Advice

A reportage is prepared before the day itself, and most of that preparation sits in decisions taken well in advance: who will photograph your wedding, what you will have seen of their work before signing, and at which point in the day you will agree to leave your guests for the light.

These pages gather the bearings that the field has given me since 1992, from the photographer's side. They say what a supplier directory will not: that most of the questions you are told to ask are of no use, and that the one that matters never appears on the list.

One example, to set the tone. The most useful question before signing is not about equipment or the number of images delivered: it is to ask to see a complete wedding, morning to night, rather than a portfolio. A portfolio is a selection of thirty images taken over five years, in five places, with five couples. A full gallery shows consistency across a day, what happens during the meal when the light turns difficult, and whether the guests were photographed as much as the couple.

This is not a sales argument. What you read here holds for any photographer, including the ones you will meet elsewhere. A couple who knows what to ask chooses better, and is wrong less often.

The section will grow over time: organising the day, looking for a photographer, comparing, deciding.