Have you photographed our wedding venue before?

As wedding photographers we’ve seen this question on so many wedding planning websites, as a question to ask your wedding photographer. So, I’m here to reassure you that there are both pros and cons for having worked at your venue before or not… spoiler alert, it’s really not a big deal! 

It’s often a misconception that you should hire a wedding photographer that has already photographed a wedding at the venue. While that is to a certain extent a good idea, it has its draw backs too. The main reason you would think it’s a good idea would be that the wedding photographer will be familiar with the venue and the lighting conditions. Along with having an idea of the best locations for photos and to get the most out of the venue.

When you choose a wedding venue, you often look at location. One that is spacious and flexible, with plenty of options for seating and decoration. A good wedding venue should have good customer service and staff, who are willing to work with you to ensure that your wedding day is everything you want it to be. You may have been to the venue, in the past, for a wedding or seen photos on their website or social media.

So when you’re looking for a wedding photographer what do you look for?

A good wedding photographer will have excellent technical skills but of course thats a given! They should be creative and have the ability to think on their feet. They should also have a good understanding of light and be able to use it to their advantage. Additionally, they should have good interpersonal skills and be able to connect with the couple to capture unique, emotive and beautiful images. Finally, they should be professional, organised and have experience working weddings.

As wedding photographers, we of course have our local wedding venues that we have worked at. And although every wedding is completely different. You’ll find wedding photographers set themselves in a pattern at those regular venues. Step by step taking the same photos each week, just with a different couple. This can become a safety net, and some photographers may be limited in their ability to create unique photos, as they have already seen the venue and its lighting and angles, so many times before. Often finding it more challenging to provide new ideas or creative approaches more likely leading to repeat shots that have already been taken at the venue. 

There isn’t anything wrong with that, and those photos will be beautiful. The venue will have created set areas on their grounds exactly for the perfect back drops for your wedding photography.

The one question you should ask your wedding photographer is NOT if they have photographed at your venue. But do they intend to visit, before your big day, to scope out the best locations for photos for you. Each couple is different, and to keep a photographer creative, and on their game, new venues often give the photographer a buzz by scouting out new and fresh locations.

At Stories in Focus Photography, we do exactly that, and this weekend we attended two wedding venue open days. We could see how the venue would be set up for our couple’s day and take time to check out all the locations around.

We purposefully do not look at other photographers images from the venue, so not to taint our creativity. Once we have made our notes for our couples getting married there, we then start looking at other photographers work online. Yes most of the time the same locations are use. This is because the venue has created those spaces especially for your photos. But there are always areas that haven’t been used. And it makes our job that bit more exciting as we love it when our work is original and creative.

It’s fair to say your wedding photographer is creative, they wouldn’t be in that career if they weren’t. So let their creative juices flow and you’ll receive wedding photos that will not only knock your socks off but won’t be like all the rest!

This weekend we visited Crown Hall Farm in Lincolnshire and Swynford Manor in Cambridgeshire. Both of these beautiful venues are completely new to us, with our couples booked in for later this year. We spent about an hour to two hours at each venue. Not only looking around the venue, but we took an extensive walk of the grounds, looking for those perfect photography backdrops. Watching where the light falls and how we could create something special for our couples. As it was an open day, you’ll often find other vendors there, that again is ideal for us as we love connecting and chatting to other wedding suppliers.

Although it’s winter, and for these two couples their weddings are in the summer. We took photos of the venue for our reference and to see how they look in the winter for future reference.