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How to Choose a Wedding Photographer
While my area of expertise is nature and landscape photography I have dabbled in virtually all other forms of photography. I’ve worked, for a time in almost every genre. Since I have some experience and I’ve also had the experience of getting married I thought it was about time to address finding a wedding photographer.

It’s big business now and could be a larger percentage of your wedding budget if you let it. There is more than the budget though and I’m not really going to address that issue here. My only advice is check the market going rate and make sure you’re setting a realistic cost and stick to it.
When choosing a wedding photographer there a few things you need to consider. Style, Focus, and type of photos you want.

Style is just that the style of the photographer. There is the classic style, very posed and standard. I’ll call it modern classic, my photographer did this. Posed shots but not the traditional poses and a focus on capturing moments and emotions. Journalist, this is a new style and very cool too. They treat your wedding more like a press event and their focus is on capturing emotions and moments. You won’t get any the set up poses here. Highly artistic, they usually use a mix of poses and candids but the shots are highly staged and there may be few taken of your actual wedding ceremony and more done after where your recreate moments in a highly artistic view, usually the view of the photographer. Candid, usually this isn’t so much a professional photographers style, but happens when you decide to use family, friends, and those little disposable cameras. Can give you great results and shots you’d never expect but you can also get shots of somebody drunk doing something really embarrassing.
So first you need to decide which style fits your personality and what you want from your photos. I was lucky to work with a wedding coordinator who pre-screened photographers and then all I had to do was look at their portfolios and pick the style I liked. If you can’t do this visit at least one photographer in each style that you’re considering. Make sure you like the person that you’re working with too. If you don’t get along how on earth can you get along with them on your most stressful day.

Focus this is sort of a subset of style. Some photographers emphasize posed shots. Others balance their work. Some rely heavily on candid or moments type photos.
When I did a few weddings, while I did the standard poses and shots of the ceremony. I really enjoyed capturing the little moments during the reception or just after the ceremony when the bride and groom were so happy at just being pronounced man and wife. It was great to focus on emotions and looks, and those wonderful happy dreamy gazes.
You’ll need to pay attention to focus as much as style. Do you want mostly posed shots or do you want those moments captured. Probably most photographers are really good and balancing the two.

Type of photos. Do you want digital images. Large photos for your wall. What about a cd of your proofs. This is more of a product issue but think about the end product that you want. When I was married digital wasn’t really an option but I knew that I wanted all my proofs and a few large prints. Some photographers have it all now but look at what their speciality is everyday. If they’re using a digital camera all the time then digital is their specialty and getting large prints may not be feasible. (Depending on the technology they have at their studio of course.) If they are using medium format film then large wall prints are easy but getting a cd copy of your prints may not be something they normally do. Try to decide where you want the best product result and go from there.

Lastly give your photographer specific requests and directions but remember he or she can’t force great aunt sally or old family friend george in or out of photos. Every photographer will do their best to accommodate all your wishes but he is dealing with human beings. And don’t forget that if you’ve chosen this photographer you’ve also chosen their style of work, don’t second guess them or tell them what to do. You’ve got to trust that they are going to do a good job for you. Enjoy your day and be prepared to see some wonderful photography when you get home.

Copyright 2007 Kelly Paal
Kelly Paal is a Freelance Nature and Landscape Photographer, exhibiting nationally and internationally. She started her own business Kelly Paal Photography. She has an educational background in photography, business, and commercial art. Please visit www.kellypaalphotography.com for more FREE how to articles.