I’m a Wedding Photographer AMA

[RandomNameUser54321]

Been a wedding photographer for 12 years, 5 years full time. Hit me with it!

I started as a kid, picked up an old camera, was quickly passed a relatives slightly better camera. Started photographing anything and everything I could, baptisms, uni events, friends, then when friends started getting married I jumped straight in. Did a year second shooting with an established photographer and any training course I could find and away I went.

Camera brand doesn’t make a massive difference Sony, Canon, Nikon are all much of a muchness, what makes the difference is the lenses. You want wide aperture lenses for dark situations, and some of those lenses cost £2-3k. Prime lenses are best for dark ceremonies- so 24 1.2 or 35 1.2, but you can get away with a 24-70 f2.8 a lot of the time. I’m a bit of a gear geek and have too many lenses for sure.

How do you justify charging £1000+ just to point and click a camera for a few hours?

(Joking! I'm a wedding photographer too!)

£1 per click 😂

What’s the one (or more!) thing you wish couples would do in order to get better shots or just make the whole experience easier?

I had one of these albums, was about an extra £600 years ago. Beautiful, but very expensive! I think it was only about 20 pages as well. Sorry to derail. It must be a lovely job OP to witness weddings for a living

Plan their timeline better, make sure there is at least 90 mins after the ceremony for group photos, mingling, confetti, and couple portraits. Some venues only allow one hour and it’s just not long enough, and no one wants food sitting getting overcooked. I only take 30 mins with the couple and 30mins on groups, but the couple need to mingle with their guests too!

A relaxed couple are easy to photograph. A couple who are stressed by everything aren’t.

Also ban supermarket bags from bridal prep.

It’s the best - I love what I do. I love seeing people so happy and celebrating, and I love giving them something they can look back on through the years. Genuinely love the couples I work with (99.9% of the time anyway!)

I would like to know this too.
I was very unhappy with my wedding photos and didn't think the photographer dealt with it very well.

I’ve had one complaint, and the reasons listed were honestly laughable. I’ve had hundred of couples tell me they love the photos. I always worry about the ones I don’t hear back from.

Its a tough one, I wasn’t happy with my own wedding photographs, but now I’ve matured I can see a lot of that had to do with self image, and the fact the hairdresser screwed up big time but there was no time to fix it, and I’m clueless with hair. I never said anything to the photographer as they did a good job. I have so many photos of precious friends and family who are no longer with us. Who cares if my hair looks really bad.

I do everything to show a good representation of my style beforehand, manage expectations, explain what is and isn’t possible, and I work damn hard to capture everything I can do. I also try and attract more relaxed couples! I really care about what I do, and try to do my best with every wedding. But the reality is far too many women have self image issues. I see such beautiful and wonderful people, I wish they could see what I see!

Interesting that you say to leave 90 minutes for photos. On mumsnet anything over a quick 30 minutes between ceremony and wedding breakfast and apparently everyone is keeling over from lack of sustenance 😅

I have 2 hours between ceremony and wedding meal and I'm hoping at least some of that I will get to speak to people! (Also no fainting guests hopefully!)

It’s keeling over with boredom for me! (but I think also depends on timing of the wedding) It’s not so bad if there’s somewhere to sit down indoors and chat, but too often you’re corralled outside to stand around waiting, because someone is “dressing” the room.

anyway my question to you OP, thinking of my first wedding 😬 is:

Has anyone not collected their wedding album because they’d already separated before the prints were ready?

(or was that just me)

I have to be honest I think if guests are keeling over from starvation after 30 mins they should have eaten before the ceremony. Canapés and drinks work well here. No one likes standing around for ages, the venues that work better have seating. I know I was a guest at a wedding about 15 years ago and it was all outside with no seats and it was pretty painful standing about for ages.

I’ve never had anyone tell me they’ve not collected the album because they’ve split, but I’ve had a few never collect the album so I’ve wondered!