Bride and Groom advice: How to get the photography you want from your wedding photographer

There are as manny different styles of photography as there are photographers,
and as manny different tastes as there are brides and grooms...

It’s probably one of the trickiest things for your wedding day, to get the photographs that you want to have for memorizing your day. At least for the cake and the dress, you will see samples or pictures of it before making your mind up. Of course you won't be able to see the images of your wedding day before making a decision on photographer... but there are a few things that can be planned ahead to give you the photography you want to have. We've put together a little list for you of things to think about.

1: Portfolio  

This is probably the most important tool you can choose your photographer by.

Have a look at his/her previous work. Does it look like the kind of images that you would like to keep from your day? Do the images look professional and technically correct? Can you see what sort of style the photography is carried out with? Is it very posed photography? Is it very natural and informal like photojournalism? Does the bride look like a fashion model posed and creatively lit, or does it look like everybody has been captured when unaware? How would you prefer to have it?

If possible, ask to see shots from one whole wedding. That will give you the idea about whether your photographer was in the right place to capture the moments, if the quality has been there throughout the day and what sort of quantity and quality you can expect. Quantity can be misleading though. Anyone can grab a camera, point it and spit out photograph after photograph. To get that certain moment which is there in a split second and then gone, the photographer might have sacrificed time when other less interesting images could have been captured. So look for the quality in each image as well. 300 stunning, spectacular images might be better than 600 "so-so". Or maybe you'd rather have every single thing about your wedding photographed, then look for the quantity. 

2: Communication

Equally as important as the photographer's previous work, to get the images that are personal to you and your wedding day - is that you and your photographer understand each other. It could be that your photographer has some amazing photo journalism looking shots in the portfolio, which is exactly what you're after. But you may also want more close ups and details of things. Or you might want more portraits and can't really find what you're looking for in their book... This doesn't necessary mean that the photographer can't or won't do it, it probably just means that no other couple have asked for it. It may be that the photographer has some samples from other shoots or portrait sessions to show you. A good idea is to also show the photographer, pictures that you like. It could be images from magazines or from a friend's wedding. You see, it is important to communicate what kind of portraits you're after.You might want posed portraits of your family outside the church, or maybe you want natural looking shots of bride and groom at a location that has a meaning to you, or maybe you want something staged with special lighting and contemporary compositions, something creative and fashion looking.
Communication with the photographer is the key for making an impact on what photographs will stay with you after that day has gone...

3 Planning

It may sound a little bit rigid and boring to actually "plan the photography" - it's meant to be natural shots of your day, not planned pictures. What I mean here is not for every picture to be planned, but for the photographer to get all the information he/she would need, in order to capture your day to their best ability. Even if the photographer is supposed to "just" follow your day from somewhere in the background, some information is needed for the photographer to plan things. A pre visit to the locations used on your day (reception venue, church, etc) might be required, for the photographer to check on; lighting conditions, rules for photography, photogenic angles and also for just getting some ideas and inspiration. Remember, the photographer has got to be at the right place at the right time throughout your whole day. Let me give you an example from my own experience: Sometimes the bride and groom will walk straight out from the church at the end of the ceremony. At other times they will go into a side room or wait at the altar, while their guests go out first, to be ready with the rice or confetti. I did this mistake at my second ever wedding. I didn't expect the couple to walk out first, I thought they where heading to a side room just like in my previous wedding. So when the couple headed straight for the front door, with smiles hitting their ears and tears streaming, there was no photographer waiting outside to capture them.... But with some proper planning, the photographer would have been in the right place.
(Now more we always work two photographers together, to be sure to capture everything from different view points - but not all photographers work in pairs)  
Let's take another example. The first dance. Traditionally it has always been a romantic, very slowly performed piece. But if you have had a look at the latest Youtube videos it has become very popular to rock it up. 
Can you imagine what the images will come out like, if the photographer has set his camera to a low shutter speed, awaiting the traditionally slow version, and the bride and groom breaks into a coreographed hiphop show? The first dance will be totally blurred. You might say that the photographer could just quickly change the shutterspeed setting. But there might be other complications... what if the light in the room is not enough for fast movements? What if an extra flash is needed all the sudden, and certain settings need to be altered to capture the all the movements but keep the atmosphere? It might well be that the great moment is gone, by the time the photographer has got all the equipment properly geared. And this could of course have been avoided, if only the photographer had known in advance about the surprise and could have prepared for it.
So as you can see, some planning always has to be done, even to get the most chilled out, photojournalistic looking shots. This is a list we've put together, of a few things that your photographer may want to know in order to plan for the photography:

* A meeting with bride and groom, where the photographer can find out certain information about you, and where both parties can take the opportunity to come forward with ideas. 

* An itinerary of the day.

* A pre visit to your wedding locations 

* Contact details or a chat with the vicar/priest/registry office to find out  if there are any rules in regards to photography during ceremony

* Information of any surprises. There might be some event kept secret from your guests, but don't keep it secret for your photographer - remember the photographer has to be at the right place at the right time all the time. It could even be worth giving the photographer's details to the best man, in case he has any secret events in store for bride and groom...


Some last words...
I hope that this text has helped in giving an understanding on how your photography can be prepared for, and that communication is important for the photographer to achieve images that you like. I just want to point out that we don't mean to sound as if everything has to be rigidly prepared for.  A lot of things will happen on your day - unplanned moments, weather changes, or something new that your photographer suddenly sees. An itinerary is more like a base for the photographer to branch out from. In the end of the day photography is an art of capturing a moment that happens in an instant. The preparations are just measures, to make sure that the photographer is where the instant moment happens.




Louise Bjorling,
your wedding tale photographer