Having two wedding photographers is something we've always provided. We truly value our ability to be in two places at the same time, capturing two moments simultaneously or capturing one amazing moment from multiple angles.
Consider this: the bride's granddad embracing his newlywed granddaughter as she sheds a tear of joy. This lovely moment causes a problem for solo wedding photographers, who do they photograph, the bride of the granddad? They can only capture one of them before the moment is over. For us it's not a problem, we've got it covered! Both of us discretely captured the emotion on both their faces all from a respectable distance to allow it all to happen without our presence making anyone feel self-conscious.
And at other times, two perspectives can just make all the difference to telling the story. Lianne captured the nice wide image on the left showing that freshly married first embrace in the beautiful church setting whilst James captured the image on the right, detailing the moment whilst dad looks on in the back ground. Each image adds to the other and we find that to be a valuable tool for our style of coverage.
It's not all about those single moments though, it's about capturing things you'll never know happened on your wedding day until we send you your photos. We spend most of our day split up, capturing lots of different people, moments and details. Our favourite time to do this is during the drinks reception and especially on the dancefloor. Take these epic dancefloor moments below. These photos were taken just 2 seconds apart on different sides of the room. Whilst James captured the twerking danceoff, Lianne captured whatever it is these two blokes are up to! The bride and groom in James' photo didn't even know this was happening right behind their backs but were certainly glad we were there to capture it!
You'll often see a lot of solo wedding photographers touting they include a 'second shooter'. It's an insurance policy and helps them should the worst come to the worst and your main photographer (touch wood) breaks a leg or has a complete camera breakdown - there'll always be someone else there to pick up the slack with their working legs and cameras! But that second shooter of theirs changes frequently, there's no way of you knowing who your second photographer will be and just how experienced they are. A lot of people who are new to wedding photography take on second shooting jobs to gain experience. Everyone has to start somewhere but if you want coverage of both bride and groom (or both grooms or both brides) one of you will inevitably end up with someone less experienced. That said, this isn't always the case. Many photographers bring along seasoned professionals with them as second shooters, but then you often end up with two conflicting styles as everyone sees and shoots weddings differently. The result has the potential to be a mish-mash of styles and your wedding photos don't have a coherence throughout.
We've been a couple for 14 years this year... we know each other... we've got into a rhythm on wedding days, we're a real team. We instinctively know what each other will be shooting, never walking into each others shots, knowing what each other is capturing even when we can't see each other. This has huge benefits to making a coherent style of work for you at the end of the day. It also means that should one of us break a leg (touch wood again!) that you'll still end up with the style of photography you wanted and not just what you've been left with by a hired-in second shooter. It's that assurance which makes photography couples that much more attractive.
There's a caveat though...!
You likely don't need two photographers if your wedding is especially small or particularly short, or perhaps it's best to say you won't really see the benefit of two. For small weddings it might be a case of more than one photographer being unnecessary, for short weddings it may be that coverage of the important moments such as the ceremony and group photos is all that's important to you. In those cases, we're more than happy to provide what's needed and be flexible - after all, every wedding is different.
Ultimately of course, the choice is yours as to whether you need two wedding photographers or not. This isn't all to say that a solo photographer can't make amazing work, they most certainly can, but there's a value and quality of coverage that comes with two photographers that work together exclusively that might just be the edge you're looking for in the photos of your big day.
And at other times, two perspectives can just make all the difference to telling the story. Lianne captured the nice wide image on the left showing that freshly married first embrace in the beautiful church setting whilst James captured the image on the right, detailing the moment whilst dad looks on in the back ground. Each image adds to the other and we find that to be a valuable tool for our style of coverage.
It's not all about those single moments though, it's about capturing things you'll never know happened on your wedding day until we send you your photos. We spend most of our day split up, capturing lots of different people, moments and details. Our favourite time to do this is during the drinks reception and especially on the dancefloor. Take these epic dancefloor moments below. These photos were taken just 2 seconds apart on different sides of the room. Whilst James captured the twerking danceoff, Lianne captured whatever it is these two blokes are up to! The bride and groom in James' photo didn't even know this was happening right behind their backs but were certainly glad we were there to capture it!
You'll often see a lot of solo wedding photographers touting they include a 'second shooter'. It's an insurance policy and helps them should the worst come to the worst and your main photographer (touch wood) breaks a leg or has a complete camera breakdown - there'll always be someone else there to pick up the slack with their working legs and cameras! But that second shooter of theirs changes frequently, there's no way of you knowing who your second photographer will be and just how experienced they are. A lot of people who are new to wedding photography take on second shooting jobs to gain experience. Everyone has to start somewhere but if you want coverage of both bride and groom (or both grooms or both brides) one of you will inevitably end up with someone less experienced. That said, this isn't always the case. Many photographers bring along seasoned professionals with them as second shooters, but then you often end up with two conflicting styles as everyone sees and shoots weddings differently. The result has the potential to be a mish-mash of styles and your wedding photos don't have a coherence throughout.
We've been a couple for 14 years this year... we know each other... we've got into a rhythm on wedding days, we're a real team. We instinctively know what each other will be shooting, never walking into each others shots, knowing what each other is capturing even when we can't see each other. This has huge benefits to making a coherent style of work for you at the end of the day. It also means that should one of us break a leg (touch wood again!) that you'll still end up with the style of photography you wanted and not just what you've been left with by a hired-in second shooter. It's that assurance which makes photography couples that much more attractive.
There's a caveat though...!
You likely don't need two photographers if your wedding is especially small or particularly short, or perhaps it's best to say you won't really see the benefit of two. For small weddings it might be a case of more than one photographer being unnecessary, for short weddings it may be that coverage of the important moments such as the ceremony and group photos is all that's important to you. In those cases, we're more than happy to provide what's needed and be flexible - after all, every wedding is different.
Ultimately of course, the choice is yours as to whether you need two wedding photographers or not. This isn't all to say that a solo photographer can't make amazing work, they most certainly can, but there's a value and quality of coverage that comes with two photographers that work together exclusively that might just be the edge you're looking for in the photos of your big day.Share this story
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