Photographer Essex Wedding

YOUR GUIDE TO WEDDING PHOTOGRAPHY STYLES

Bride and Groom kiss under billowing veil at Henham Weddings Best Suffolk wedding photographer

Photographer Essex Wedding

I’m Charlotte, I’ve been shooting weddings as Three Flowers Photography for over 15 years all over Essex, the UK and Europe, and I’ve put this together to help you figure out a photography style that feels like YOU.

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Wedding photography styles are described as either Editorial (posed, polished portraits – think Vogue) or, Documentary (story-led, unposed). But what if you wanted the best of both worlds? Read on…

You’re making so many decisions towards planning your wedding, you’d rather not have to research something else and photography styles can feel confusing. So here it is in in plain English;

  • Editorial Wedding Photography – heavily posed, very polished with a magazine feel
  • Documentary/Reportage Wedding Photography – completely unposed, story-led real moments
  • A hybrid approach to give you the Best of Both – 90% real moments 10% guided portraits (my signature style)
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Let’s delve in a bit further…

Editorial Wedding Photography

If Vogue is your vibe and you’re into super elegant posing and highly styled details, this might be the way to go for you. You’d spend a lot longer on couple portraits and creating scenes that might look spontaneous but will be heavily directed. It means you’d have a lot longer away from your guests to curate these images, not ideal if you want to stay central to your party.

Documentary/Reportage Wedding photography

Real, unposed, story-led. A literal fly on the wall view of your wedding day as it unfolds. You are present in the moment, all day. Pure documentary photographers don’t do portraits so any photos of the two of you will be purely anecdotal.

Hybrid approach for best of both

This is me! Authentic storytelling images with a smattering of creative and frame-worthy portraits. 90% of the day I’m blending in, noticing things you didn’t and getting you a gallery of candid keepers that tell the story of your day, with your loved ones. The other 10% we’re off together to create some beautiful portraits of the two of you and get you back to the party before anyone even notices you’d gone.

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Consider these 5 points to help you make your decision;

1. The level of direction you’d feel comfortable with.

  • Editorial Wedding Photography involves heavy posing and crafted scenes
  • Pure Documentary/Reportage involves no allotted portraits, so no direction at all
  • Hybrid approach involves gentle direction and prompts that provoke natural reactions so portraits feel like you

2. How important are candid’s and storytelling to you.

  • Editorial Wedding Photography will give you fewer candids and authentic moments
  • Pure Documentary/Reportage will give you total candids and authentic moments
  • Hybrid approach will give you lots of candids, well rounded storytelling and some frame-worthy portraits

3. How much time you want to spend away from your guests

  • Editorial Wedding Photography will take you away from your guests for longer periods; those stylised frames take time to set up and perfect
  • Pure Documentary/Reportage allows you to simply immerse yourself in your guests all day with no interruptions
  • Hybrid approach means you’ll spend one (or two, if you want golden hour portraits) 15/20 minute block(s) of time away, with the rest being documentary

4. Are portraits your priority.

  • Editorial Wedding Photography offers lots of posed portraits and heavily crafted scenes
  • Pure Documentary/Reportage offers no formal portraits – any shots of the two of you will be ‘in the moment’
  • Hybrid approach will give you a set of wall-worthy portraits as about 15% of your gallery

5. What do your personalities tell you.

  • You love perfection and are planning every single curated detail and want the photos to embody this – Editorial is the way to go.
  • You are planning an epic day with a full itinerary and you don’t want to miss a single thing – Go full on Documentary/Reportage
  • You are all about authenticity and being present in the moment but you also want something iconic to go in a frame of the two of you – Hybrid is for you
Groom in black tie hugs bride in flower crown in a field at blue hour. Houchins. Best Essex documentary wedding photographer

Still unsure what you love?

If you’ve got photographers in mind, then test out their portfolios!

  • Ask to see a couple of blog posts from start to finish or even full galleries
  • Look out for images from trickier situations like dark rooms, bad weather, harsh winter light, dance floors.
  • Pay attention to the portraits – are they full of polished poses or do they look like they’re real moments.
  • Check out the storytelling. Can you see guest reactions during the ceremony and speeches? Are there emotional moments with parents? Can you see kids doing funny things?

If you can picture yourself in the galleries you’ve seen and you can feel the moments, that’s the style for you.

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Wedding Photography Styles & Planning FAQ’s

What do your packages include?

I have two full day package options, both with two photographers and I also offer a ‘build your own’ package so you can choose your coverage amount to suit your day and your budget. All options include Preview gallery 2-3 days after the wedding, Full online gallery with slideshows and shop.

For full pricing information head here The Wedding Experience

Do wedding albums really matter?

Absolutely! If capturing the way your wedding day feels is important to you, then I’m sure the importance of nostalgia isn’t lost on you either. It’s so easy to let your photos stay on a hard drive somewhere in your draw but in our digital age, photos – your memories deserve to be preserved and tangible. Your future selves, and family members yet to come into your lives will thank you for it.

Check out what I can offer you here It’s album time!

We love confetti – how can we get the most out of our shot?

Go BIG on your confetti! If your venue allows, choose the big, round, floaty paper kind and consider choosing colours to match your palette. Have a basket for your guests to grab handfuls from so they’re not throwing it in a clump directly from a cone or bag.

Read my confetti blog post for more info

Editorial / Documentary / Hybrid Best of Both – how do we decide?

Think about how comfortable you’d feel being heavily posed, how much time away from your guests you want to spend, how important candid shots are to you and if you’re already picturing an epic portrait of the two of you on your wall.

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Think you’ve found your fit?

but still have questions? Get in touch and let’s book a chat! CONNECT

I’m Charlotte and I’ve spent the last 15 years photographing weddings across Essex, Suffolk, Cambridgeshire, Herts, Kent, the UK and abroad! I’m documentary led but am also a dab hand at gently directing creative, frame-worthy portraits – the best of both photography styles. Experience your wedding day, I’ll capture it.

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