Wedding photography

How to get the best from your wedding photographer

Wedding photographs are so important, helping to capture the memories from your beautiful wedding day. Here one of our favourite photographers, Sarah Legge Photography shares some tips on how to get the best from your wedding photographs.

1. Choose your wedding photographer carefully

There are a lot of different photographers and it’s worth taking time to choose the right one for you.

  • Style – Pick the right style of photographer for you – do you want to spend lots of time setting up beautiful posed shots, or do you prefer a more natural ‘capture the moment’ style, or somewhere in between? Do you like light and bright photographs or prefer a darker, moodier look?
  • Personality – You have to spend quite a lot of time around your photographer on the wedding day, and you need to like them, so go and visit them or have a good chat on the phone before booking.
  • Budget – Photographs are one thing that lasts from a wedding, and (although of course I might be biased!) I would strongly recommend that this isn’t an area to try and scrimp on! I’ve heard so many horror stories about when a ‘friend with a camera’ has kindly taken the wedding photos but with very disappointing results.
  • Experience – It’s really handy if your photographer has worked at your venue before – experienced Micklefield photographers (like me for example!) will know the best spots for photographs, at different times of the year, and even times of the day. Personally I love golden hour photographs down by the pond – the low sun shines through the trees in the most PERFECT way!

2. Preparation

Give your photographer a list of group photos, names of the wedding party, and all the key timings (e.g. when speeches are) – we don’t like surprises! Well, we love to photograph other people being surprised, but let us in on the secret in advance!

3. Timings

Allow enough time so the day isn’t rushed, particularly during the drinks reception. Kalm Kitchen and Micklefield will help with advice about timings. I recommend around 90 minutes for your drinks reception to give enough time for you to have some group/couple photographs whilst still leaving time for the all-important ‘chatting to your guests over canapes’ part of the day!

4. Don’t recreate

Feel free to share a few inspiration images with your photographer but try to avoid the temptation to ask them to recreate all the photographs from your Pinterest board! Wedding photographs are more meaningful if they’re capturing memories from your special day, rather than trying to recreate moments from another day.

5. Tidy up

It’s helpful to have a bit of a tidy up of the bridal prep area before your photographer arrives. It doesn’t have to be pristine, but it saves time if the wedding dress can be hung up nicely and some clutter cleared away (or shoved in a different room!).

6. Trust your wedding photographer

Professional photographers have a lot of experience and knowledge about what makes an awesome photograph, and it’s not always obvious! For example, although my style is quite natural, I might ask my couples to do something a bit cheesy (like putting their noses together) – I often don’t use the actual shot I set up but it can produce some brilliant giggles which are wonderful to photograph. Also, sometimes the lighting is more important than the backdrop.

7. Relax!

Don’t stress about the weather or little things you can’t control – have an amazing day and your happiness will shine through in the photos!

You can read more from Sarah about how to ensure your wedding photographs run smoothly in our other blog article and you can see some of her beautiful photographs from Micklefield Hall weddings