How to choose your wedding photographer

I am on the other side of this. A documentary wedding photographer for thirty years, trained in photojournalism, and years with the Gamma and Vandystadt press agencies before coming to weddings. What follows is something a supplier directory will not tell you: most of the questions people are advised to ask a photographer serve no purpose, and the one that genuinely matters never appears on the list. ## The one test that matters before you sign **Ask to see a complete wedding, not a portfolio.** A portfolio is a selection. Thirty images chosen from twelve thousand, taken over five years, in five different places, with five different couples. Everyone has a good portfolio. It tells you nothing about what you will receive. A complete wedding, morning to night, shows you something else: consistency. Does the quality hold across a whole day? What happens during dinner, when the light turns difficult? Are the guests photographed, or only the couple? Are there hour-long gaps? A photographer who refuses to show you a full gallery has a reason for refusing. Ask for two or three, in different conditions, including one indoors and one in poor weather. ## The questions worth asking **Who will photograph my wedding?** A question for studios rather than independents. Some sell the work of one name and send someone else on the day. Have the name written into the contract. **What happens if you fall ill?** A professional has an answer ready: a network of colleagues they can call, and a clause in the contract. If they have never thought about it, that is information. **How are my files backed up on the day?** Two cards written simultaneously in the camera, or a copy made that same evening before sleeping. A single memory card in a bag is a wedding that can disappear. **Can I see photographs from my venue?** A photographer who knows your estate knows where the shade falls at three in the afternoon, which room serves as the wet-weather plan, and where the exits are. That cannot be improvised on the day. **Are you insured?** Professional liability cover. Most venues ask for it anyway. ## The questions that serve no purpose **How many photographs will I receive?** The question gives the illusion of a measurable criterion. It is not one. Eight hundred average images are worth less than three hundred that hold. A photographer who leads with a number is telling you he has nothing better to say. **What equipment do you use?** It has no bearing on what you will receive. A good photographer makes good images with decent equipment. **Do you retouch?** Everyone answers yes. The real question is what they retouch and how far. Look at skin across a complete wedding: you will see immediately whether they smooth everything or respect faces. ## Reportage or directed photography This is the real choice, and it shapes your day far more than any visual style. **Reportage** means observing and photographing what happens. The photographer moves, positions, waits. Nobody poses, nobody is directed. You live your day and you get it back as it unfolded. That is what I do. **Directed photography** stages the scenes. A church exit is re-enacted, a couple is placed, a moment is repeated. The images are more controlled and the day is more constrained. Neither is better. But they produce different days, and you need to know which one you want to live before you start looking at photographs. Family groups sit outside this distinction: they are directed in both approaches, and they take about twenty minutes that have to be built into the running order. ## When to book I advise blocking the date about a year ahead, and enquiries reach me up to two years out for Saturdays between May and September on the French Riviera and in Provence. A weekday, or April or October, leaves far more choice. The order that works: the date, the venue, then the photographer. The venue governs everything else, and a photographer adapts to a venue far more easily than the reverse. ## What drives the price Nobody ever breaks this down for you, so here is what genuinely weighs. The hours present, from preparations to the end of the evening. The post-production time, which runs to several days of work for one day of shooting. Travel and accommodation when the venue is distant. A second photographer, which is justified on some running orders and not on others. And prints or albums, which are a separate commission. A quote that does not itemise these prevents you from comparing. Ask for an itemised one. ## Frequently asked questions **Do we need a second photographer?** It depends on guest numbers and the running order, not on the budget. For two hundred guests with preparations in two separate places, yes. For sixty people at a single estate, rarely. An honest photographer will tell you when it adds nothing. **Is a pre-wedding session worth it?** It helps if you are uncomfortable in front of a camera, because it gets that out of the way before the day. It does not if you are already at ease. **How long until we receive the photographs?** It varies considerably between professionals, and it is a question to ask before signing. Have the schedule written into the contract rather than relying on a verbal promise. **Do we need a contract?** Always. It fixes the date, the hours, the photographer's name, the delivery schedule, travel costs and the usage rights on the images. **Who owns the photographs?** You have private use of them. The photographer keeps copyright and asks your permission before publishing. You can restrict that permission, wholly or in part, and it is written into the contract. Tell me about your day, and we will work out together how it is photographed.