What does a wedding photographer have to do to become one of the best UK wedding photographers? Win an award, be an established destination wedding photographer, or just have incredible reviews from their past couples. There can be various factors that can apply to ensure you don’t end up with a cowboy photographer or perhaps you value wedding photography so much you really want the very best you can afford for your wedding day. After all, once the wedding day is over, all you will have left are your wedding photos.
In this article, I want to talk about the things to look out for when hiring a wedding photographer. What indicators and signs you can look for in and around their website and social media that will help you decide if the wedding photographer you’re interested in could be a hot contender.
Before we go any further into the details into what makes the best UK wedding photographers it would be great to take the opportunity to show you a small sample of some of my best wedding photos to perhaps add a little reassurance that I am a well-established wedding photographer in the UK and that my passion for wedding photography will support the sincerity of this post!
Having myself won multiple wedding photography awards with multiple awarding bodies as well as being named as one of the 50 best UK wedding photographers 2020 by Gohen. Photographers that have this peer recognition will help tell you that at least within the industry that they really do have something about them. Though many photography awards are always awarded from a photographer’s perspective and not necessarily from a bride or groom’s viewpoint. It should give you plenty of reassurance that the photographer is a least great at using a camera, working with light, being creative, and has good photo editing skills. You can also have a look though some of my award winning wedding photos by clicking the link.
Here are some of my favorite award-winning photos and a little about them;
Grandma
I won an award for this photograph of a bride of mine Cherry kissing her grandmother. I was out shooting the southern France wedding photography for Cherry and her now-husband Thomas. It was awarded by Ninedots last summer and I was super happy to receive it. I get so many compliments on this photo and for me, it really illustrates my whole ethos as a wedding photographer. I really like to be a part of a wedding. Some wedding photographers tell their brides and grooms that they will “blend into the background”. I do the opposite of this and blend into the wedding. That way I believe, that when you look back at the wedding photos, you’ll be transported right back to that moment as if it’s happening all over again. You can read more about this photo in my post a destination wedding moment.
Brides Arrival
Winning this award was great for me as one of the things I really pride myself on is not just capturing the moments, but the atmospheres that are created by those moments. I won this award shooting as a Thornton Manor wedding photographer. You know I’m thinking about what else I can say about this photo though I think you can let the photo really speak for itself here.
Father Of The Bride
Another favourite image of mine here taken whilst I was out shooting as a Tuscany Wedding Photographer for Mark & Megan. The father of the bride here and his daughter Megan had such a great relationship and Megan had asked me to make sure I got a good shot of her dad’s reaction. I’ve been out as an Italy Wedding Photographer on many occasions since I took this wedding photo and It’s still up there as one of my favorites.
You can find more award-winning wedding photos on my website and on my Instagram.
Another factor when looking for the best UK wedding photographers is seeing if they have been a featured wedding photographer by any of the major UK wedding blogs. This doesn’t mean that photographers who have not been featured are not worthy. Though seeing a wedding photographer that’s had work reviewed by a blog that only wants the best for its readers will add some reassurance for you. Major UK wedding blogs such as Love My Dress are a great way to find wedding photographers who have submitted work and it’s been worthy of being published on their blogs.
Below are some of my favorite images that have been featured on wedding blogs.
London Wedding Photo
This image was featured in the wedding blog Love My Dress after myself and a team of other UK wedding suppliers came together to create some inspiration for wedding photography for brides and grooms to be inspired by.
Lake Como
I had this wedding photo featured on the Easy weddings blog after they got in touch with me saying they would love to have it on their website. Being a Lake Como Wedding Photographer is a magical experience and I can’t wait to get back out there to shoot again soon. This wedding out there only had 7 guests and the bride and groom. It was such an intimate wedding and you can see more images from this wedding on my blog.
A Cheshire Wedding
This beautiful shot from a Cheshire wedding I photographed for Tara and Edward as their Thornton Manor Wedding Photographer was featured on the blog; Brides Up North. I loved this wedding, it was an incredible day and I was thrilled when it was featured on the blog. I have many more featured weddings on other blog sites such as boho weddings.
A Yorkshire Wedding
After photographing this Yorkshire wedding for Emma and James, I was contacted by Country Wedding Magazine as they had seen some of the photos online from the wedding at Yorbrige House and wanted to feature it in the print and digital editions of the magazine. You can see more from this wedding on my blog.
If you like what you’ve seen so far and are on the lookout for a wedding photographer for your big day then please get in touch. I’d love to hear more about your wedding and also give you guys the opportunity to hear more about me to see if I’m the right personality to fit into your wedding day.
Being in the wedding photography industry for so long. One thing I’ve noticed as a recurring trend through some of the world’s best wedding photographers I’ve had the pleasure of meeting and working with is this; When couples make bookings with these photographers, one of the deciding factors has been that they’ve really connected with their wedding photographer. What I mean by this is that they know the photographer is going to be in and around the wedding all day long. From the bridal preparations all the way through to the first dance. Having a connection and actually knowing who your photographer is as a person is a great indicator of knowing if they are the right photographer for you.
It’s for this very reason I made this short video about what weddings mean to me. It puts a face and voice to my work and gives you a little more insight into how I work on a wedding day.
A great way of narrowing down the best UK wedding photographers is to read the reviews they have. Over on my reviews page, I share reviews from my couples so that future or potential couples can read about what it’s like to hire me as your wedding photographer. For extra reassurance, you can look at the photographer’s Google page to see if they have many five star reviews. Other websites also review photographers and provide feedback like the best photographer’s website. Here is a little feedback from some of my brides and grooms;
“For Richard and I, we wanted a photographer we could trust and the most important thing for us was that you caught moments of our family, as well as us. And you assured us this would be the case. If anyone is on the fence about hiring you I would say; If you want the best photos without having to spend hours posing then he is 100% your guy. He makes you feel at ease and takes the most beautiful pictures. And another thing we definitely felt during the booking Phase was that you genuinely care! Every couple should know that the money spent on photos is an investment 100%! You have a day and it goes so fast and these are your memories captured so worth spending money on! You love what you do, and that shows!” Rachel + Richard Buxton
“We both fell in love with your photography. It was paramount to us that our wedding photographs reflected as much of the emotion of the day, and personalities of the people involved as possible, and from seeing your work you can really see that in the faces of the people you photograph. From that point, it was very easy to eliminate other photographers we were looking at and focus on you. What really cinched the deal for us was just how down to earth and friendly you are. We trusted you with our wedding because we felt so secure with your portfolio of existing weddings and we felt like you truly understood what we wanted and we felt like you could absolutely deliver on that. We both feel absolutely elated and overwhelmed with the work that you have done. We can’t believe how perfect our wedding photos are and how well your photos capture our day. Looking back through all of the photos we can both remember how we felt at that exact time, things we said, little jokes, and moments together. Also on our wedding day, you were incredible at just blending into the background and getting the most incredible candid shots. I honestly don’t know how you could improve on what you’re doing, you have an incredible talent for capturing raw emotion. I would say to a potential client that if they want to remember their day exactly as it was when they should hire you for their photography. Every single photograph captures a small moment of the day, the tears, laughter, joy, elation, and exhaustion, and I know that every time we look at our photos, whether that be tomorrow or twenty years from now, I will be able to remember every second and feeling from our day, and that is what we are so grateful for. I felt like you were exceptional value for money and we absolutely got our money’s worth! You really went above and beyond for us and we are extremely grateful. We’ll always recommend you to anyone who is looking for a photographer and for any life events we want to be captured we’ll be coming to you first! Xx” Steph + Dearg Obartuin
This question gets asked quite a lot on the Internet these days; “best wedding photographers near me”. Though if you’re searching for this you’ll miss out on an awful lot of potential wedding photographers. The best wedding photographers are spread out all over the UK. I myself am based in Liverpool but have been hired as a Cotswolds Wedding Photographer as well as booking weddings all over the world like places such as Bahrain.
Please do let me know if you are getting married anywhere in the UK or beyond. Especially if you’re looking for a less traditional photographer that wants to work harder on capturing the feelings and moments of your wedding day over having many posed and staged wedding photography.
