Hi friends! I’m back and ready to share my second tip for when you’re looking for a wedding photographer (see the first tip about film versus digital photography here). Today, I’m talking about different styles of wedding photography. I think there are three main buckets: light and airy, dark and moody, and bright and clean. There are, obviously, more buckets than these (heck, these buckets are practically melting pots). These main buckets are the ones I’m going to focus on today, as I believe they’re what I spend most of my time looking at in the industry.

Light and Airy

The light and airy style has become incredibly popular over the last few years. I believe that film has a little something to do with this, but maybe I’m biased. These images often have very white skies and light, creamy skin tones. The greens tend to be a bit more “minty.”

Here are some photographers that I would say are great examples of “light and airy” photographers:

• KT Merry
• Shannon Moffit
• Kayla Barker
• Ailyn La Torre

Dark(er) and Maybe even a bit Moody

Even though it isn’t the style that we share, there is something about dark and moody photography that I love. It often is overflowing with emotion in the most beautiful way! The dark tones are very dark and the shadows are deep in this style of photography. The greens often look muted and the skies often look a bit gray.

Here are some examples of photographers that fill this niche to me:

• Benji Haisch
• Kamra Fuller
• The Portos

Bright and Clean or Bright and Colorful

This style is very similar to light and airy – and overlaps quite a bit. To me, the colors are a bit more vibrant in this category – the greens are more true to life. These photographers manage to capture images in an authentic way – true to life, love, and color.

Here are a few photographers that I believe fall into this bucket – the first two focus on “bright and clean” while the last two are more “bright and colorful.”

• Katelyn James
• Laura Foote
• Danielle Poff
• Kera

As I said, these aren’t the only three buckets. I think there are plenty of photographers that have found their own niche that overflow into multiple buckets. Shannon Lee Miller isn’t quite dark and moody or bright and colorful – but a bit of both.

None of these styles are better than another – and honestly – none of these photographers perfectly fit into any of the buckets above. This is simply a resource that allows you to compare a few different styles to see if any of the photography styles resonate with you more than another as you start the journey of picking a wedding photographer!

Read the next blog post about how important it is to vibe with your photographer’s personality.

Here are some photos that have been taken of us over the year in a variety of styles – to show you a bit of the difference for yourself!

Images by Shannon Lee Miller, Danielle Poff, Kayla Barker, and High Five For Love.