Finding a wedding photographer has never been easier, with more and more photographers to choose from and more and more wedding blogs and websites promoting them. But finding the right one has never been more confusing. A couple searching these days will be bombarded with ‘buzzwords’, keywords that photographers are using to define their style or approach. But these buzzwords are not always used correctly.

With Google (and other search engines) controlling the content we find online, more and more photographers are using search engine optimisation as a way of reaching potentials clients. Google picks up on keywords within websites and uses these (amongst other things) to determine which websites to show people when they are searching for specific terms. Enter the wedding photography ‘buzzwords’. The most common ones at the moment seem to be ‘documentary’ and ‘reportage’. Buzzwords themselves aren’t the problem as when used correctly they can quickly identify a photographers style or approach, of which there are many. The confusion for couples comes from the many photographers claiming to be one thing or another, when their work clearly doesn’t support it. For example, a ‘documentary wedding photographer’ whose portfolio is filled with staged shots and posed portraits. All that does is dilute the meaning of the description.

If there’s one piece of advice I would give to a couple searching for a photographer to capture their special day right now it’s this;
Don’t believe the buzzwords. Believe the pictures.

Absolutely use the descriptions when searching to source photographers to add to your shortlist (it’s how many couples find me for example) but then look at the pictures. Really look at the pictures. Get a feel for the way the photographer works. Look for consistency, a style than spans from wedding to wedding. Are the pictures you are seeing really a perfect example of the style you had in mind when you began your search?

I like to think my style is obvious to everyone. It’s not about staging or interfering, it’s all about storytelling and realism. This is made clear in all my literature but also, more importantly, in the pictures that I take. Look through my last 20 weddings and you will see consistency of style, treatment and approach. Sure, every wedding day is different and it’s that uniqueness that keeps the last wedding different from the next. I capture each individual day the way it is. To me, being a documentary wedding photographer is more than just a label. It’s as much a mindset as it is a photographic style. It’s about the pictures I take but also the way I behave on the day.

When searching for your perfect wedding photographer, let the pictures do the talking. Choose a photographer based on pictures you love. Pictures that speak to you and will stand the test of time so when you look back on them in five, ten, even twenty years time, they’ll still bring a smile to your face and a tear to your eye.