Beautifully told is the simple yet powerful vision of award-winning photographer Ben Lovejoy: telling the story of your day, beautifully.

To help you choose your photographer, and to get the most from him or her, Ben has put together his top ten tips ...
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1: Ask yourself how important photography is to you

If you will flick through the album once, then stash it away in a drawer never to be seen again, it doesn’t make sense to devote a large chunk of your budget to photography. You may be better off with a cheap-and-cheerful service, perhaps with a friend acting as backup photographer in case of disaster.

Conversely, if you’ll enjoy sharing the photos widely with your family & friends, and will take pleasure in looking at the photos for years and decades to come, then it will make sense to invest rather more,

This will at least provide a sense as to whether you should be looking towards the budget or premium end of the market.

2: Formal, journalistic or a blend of the two?

There is a continuum here, with traditional formal poses at one end of the scale and totally unposed journalistic shots at the other.

Most couples today opt for a photojournalistic style, but there is one extremely important trap to avoid: many of the shots you will see that appear to be spontaneous were in fact poses suggested by the photographer. So don’t book a photographer who offers 100% journalistic coverage and expect to get those kind of shots.

What we provide is a journalistic style, but with some loose direction, to give you the best of both worlds.

3: View a complete album or two

Any photographer can cherry-pick a few photos from lots of different weddings to show on their website.

To get a real sense of what your complete wedding coverage will look at, always ask to view a complete album from a single wedding. This is the acid test of whether they deliver consistent quality.

4: Ask about contingency plans

There are many things that can go wrong: cameras can fail, lenses can be dropped, flashguns can die, cards can be corrupted or lost. Always, always, always ask photographers about their contingency plans.

Photographers should arrive at a wedding with a spare for every essential piece of kit.

The Rolls-Royce solution is a top-of-the-range camera with two compact flash cards set to save every photo on both cards, so each photo is automatically backed-up as soon as it is shot. This is the approach Ben takes.

Immediately after the wedding, the photos should be copied to a laptop, and then again to an external hard drive, meaning the photos are in four separate places!

Photographers should also arrange a standby photographer for every wedding, so that in the worst case (walking in front of a bus, etc), you are not left without a photographer.

Over-the-top? With irreplaceable wedding photos, there is no such thing.

5: Buy quality, not quantity

There are photographers who proudly proclaim they supply 800, 1000 or even 2000 photos!

This sounds great, but the reality is that you have to wade through masses of low-quality photos and near-duplicates to make your selection.

A top wedding photographer will have the skill, vision and confidence to tell the story of your day in a sensible number of photos. They will typically supply 200-400 photos (depending on the amount of coverage you have booked), every one of which will be of album quality.

6: Have a rehearsal

A wedding rehearsal ensures that all the key people know exactly what they are doing on the day. It also provides the photographer with an opportunity to plan where & how they will shoot, check the lighting and agree the location and rough timing of any posed shots.

Always look for a photographer who will attend the rehearsal as part of their service. Ben always attends the rehearsal, and makes no charge for this.

7: Appoint a photo coordinator

Although most couples don’t want lots of posed family shots these days, there may be one or two special photos you want.

For these, it is worth asking a friend or relative who knows who everyone is to assist the photographer by getting these people in the right place at the right time.

8: Take time to savour the moments

A lot of planning goes into your wedding. On the day itself, it’s time to relax a little and savour the experience.

Don’t rush anything. Enjoy exchanging rings. Don’t be afraid to hold some special moments for a few seconds for the photographer

If you are having bridal portraits taken between the ceremony and reception, relax and enjoy it. Don’t worry about keeping people waiting: this is your day, and the one day in your life when you are entitled to be utterly selfish! Your guests will have lots of friends or family members to catch up with in the meantime.

9: Consider a pre-wedding shoot

Many couples have a bridal shoot sometime before the wedding. This can be a really fun experience, and give you a chance to get to know the photographer.

If you are not superstitious about the groom seeing the dress before the day, you may choose to do the shoot in the dress. Otherwise, be as formal or as casual as you please.

Some couples choose to use these photos on the invitations and/or place cards.

10: Above all, be you

The most important thing of all is that the day reflects your style, your approach.

Don’t let anyone – wedding coordinator, photographer or, dare we say it, the bride’s mum! – dictate what you do or how you do it.

If you think Ben may be the right photographer for your wedding, you can contact him here.