Difficult, because photographs are very often the only tangible thing that remains of your wedding. Of course, you will have amazing memories, but often the most incidental of pictures remind you more vividly of your day than anything else. For some couples, spending a large chunk of their budget on a photographer doesn’t seem necessary, especially if they have a member of the family happy to step in. However, for others it’s extremely high on their priority list.
There are simply hundreds, if not thousands of people out there claiming they are the perfect choice to photograph your wedding. Many will be skilled, well-equipped professionals with the experience to provide you with a great record of your special day, but many will just be people who own a decent camera and think it’s worth ‘having a go’. Some photographers appear to be very expensive compared to others, but there is usually an extremely good reason for this. A good, experienced photographer will not only have all the right equipment, but will have done their research, understand exactly what you’re looking for and help you achieve that with your final pictures. They will always be in the right place at the right time to get that perfect shot and make sure both the important and impromptu moments are captured.
A good starting point, of course is to find someone who’s ‘style’ you like. It’s no good choosing a photographer who is great at formal group shots but doesn’t find it easy to do more natural reportage work, if that’s what you’re looking for, and vice versa. Some people like bright sunny looking pictures, others like something far darker and more atmospheric. There is no right or wrong answer here, it’s just down to your personal taste; and this is where it’s fabulous to have the internet. Have fun looking at photographer’s websites and social media platforms, as this is their ‘shop window’, and will include a range of their best work. If it’s edited by them, it will be their choice of pictures, so it will give you a good idea of their preferred style too.
Once you’ve narrowed it down a bit, carry out your own ‘due diligence’ to make sure you like what they do, have read their T’s and C’s and are recommended recently by previous clients. Get in touch for a chat – you’re going to be the ones working with them on the day, and you want to feel easy in their company. Most will offer you a chance to meet up if they can, so you can get to know them a bit better and allay any fears.
One of the best examples we can give of this process is that of our own daughter and son-in-law who were the first couple to be married at Harefield Barn. Obviously, we had no experience of photographers at that stage, other than names I had heard whilst conducting weddings at other venues, so they were starting from scratch. They also live some distance away, so it really did come down to an internet search in the first instance. Once they’d chosen someone with a style they loved, they met up and cemented that relationship before the big day. Some of their fabulous photos are shown here. I’ve often joked since, that they should’ve chosen someone whose style was easier for me to use for advertising our new business, but how wrong I was. Andy from Harrera Images took the most amazing selection of atmospheric shots creating a perfect record of their day in an incredibly unobtrusive manner. https://www.harreraimages.co.uk Every time I look at them now, they bring back another cherished memory of a very happy occasion.
We have been fortunate to have a wonderful selection of photographs and videographers at Harefield Barn since we started, and I just love the fact that they often have very different styles. It allows us to see the place through new eyes again and again, which is great. So whether it’s your Uncle or the most expensive photographer in town, the choice is yours and yours alone, and we look forward to seeing the results.
