Types of Wedding Photography

There are many styles of wedding photography. Very roughly they can be divided into the three types below. Please be aware however there are other slightly more “off the wall” and unusual types and also there can be a great deal of cross over between even these three basic types.

Traditional or Classic

This type of wedding photography is what we are used to seeing and is currently very much out of fashion. Essentially it will consist of posed groups and portraits and to a large extent work to a script. Whilst it is out of fashion don’t disregard it, mum and grandma will expect this type of picture from your wedding and even through it is not fashionable at the moment these will still be the pictures you see hanging on walls and in the picture frame on the mantle piece. This is the type of wedding photography that has stood the test of time and will always produce the record shots that you will look back at in years to come as a permanent reminder of your magical day. Also bear in mind a wedding is a formal affair and the traditional images will always record it in this way.

The benefits are that you will get all the pictures you expect and the final album will be attractive if predictable. The drawbacks are that the photographer becomes an “official” directing the bride and groom and guests. This can be time consuming and as a result you spend slightly less time with your guests.

Photojournalistic Wedding Photography

Much more in fashion at the moment a photojournalistic approach will do what it says and, if correctly executed, produce for you a story of your wedding day. The aim will be to record the events of your wedding in a more or less chronological order from a slightly more remote viewpoint. There may not even be any formally posed pictures and the photographer may simply stay in the background and catch snapshot images of various parts of the day. At the end of the day you will probably have a wonderful storybook of what went on which will always bring back happy memories. Be careful however! Some photographers, and even some couples will insist in shooting in black and white. Avoid this, why? Because it will always be possible to get black and white pictures from colour but to get colour from black and white is at best difficult and normally impossible. Also remember these will not be the pictures that mum will want to proudly display in a frame.

The biggest single benefit of this style of photography is that your will be able to tell a story in pictures. The disadvantage however is that you are relying on the photographers instinct and the results can be unpredictable. You may also regret the lack of formal images in your album.

Contemporary or Fashion Wedding Photography

Contemporary photography is by its nature very difficult to quantify and can mean different things to different people, to be fashionable or contemporary it must by definition be constantly changing. This means that your pictures can date very quickly. The way this type of photography works is that the photographer finds settings where the lighting is good and the backgrounds beautiful and then photographs the bride and groom in a more idealised setting – when done properly the results can be stunning! These will always be the pictures that win awards and grab people’s attention simply because they look like they have come from the glossy magazines.

The major benefit of this type of photography is the feel good factor it generates – doesn’t everybody want to look good and imagine themselves in the glossy magazines? Of course you do it’s only natural and so you should on your wedding day – you are the star! The downside however is that it doesn’t really provide a true record nor will it always fit the bill for the photo to hang on the wall. Initially it will but as fashion and style changes it will date quickly and you may end up feeling a bit behind the times!

So what’s our answer?

Simple, a mixture of all three type of image.

We take the traditional or classic posed pictures so you will always have the record shots and the picture for mum to hang on the wall. We will always be wandering round taking some reportage or journalistic pictures to tell the story of your day (and don’t forget to ask your guests for copies of theirs to add to these) – together these will provide a record of the day in pictures. Then we will whisk the bride and groom away for half an hour or so for those extra special pictures.

This way we cover as many variations as possible. When you get you pictures the choice will be yours – one album with them all mixed up together or three separate albums each telling the same story but in a different way.