and your guests, and problem-solving. Make sure you’re fully comfortable with your wedding photographer!
During the consultation, you might wonder what to ask a wedding photographer… Well, talk about your vision for the wedding, what you love about their work, and what you expect of them. Be open and honest because this helps us advise you in the best possible way. Some photographers specialize in certain cultural weddings. If you’re having a South Asian wedding or a Jewish wedding, for example, ask if they have experience photographing them. Knowing this is important so you’ll be confident in your photographer skillset. Don’t worry too much about how long that photographer has been around, the biggest sign is their professionalism and their work.
If the photographer doesn’t have experience in your culture, it isn’t a huge deal-breaker as we tend to pick things up quickly and we often do our own research. If you love them but they’re out of your price range, it isn’t rude at all to ask if there is any leeway with their pricing! I’m always open to working with my couples if we’re a little over budget.
5. Book your photographer as soon as possible
This is the shortest step when about how to choose a wedding photographer. Simply put, book your photographer as soon as possible. I always hate following up with couples who decided to book too late and having to tell them that another couple secured their date. So be sure to book them asap!
I hope you enjoyed reading about how to choose a wedding photographer, and I hope this helped you in choosing your photographer!
