How to Choose the Best Wedding Photographer

Finding a Great Wedding Photographer

Your wedding day will be one of the happiest days of your life and couples will spend thousands and thousands of pounds making sure everything is right for their wedding day so that they can look back with great memories of that special day. Your Kent Wedding Photography will be the cornerstone of those wedding's memories. A Great Wedding Photographer will capture all those special moments and take you back to the happiest day of your life whenever you look over your images. Choosing the right wedding photographer is probably the most important decision that you will make when planning your wedding.

This is the first in a series of posts that will explore the steps you should take in finding the right Wedding Photographer for you and what you should so when you’ve made your choice:

Part 1: Searching for a Wedding Photographer

Start your search for a Wedding Photographer now. Searching for a Wedding Photographer is one of the first things you need do, the best professional wedding photographers are often booked a year or further in advance. If you want to have your pick of the best possible wedding photographers then start searching before or as soon as you have chosen the date. Peak season for wedding photographers in London and the UK are Saturdays during the spring and summer, as this is when the weather is best and the majority of couples want to get married. Winter weddings are becoming increasingly popular so don’t be surprised if these periods are also booked up to a year in advance and the very best Photographers will be in demand all year around the world.

Wedding seasons will vary around the world. If you are looking for a wedding photographer in California, then all year round is pretty much ‘high season’ for weddings. The best advice is to begin your search as soon as you get engaged so you’re ready to book as soon as you have a date.

Where to Look for a Great Wedding Photographer

Everywhere! Start by speaking to friends to find any possible recommendations but remember that different photographers have very different styles and although your best friend may be over the moon about their photographs it doesn’t necessarily mean that their photographer is right for you. The best place to begin a proper search is probably the internet. Good wedding photographers will have a good reputation and a strong online presence as they are confident enough to put their work out there for all to see. These wedding photographers have a reputation of success, and will be relatively well known. They should be the easiest to find but don't be afraid to explore different avenues to find the photographer for you.

Internet searching has a big advantage in that you will have the widest choice (any decent wedding photographer should have a website), and you will instantly be able to view a photographers work and see if their style grabs you. There’s a few key things to take note of here. A wedding photographers online portfolio will reflect the work they’re most proud of. If you’re not convinced by the first batch of images you’re presented with then the chances are they’re not for you. Secondly, don’t be sold by overly fancy website design. Although this can give you a sense of the photographers style and personality, try to concentrate on just the images themselves to start with as these are what you will be getting from them.

Other Places to Search.

Wedding fairs can be a good place to look, but there are a few dangers of brides going to wedding fairs to find their photographer. The first is choice. If you go to a fair then the chances are there will be less than 4-5 wedding photographers there. You’re really limiting your choices here, and if you book there and then, there will be no chance to really check out ths reputation. ’s reputation. It’s easy to be persuaded by a good personality, a beautiful album with ok images or some hard sales tactics. Wedding photographers at a fair will have paid anywhere up to £3000 for a pitch, and there’s pressure for them to make at least a few bookings to cover these costs. This is not to say you can’t get a good wedding photographer at a fair, but that you should make sure you’ve done your research before you commit. The best thing to do if you are considering looking for your wedding photographer here is to get the suppliers list before you attend and then check out their online work and compare these to other photographers before you go along. Remember, the very best wedding photographers will usually be in demand and so may not attend wedding fairs.

One of the big places people miss searching for a wedding photographer is abroad. Wedding photographers in America charge far more on average than UK Wedding Photographers. If you’re having a New York Wedding then consider flying in a London Wedding Photographer. The overall price will be quite similar but you then have the advantage of having much more choice as well as having a photographer than none of your friends will have ever had. I have been lucky enough to photograph weddings in Hong Kong, California, Iceland, Canada, India, Singapore, Italy, Portugal and many more and many of these couples actually live in the country and asked me to travel over. If you like the style of the photographer then don't be afraid to use a little bit of your budget to try and work with your first choice wedding photographer.

Lastly, speak to other vendors who will have worked with wedding photographers in the past. Ask your wedding planner, venue manager, caterer, baker, florist or DJ. Remember though, it’s your choice and the most important thing about your wedding photographer is the photographs themselves.

If after all that you're still looking then try a Wedding Photography directory such as Find a Wedding Photographer - it may be a last resort but it's a good place to find the names of local and national UK Wedding Photographers.

In the next post we will be looking at budgeting for your wedding photography, the cost of wedding photography at how you can maximise the value from your wedding photography budget.

Nick Rose is an International Wedding Photographer based in London. To find out more then visit the main website via the home page or visit the gallery or blog homepage at the top of the page.