What wedding photography style do you want?

February 1st, 2024

Wedding Photography Styles

Planning your wedding can be complex and challenging. Most likely you have already picked a theme and color palette for your big day. You will want to make sure that the photographer you select will use an overall style that will capture the day fully and reflect both your theme and the mood you chose. You will probably have many local photographers to choose from. It is important to discuss this with them before you make your selection. There are two different factors that determine how your final photographs will look. The first is how the photographer approaches taking the photos. The second is how they will refine them afterwards.

A semi-formal image taken between formal ones

2 wedding styles based on the approach of image creation:

  • Editorial or posed (more formal)
  • Photojournalistic or candid

5 most popular wedding styles based on mood:

  • Classic or Traditional
  • Bright and Airy
  • Dark and Moody
  • Fine Art
  • Black and White or Sepia-toned

In practice many photographers do some blend of styles and can make small adjustments to lean to more formal or more casual in their taking of the photographs, and similarly they can potentially lighten or enrich the colors in your images without compromising their core style. My personal style is to take more formal images and to blend in more casual and relaxed images when it is right for the moment. My goal is to capture the best image of the moment, and they will range from formal, to emotional, to joyful and fun. When I do my image refinements I prefer warmer tones (think sunset) and richer colors.

So how do you decide what fits your big day?

Ask the photographer to describe how they work and take the photographs. Ask them how they will refine and present the final images. Review their portfolios and confirm that the photos you see match what they say. Pick the look and style and look that matches what you are looking for. If you are looking for very casual/photojournalist images and all you see are formal posed ones then that may not be the photographer you’re looking for. If you want dark and moody images and the portfolios are all bright and airy, that would not be a good fit. If you picked bright colors for your day, and all the work you’re seeing is black and white, are they really going to capture the day properly?

A moment grabbed, or is it posed? Can you tell?

Aside from reviewing the photographer's work, also consider how you feel talking and interacting with them. You are going to be spending the better part of a full day with them taking photographs of you and everybody else on the day. You want to feel as relaxed and comfortable with them as possible. The day will be stressful, you do not want your photography to add to it. You don’t get a do-over for this day, so choose people you trust to help you get this right.

My mission on the day is to make everything go as smoothly and stress-free as possible, while capturing the moments you care about in the best way possible.

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