Questions For Wedding Photographers

If you want the full story of your wedding, we think your photography should cover the full day.

Weddings rarely run exactly to schedule, so we have never liked the idea of watching the clock or disappearing because an eight or ten-hour package has come to an end.

We normally begin while preparations are underway and continue through the evening celebrations. That gives us time to photograph not just the obvious landmarks of the day, but all the smaller moments that happen between them.

If something important is happening later, whether that is fireworks, a sparkler exit or simply a dance floor that has suddenly gone completely wild, we want to be there for it.

Your wedding should dictate when the photography ends, rather than a stopwatch.

Our current wedding photography packages are therefore built around full-day coverage without restrictive hourly limits.

If you are comparing different photographers and packages, our Wedding Wisdom guide to wedding photography prices and packages explains why coverage time is so important, along with the other things worth comparing.

Wedding photography varies enormously in price because what photographers offer varies enormously too.

You are not simply paying somebody to turn up with a camera for a day. Experience, the number of photographers, the length of coverage, editing, equipment, backup systems, albums, client service and the amount of work carried out after the wedding can all be very different from one photographer to another.

That can make apparently similar packages surprisingly difficult to compare.

We have written a detailed Wedding Wisdom guide explaining how much wedding photography costs and what can affect the price.

If you are actively comparing photographers, our comprehensive guide to wedding photography prices and packages looks at coverage time, second photographers, engagement shoots, editing, galleries, albums and the other things that can make two apparently similar packages very different.

For our own current options, see our Wedding Photography Packages.

An engagement shoot is simply a relaxed photography session with the two of you before the wedding.

There is no wedding dress, timetable, waiting guests or pressure to get anywhere. We can choose somewhere beautiful or meaningful to you and spend some time making photographs together.

The photographs are lovely to have, but that is only part of the reason we recommend engagement shoots.

It gives you a chance to experience the way we photograph couples before the wedding. We are not interested in forcing you through a catalogue of poses. Instead, we give you enough direction to make you feel comfortable and then allow things to develop naturally.

By the wedding day, having a camera pointed towards you no longer feels strange and you already know exactly how we work.

And, of course, you also end up with a set of photographs of the two of you that aren't wedding photographs.

We have written a full Wedding Wisdom guide covering the benefits, from feeling more comfortable in front of the camera to getting to know your photographers and making your couple photographs quicker and easier on the wedding day: Why Do You Need Engagement Photos?

You can also browse our recent engagement photographs to see what an engagement shoot actually looks like.

Somewhere you actually want to be.

It might be the place you got engaged, a favourite beach, somewhere you regularly walk the dog, woodland near a campsite you love, or simply somewhere beautiful that suits the two of you.

We would much rather photograph you somewhere with a little personality than automatically head for the nearest picturesque park.

Living and working in Dorset gives us a fairly ridiculous choice of beaches, cliffs, woodland, countryside, ruined castles, villages and coastline, but we are equally happy travelling somewhere that has a particular meaning to you.

The location is really just the backdrop. The important bit is making photographs that feel like you.

Choosing somewhere personal to you is one of the things we discuss in our Wedding Wisdom guide Why Do You Need Engagement Photos?

For more practical advice on choosing a location, what to wear and getting the most from the session, read our Top Tips For Engagement Photos.

You can also browse our engagement photographs for ideas and inspiration from real shoots.

A very long way.

We are Dorset wedding photographers, but our weddings have taken us throughout the UK and overseas.

Being based in Dorset certainly doesn't mean that we only photograph Dorset weddings. If you love our work and are getting married somewhere else, talk to us.

We photograph weddings throughout Dorset, Hampshire and across the UK, as well as destination weddings.

You can see photographs from some of the places our work has taken us on our Destination Wedding Venues page.

For details of what is included with our current coverage, see our Wedding Photography Packages.

Our photography is primarily documentary.

That means that for most of the wedding day we are watching what happens rather than creating it. We want genuine expressions, real interactions and photographs of people actually enjoying themselves rather than constantly being stopped and posed for the camera.

That doesn't mean we only photograph things exactly as they happen.

Great wedding photography can borrow from documentary photography, portraiture, landscape photography, fine art and creative lighting when the situation calls for it.

For group photographs and portraits of the two of you, we will give direction when it helps. We just don't want those photographs to take over your wedding.

Ultimately, our style is much easier to understand by looking through photographs than by trying to give it a label, so the best place to start is our Wedding Photo Gallery.

If you are comparing different approaches and trying to work out what photography style is right for you, our Wedding Wisdom guide How To Choose Your Perfect Wedding Photographer looks at documentary, traditional, fine art and other photography styles in much more detail.

We have also taken a closer look at changing styles, editing fashions and the difference between fashionable and timeless photographs in our guide to Wedding Photography Trends.

Good wedding photography takes time after the wedding.

We first go through everything photographed by both of us and select the images that best tell the story. Each chosen photograph is then individually worked on rather than simply running the entire wedding through one batch preset.

That editing is a huge part of creating the finished look you see throughout our website.

We will always give you a clear expected delivery timeframe for your wedding, and we also provide a sneak peek so you aren't left wondering what your photographs look like while we finish the complete collection.

We would rather take the time to finish your photographs properly than rush them simply to get them back to you a little sooner.

If you'd like to understand what actually happens to your photographs after the wedding, including image selection, RAW files, editing and storytelling, read Do Wedding Photographers Give You All of the Photos?

You can also see how your sneak peek, finished photographs and private online gallery fit into our current Wedding Photography Packages.

Yes.

Being documentary photographers doesn't mean your parents aren't allowed a photograph of everyone looking at the camera.

We are very happy to photograph family and group photographs. We just recommend keeping the formal list sensible so that you don't spend a huge part of your drinks reception standing in a line having photographs taken.

We normally start with the groups that matter most to you and work through them efficiently. If there is time afterwards, we can always add a few more.

Having two photographers makes this considerably easier because one of us can organise people while the other concentrates on photographing them.

The aim is to get the photographs you want without turning your wedding into a photo shoot.

We explain more about how working as a pair helps us organise group photographs quickly while still covering everything else happening around you in Why Do I Need Two Wedding Photographers?

Yes, where we think an image works beautifully in black and white.

Both of us originally learnt photography using film, including developing and printing black and white photographs in a darkroom, so black and white photography has always been an important part of our work.

We don't apply a fixed percentage to every wedding because every wedding is different.

Some photographs are all about colour. Others become much stronger when colour is removed and your attention is drawn towards light, expression, shape or emotion instead.

We make that decision image by image while editing your wedding.

If you particularly love, or particularly dislike, black and white photography, just tell us.

You can see plenty of colour and black and white examples together in our Wedding Photo Gallery.

We also look at black and white photography, editing styles and why some photographic fashions age better than others in our Wedding Wisdom guide to Wedding Photography Trends.

Definitely.

After photographing hundreds of weddings we have worked alongside an enormous number of venues, florists, bands, DJs, videographers, caterers, make-up artists, hair stylists and other wedding suppliers.

You get a rather useful perspective as a wedding photographer because we see how suppliers work behind the scenes as well as what the finished result looks like.

That means our recommendations are normally based on actually working with somebody rather than simply knowing their Instagram account.

We have put together a directory of recommended Dorset wedding suppliers we have genuinely enjoyed working alongside over the years.

If you're looking for something very specific, just ask us. There are plenty of excellent people we know who may not be listed on the page.

Yes please.

We are normally with you for most of the wedding day, often beginning several hours before the ceremony and continuing well into the evening.

Once everything starts happening, there is very little opportunity for us to disappear somewhere and find food.

We therefore ask for a proper meal during the wedding breakfast.

Ideally we are fed towards the beginning of the meal rather than after all of the guests have finished. That gives us time to eat, have a short break and be ready to photograph speeches or anything else happening afterwards.

We don't need to sit with your guests and we certainly don't need anything elaborate. We just need enough food and enough time to eat it so that we can keep photographing properly for the rest of the day.