12 Common Wedding Photography Mistakes That Couples Make

12 Common Wedding Photography Mistakes That Couples Make - Eternity

12 Common Wedding Photography Mistakes That Couples Make

17th February 2024

Marrying your best friend is without a doubt one of the greatest moments of your life. Being surrounded by your closest friends & family, after months of meticulous wedding planning, on a day that you will truly cherish forever. So many couples say that the entire wedding week goes by in the blink of an eye, and they relive their favourite moments time & time again through their beautiful wedding photos.

Since you’ll look back on these wedding photos for the rest of your lives, you want them to truly reflect you, your partner, and your wedding day as best as possible. That’s why you need to make sure you’re asking the right questions when it comes to picking the correct wedding photographer for yourself. Once you have the right wedding dream team, you will definitely need to trust the professionals, but we have heard so many couples sharing mistakes they made which interfered with the process of getting the right picture perfect shots.

That’s why we’ve listed 12 of the most common wedding photography mistakes that couples make, so you can avoid them.

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NOT DOING ENOUGH RESEARCH

Whilst social media definitely has its many perks when wedding planning, it’s not one that you should be overly reliant on. It’s a commonly known fact that we showcase ‘the best of the best’ on social media. It’s very easy to pick one, two or three of the most editorial shots from a wedding, and for them to go viral. However, to get a better understanding of a photographer, you need to check out more of their images, learn about their photography style, read some reviews and build a rapport.

Remember, you shouldn’t pick your photographer based on the number of Instagram followers they have.

not understanding your vision

Each photographer has a particular photography style. Some are candid, some are editorial, some are cinematic, some are natural; and the list goes on. It’s really important for you to understand which particular style you want to emulate through your wedding.

It’s really important to think about what’s a current photography trend, and is this something you will cherish or cringe at in years to come? There’s no right or wrong, but it’s important to not lose sight of your moodboard. This will play a huge role in determining which photographer you choose, so it’s worth understanding and agreeing on this quite early on.

not prioritising your photographer relationship

Building the right relationship and rapport with your wedding photographer is key. You don’t want to go with a photographer just because they are trendy, but lack the level of communication and organisation that you require. Your suppliers should be an extension of you, and not recognising this early on can lead to quite a stressful wedding planning process.

skipping a pre wedding shoot

When couples start getting stuck into the wedding planning journey, you are bound to get to a point where the costs start to feel overwhelming and you begin to budget out some of your wedding costs. A lot of the time, a pre-wedding shoot is the first one to go, but it really shouldn’t be.

A pre-wedding shoot is the perfect opportunity to learn about your photographers style, understand their verbal direction, and get comfortable in front of the camera. It’s super important to ensure that you feel comfortable, relaxed, and way less awkward on your actual wedding week.

not preparing for wedding meetings

Another very common wedding planning mistake is when couples don’t prepare enough for their wedding photography meetings, or skip them altogether. It is so incredible important to make sure that you regularly communicate with your photographer as the wedding approaches, to ensure you are on the same page about timings, preferences, logistics etc.

neglecting a second shooter

Similar to the cost-cutting exercise of cutting our a pre-wedding photoshoot, couples will also sometimes choose to drop a second shooter for the wedding, thinking “we don’t really need one anyways, it’ll be more pictures to go through”. Whilst we are inclined to partially agree, we are more strongly inclined to disagree. A second, third or fourth shooter ensures different elements of the events are captured at different times. A classic example is when a photographer can capture a couples entrance and guest reactions at the same time. It’s all about finding the right balance between the number of photographers, images and capturing the moment correctly.

opting for too many shooters

Slightly contradictory to the above, but you also want to make sure you don’t have so many shooters at your wedding; that it begins to get in the way of that guests being able to see what’s going on. Remember, your wedding is an experience for everything to be a part of and enjoy. If you are having a large team of photographers, be sure to brief them about this accordingly.

ignoring the importance of lighting

This is specifically for those of you opting for outdoor wedding ceremonies. It’s important to continuously communicate with your photographer, decorators, priest / officiant and venues together; so that each of their creative processes don’t interfere with each others. For example, you could want a beautiful beach wedding, which is the perfect backdrop from your decorators point of view, but could cause major backlighting for your photography team.

overlooking the timelines

Your wedding photographer should know your wedding timelines down to a T. You ultimately don’t want to be rushed on your first looks, family portraits, or solo shots. You want to block off certain sections and timings throughout the day, to ensure everyone is on the same page and in the right place.

trying to control the photographer

Your photography team are the experts, and ultimately you should feel comfortable enough to have communicated everything you need to prior to the actual wedding week. By micromanaging them, you get in the way of their creative freedom, and it doesn’t allow them to capture your events with their own photography style.

not communicating key moments

That being said, you should always (in advance!) inform your photographer of key moments you want captured. For example, if you have sentimental and bespoke embroidery on your wedding outfits, be sure to let them know you would like to have that captured. That way, your photographer can be prepared and meet your expectations too.

immediately asking to see photos

A photographer’s worst nightmare! Ideally, you should discuss timelines with your photographer from the outset. You should know exactly when you can expect to receive the images. Keep in mind that a peak summer wedding would definitely increase those timelines. Don’t keep nagging your photographer to see photos, as they need their time to sift through, edit and overlay everything to your desired expectations,