How to choose a photographer

I would always say that the venues recommended list is a good place to start but do be careful when thinking about recommended suppliers as some venues may be charging one way or another the photographer to be listed.

Then when following people Look out for "styled shoots" which are not real weddings and use models. It may of taken hours for one shot so not an example of their work at a real wedding. Read the caption and it might list suppliers including the models. Or say "love the vibe from this couple"

I see on my social media feed that some seem to of done nothing else but styled shoots and engagement shots and not actually many real weddings- which then look totally different from the styled ones.

Since covid I have not met face to face with any of my couples and use other tec, unless they saw me at wedding fayre, or I shot one of their relatives weddings. So that should not be an issue but what could be an issue is booking someone who will be 2 hours away on the motorway, not just because they might get stuck but they may of also shot a wedding yesterday and not got back until the early hours and now they are with you at 10am after leaving home at 7am.

But you can not really tell how they photograph weddings from social media as they are hand picked. The best thing to do is get them to show you whole weddings - or at least a 100-200 selection form a whole wedding. Even better someone who can show you weddings at your venue, or even better than that at the same time of year, not so important for a summer wedding but you really do need to know if they can handle a winter wedding.

Numbers - some will give you 1000+ images which in my view is not necessary to tell the story of your day, espicually at a 1 venue wedding where everything is there, prep to first dance.

Any questions I am happy to help - by the way I am not soliciting to shoot your wedding as I only photograph Leicestershire and close to the area weddings

We did a search for local wedding photographers and produced a shortlist of ones whose pictures we liked and who charged a price we could afford. We had brief email or phone conversations with a couple and met with one, whom we ended up booking.

I wouldn't limit yourself to only those photographers the venue recommends.

Check the small print in any contract/terms and conditions you are sent to make sure there is nothing you are unhappy with - e.g. one photographer we considered insisted on the right to publish any photo she took on social media, which ruled her out straight away as we had guests who have a strict ban on their kids' photos appearing online.

It can also be helpful to do a social media search for a photographer to see what other people have posted - their own social media pages will be carefully curated, but I've found you get a much better feel for what they are actually like by looking at their clients' posts about them.