Choosing your Wedding Photographer - first steps

Choose your Wedding Photographer early in your wedding planning process

If photography is a high priority for your wedding, you should get it out of the way early in your wedding planning process. So you can feel better and more relaxed when you know that all your important moments will be captured in the way you like.

A photographer normally covers only one event per day, this means they are booked out quickly especially during the high season in Marbella and the whole Costa del Sol!

Make a careful research

When choosing your photographer, you should take a lot of time for a careful research regarding professional skills, artistic style and personal demeanor. Study the photographers’ websites and the photos they take. Check out their Facebook, Instagram and Twitter pages too.

Do you like the style? Each photographer has a personal take on the best way to tell a story through photos. The way a photographer perceives storytelling is going to inform what they take photos of, how they take them, where they are when the important events happen, and everything else in between
Do they take pictures only in color or do they mix them with black and white as well?
Do they seem to have captured the kinds of moments you want to capture? Do you get tears into your eyes while viewing some of the photos? Can you imagine that they are pictures of your wedding?
Do their weddings seem to have the same shot just with different players? Or are the photos individual and original?

Choose your type of photography style

Before you start to look for a photographer you have to decide what type of photography style you prefer.

There are two main categories into which all photographers’ work will fall.

Traditional versus Photojournalistic/Documentary

Traditional

If you prefer classic portraits go with a traditional photographer. He will spend time having you pose, taking portraits, arranging your hair and dress and lighting you in all the right way. But there is still a room for creativity, depending on the composition the photographer will choose.

Advantages: This style means that you know before what you get and that you get what you want. You can plan and discuss the shots with your photographer before, there are no surprises. You can even give him a check list to make sure that he covers everything you want. You can download our free photographer checklist on our websit

Disadvantages: The flow of the wedding can be determined by the need to take certain pictures. The guests maybe wait too long for you coming back from your shots.

Photojournalistic/Documentary

Your photographer will capture the story of your wedding day with a series of unposed, in-the-moment, spontaneous pictures. Of course you can have a formal portrait as well, but the goal is to show the day through unplanned pictures. Very rarely you will get images of people staring at the camera.

Advantages: These candid moments will delight your heart and bring you back to your big day and you experience the whole day again emotionally like you were there.

Disadvantages: Maybe you don’t get all the photos you would like, because by trying to cover all the dramatic moments the photographer may miss out some photos of your older relatives or some friends who tend to be outside the main action.

Meet your potential photographer in person

Choosing your wedding photographer can’t be done just by looking at their work in internet and checking the prices. You must meet your potential photographer in person. So after narrowing your selection of wedding photographers down to around three, make appointments to interview the candidates. Likely, the photographer will have two or three wedding albums available to show. Make sure you see at least one album of an entire wedding, from start to finish, preferably something that is comparable to what your wedding will be like in physical setting and emotional tone.

During your interview, find out how many weddings the photographer has shot over how many years. He may have been a professional photographer for 15 years but only doing weddings for the past year. Remember, wedding photography is much different than any other type of photography; the pressure is high and the emotional energy is not suited for everyone.

And don’t forget the personal aspect as well. It is very important that the photographer is on the same wavelenght with you and is excited by your vision of your wedding.