h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

Oh dear, who wrote all that stuff about photographers holding up the day and taking over. It's a rather dated view of wedding photography.

Times have changed. If you don't want a bossy photographer taking over the day then look for a photographer who has a photojournalism style of photography (wedding photojournalism). Instead of setting up the photographs they will work in a documentary style capturing the day as it happens.

Many talented photographers have ventured into wedding photojournalism from other fields of photography (including newspaper photojournalism). The wedding photojournalist will spend a large part of the day with you, often from getting ready in the morning to the dancing in the evening. They will capture the real moments from the day, the tears, the laughter and the joy. The end result will be a set of photographs which tell the story of the day and you won't have to stand around posing for photographs for hours on end.

I'm a wedding photographer, with a photojournalist style and I have nothing against that viewpoint. I actually started doing wedding photography because I detested the classic approach described in this article.

I don't think it's a dated view because photographers like this still exist. And I would agree they fit the bill as described.

Of course, not all traditional photographers are like this, and some people still want that approach to wedding photography.

In conclusion, it's a stereotype, but one that is still relevant.

We bypassed professional photographers altogether by doing a deal with a local camera shop to buy an amount of throw away cameras and included a developing deal rather than the usual 'free film'. The cameras were then handed out to all and sundry and returned at the end of the day (only 3 out of 24 didn't make it back). There was a wonderful selection of pictures.