As a professional wedding photographer I am frequently asked by couples very similar questions. I thought it would be beneficial to let you see the top three questions asked so you may be fuelled with some knowledge before you embark on a wedding consultation with your chosen wedding photographer.

1. What makes you different to another photographer?

This is a great opener to the consultation as there are so many wedding photographers to choose from. You will probably have already looked at the photograhers website and have probably already fallen in love with their work, so nows the time to find out why you should choose them. What makes them different to ‘Davey Jones Photography’? For me it has to be a combination of the style of the photographs produced and the experience you will receive throughout the whole process of your wedding. Not just the wedding day itself but the build up and delivery of your products are equally as important to me. You have dreamed of your wedding for many, many years and you want it to be perfect, and rightly so. A great tell-tale sign of a good wedding photographer is passion. Passion for weddings, passion for photography and, most importantly, passion for YOUR wedding!!

2.  Are you a full time wedding photographer?

As a full time professional wedding photographer myself, I know my subject inside and out. There is a reason why I am able to do this job full time and that reason is simple, I concentrate on stunning imagery with a strong emphasis on exceptional customer service. If you had a court dispute, you would not ask a friend or a part time lawyer (not sure if they even exist?!) to take your case because you would want to be sure that you would win, so why choose a part time wedding photographer to photograph the biggest day of your lives?? Don’t get me wrong, there are some very good part time wedding photographers out there, and every bride has a certain budget in mind for their photographer, but part time wedding photographers cannot offer you the service and time that a full time wedding photographer can. This is crucial, and something I stress to all of my potential Bride and Grooms, as it is not only very important to photograph the wedding beautifully but the customer service and delivery of products should be equally as important as the imagery itself.

3. We want to have some romantic shots just the two of us but don’t want to upset our guests, how would you suggest we do this?

This is always a topic I like to cover with all my couples as it is such an important part of your wedding photography. Timings of the day, in general, are one of the toughest aspects to work out for every bride and groom because you want to have the most amazing day that runs as smoothly as possible. This is why I always schedule around 20 – 30 minutes to have some ‘time alone’ photographs which can be taken after the ceremony or after the wedding breakfast, whichever you prefer.

Your guests will understand that for such a short amount of time, you and your new husband will want to be alone together. I would suggest that you take about 10 minutes after the ceremony to speak with your guests and grab a glass of bubbly before you were to do any ‘time alone’ shots, as each guest will want to congratulate you both – the new ‘Mr & Mrs’. If you have asked for group photographs I would suggest for you to do those first so your guests can celebrate with you straight away.

A wonderful time, in the summer months, for ‘time alone’ photographs is just after your wedding breakfast. The sun is usually just setting at that time and the colour produced in the photographs can be truly stunning. It’s known as the ‘golden’ or ‘magic’ hour and gives the photographs a yellow tint to enhance the romantic look, perfect for emotional candid photographs.

I really hope these questions are helpful to you and if you are getting married and love the style of my photography please contact me with your wedding date as I would love to talk to you about your wedding day.

Martin 😉