10 things to look for when choosing your wedding photographer

Will you just look at a full wedding gallery and know you’ve found the perfect wedding photographer for you and your partner? Maybe.

Looking through full galleries gives you a more thorough view of the day than what you see on social media and a photographer’s website. Style is a huge part of what you’re choosing, so it’s important that you feel comfortable with and love it all!

If you aren’t sure what you’re supposed to look for when reviewing a photographer’s work, here are 10 specific things to look for in galleries when choosing your wedding photographer:

1. Are you drawn to their editing style?

Bright and airy. Dark and moody. True to life color. Refined and soft. Bold and saturated.

A photographer’s editing style is an important part of why you’re hiring that particular artist. Looking through example galleries should give you a clear understanding of how your photos will look when you receive your wedding gallery.

2. Do you like how they document dark settings?

Chances are, most of your reception will take place in the dark — whether that’s inside in a dark space or outside once the sun has gone down.

You should feel comfortable with your photographer’s level of experience and expertise using flash and low, dim light. Most of the time, it’s a stylistic choice to use flash in a direct way that looks almost like a paparazzi style, flashy, editorial look, OR to not use any flash, resulting in a grainier, filmy look using only the light that exists within the space.

3. What do the family portraits look like?

Are there distracting elements in the background? If they were taken outside, are they standing in harsh light, resulting in unflattering shadows on their faces? Can you see everyone’s faces? If taken in a church, how is the lighting on everyone’s faces?

4. Attention to detail

Are there wall/ceiling elements (ie: exit signs / emergency lights / sprinklers) that distract you from the main subject of the image? Are there trash cans or construction cones in a photo of a couple walking in an environment that could easily be edited out?

With all the AI updates to editing software, I firmly believe your wedding photos should be free of ALL of these distractions since they can easily be edited out if a photographer is paying attention and spending the time to care for how your final images look.

5. Creativity and uniqueness

Are the images similar to what you’ve seen in other wedding examples or is there creative use of light, framing, motion, color, shadow, line, shape, etc.?

6. Is the gallery consistent overall?

This mainly refers to the editing, but also between both members of the couple — if a second photographer was part of the team, you want to make sure all of the photos look consistent and you can’t necessarily tell they were taken by two different people.

7. Is the gallery organized or are you scrolling through all the photos as one big continuous group?

If it is important to you to be able to quickly access your photos to save, share, download and/or print, pay attention to gallery organization. This also speaks to the level of care, detail and organization your photographer takes in preparing your final images.


8. If you are looking for a documentary/storytelling style, are you seeing those types of images in their galleries? Are there layers to the story?

Photos that set the scene and tell the story of what happened before or after an action are equally important to help convey the full story of the day. If you only see posed photos and portraits that feel staged, chances are that’s what you will receive in your gallery as well. Are there photos that are close and cropped in versus others that are at wider angles and show more context?

9. If details and decor are important to you to have well documented…

Are there enough detail photos to make you feel comfortable that this photographer would spend the right amount of time & effort to successfully style your details? And are the detail photos styled beautifully and in a way that allows your eye to move across the image without distraction?

10. People vs. particulars

If documenting your favorite people is important to you, make sure the galleries you look at highlight that. If you see more pretty detail shots, your photographer may not be as attuned to documenting and observing all the interactions between your guests. Ideally, both your details AND your people should be well documented!


Having a conversation about your photographer’s approach to family photos is always a good idea, especially if you have large families or divorced parents with multiple sets of photos you’ll want to plan time for.

This may sound like a lot to look for, but when it comes down to it, documenting a wedding day is so much more than the highlights you see on social media and even on a website.

remember…

choosing a wedding photographer isn’t just about finding the prettiest photos… it’s about finding the storyteller who captures every moment beautifully.