Choosing a photographer for your wedding may seem simple at first. You open Instagram, look through some photographs, find a style you like and ask for information. But once you start comparing photographers, you will probably realise that there are many different ways to photograph a wedding.
I am Andrés Preumayr, a documentary wedding photographer based in Rosario, Argentina, and I have been photographing one of the most important days in people’s lives since 2012.
After all these years, I believe choosing a wedding photographer has much less to do with finding a few beautiful images and much more to do with understanding how you want to remember your wedding.
Not every photographer tells a wedding story in the same way
Some photographers work primarily by creating images: finding locations, directing couples, suggesting poses and carefully constructing each photograph.
My approach is different.
Documentary wedding photography begins with observing what is happening and trying to anticipate what might happen next. Rather than constantly intervening, I want people to experience the wedding while the photographs emerge naturally from those moments.
A glance, an embrace, someone laughing in the background, the nerves before the ceremony or something completely unexpected can ultimately become far more meaningful than a photograph we had planned in advance.
Look at complete weddings, not only the best photographs
Instagram can be a good place to discover photographers, but a selection of twenty photographs does not necessarily show how someone tells the story of an entire wedding.
Today, it is relatively easy to have a beautifully curated Instagram profile, but that alone is never a guarantee. Over more than a decade, I have met many couples who regretted choosing a photographer based mainly on price or on a small selection of beautiful images on social media.
When choosing your wedding photographer, try to look at complete wedding stories.
A wedding has spectacular moments, but it also has small ones. There are dark interiors, daytime ceremonies, evening celebrations, situations that last several minutes and others that disappear in a second.
For me, a strong wedding story should be able to photograph all of this while maintaining a consistent point of view.
Think about how much of a role you want photography to play
This is a question that rarely comes up when choosing a wedding photographer, but I believe it is fundamental.
Do you want to spend a significant part of your wedding taking photographs, or would you rather enjoy the day while your photographer works around what is naturally happening?
There is no right answer.
In my case, I try to intervene as little as possible. Of course, I am always there to help — and I make plenty of recommendations — when it comes to family photographs, and we may take a few minutes for some portraits of the couple.
But I do not want the experience of the wedding to be shaped by the photographs or to lose its natural flow because of them.
I would rather the images you keep be the result of having truly enjoyed your wedding.
Your relationship with your photographer matters too
A wedding photographer spends many hours close to you, your families and your friends. They are present during intimate, emotional, nervous and often unpredictable moments.
That is why I believe liking a photographer’s portfolio is not enough.
There also needs to be trust.
Feeling that you can almost forget about the camera is probably one of the best conditions for creating natural photographs.
Photographing weddings in Rosario and wherever the story takes me
Rosario is my home and the city where I have photographed a large part of my career, but my work has also taken me to different parts of Argentina and to countries including Uruguay, Chile, Spain, France, Switzerland and the Dominican Republic.
Every wedding is different. The people change, the spaces change, the light changes, and so do the traditions. That is precisely why, after all these years, I still find weddings so interesting to photograph.
I do not want to repeat a formula or arrive at a wedding already knowing exactly which photographs I am going to make.
I want to stay attentive.
Because very often, the photographs that become the most meaningful are the ones no one knew were going to happen.
If you are planning your wedding in Rosario, elsewhere in Argentina or abroad, and this way of understanding photography resonates with you, I would be happy to hear about your plans and check availability for your date.