Wedding Photography
I am a full time and experienced Wedding Photography specialist located on the border of Hampshire and West Sussex. I also cover weddings in most other parts of Southern England & frequently visit Dorset, Wiltshire, Surrey and the New Forest for example.
Whilst I appreciate how difficult it might seem to select your ideal photographer for your wedding day, you could start off the process by viewing the small portfolio of recent images in my portfolio section of this website. This will give you an insight into my style and recent work which will hopefully give you the confidence to pick up the phone or send me a message to check out my availability and request further details. Or maybe you want to come along to meet me, for a relaxed chat, at a mutually convenient time.
I offer each couple:
Full or part day coverage with a wide range in presentation options and price.
A complementary pre wedding meeting, typically at the main venue around a month before each wedding.
Beautifully designed and presented options on wedding albums from GraphiStudio, Jorgensen and others.
Typically around 300-400 digitally corrected images, with some Black and White or toned images, presented to each couple via a private web gallery for each wedding.
A discount on all reprints purchased during the month after each wedding via my website, for example by family and friends.
A complimenmtary DVD of 'high res' and print prepared images is included within all of my packages.
I like to talk about my work and to share my enthusiasm in what I do and can also offer you on your wedding day. Why not get in touch?
Wedding Photography Prices and FAQs
My wedding photography options start mid week from as little as £295 and are designed to enable me to cover a wide range of tastes in style and in coverage and album design. Saturday and album packages typically range from £495 all the way up to £1295. I can also offer pre wedding shoots from £175 and family photo sittings from £150.
Unlike some photographers, I also offer special incentives and discounts to photograph some short duration or mid-week weddings (please phone or email for latest details and to check my availability), including all images on DVD type arrangements. Feel free to contact me by phone, or the 'Contact' form on my website, or else email info@martinlewis.biz for full and clear details and to check if I remain available for your date.
My focus remains on being one of the most realistically priced, yet highly experienced and professionally qualified, wedding photographers available - driven to provide all my customers with exceptional customer care and attention to detail. I am a sole trader aiming to keep my own costs down, by choosing not to work from a high street studio, or employing other photographers or assistants. So I do not presently charge for VAT, staff salaries, or other high cost overheads. Detailed price lists, information or details of any current special offers and booking forms, are available upon request. I offer packages for wedding photography that can include stunning high quality albums, sourced from around the world and can include up to 'full day' coverage. My fully inclusive 'packages' for wedding photography covers the whole spectrum of options available, making me truly affordable and able to cater for most 'budgets' and presentation choices. My print prices are affordable and I also offer high quality parents albums and mini books.
With affordable and inclusive packages, you can secure a booking with a £100 booking fee and you can even pay that via on line banking.
All options typically include a pre wedding meeting with me, usually at the venue around one month before each wedding. That way we can get to know each other, exchange ideas and plan the photography together and I can help put your mind at rest about any proposals or concerns that you may have about your photography.If you are looking to purchase pictures on-line for an event that I have photographed, please check the 'View Your Photos' section of my website. Secure on line credit card payments are notified to me via PayPal. You may also pay via your on line banking, or a cheque in the post. Please feel free to contact me about your payment options, should you wish to.
Wedding Photography FAQS:
Q: How would you describe your style?
A: Tricky one – Hard not to sound like a stuck record too. I am very familiar with my pro Nikon lenses, Nikon cameras, flash guns or Elinchrom studio kit – but I prefer to be noticed for my people skills and unobtrusive approach. I like to shoot some candid, 'fly on the wall' and documentary style photos. It is usually planned that some 'classical' posed shots and particularly using the available light will occur at most weddings I shoot too. I will typically capture some group photos (but quickly if we can) and take on board individual requests. I don't generally ask people to do whacky or crazy things (although I will photograph them if they occur spontaneously) and prefer my images to show people looking natural and relaxed, rather than stiff and posed.
Q: How do I search for my photos on the website?
A: Guests and family and all can click the 'View Your Photos' tab on my website and this will take you to a list of recent events, including your wedding or special occasion. Each event will vary and will typically have a header page in which I will offer you further information. At the foot of that page will be a link you'll need to 'click here to continue'. Most weddings I upload have a password that I offer to each couple. That way - each couple gets to view the photos first and then let others do the same. You may need to adjust your browser settings to 'accept cookies' or allow 'pop ups' to allow you to click on each event link, or to view my blog.
Q: Are you a full time photographer?
A: Yes I am. I started professionally in 2002 and started off covering weddings and other (mainly sports) events as 'official photographer'. To this day I still cover other social, corporate and commercial photography (because not many weddings are mid week). Apart from weddings I cover mainly commercial photography and some events photography, such as property photos, shop openings, or PR events. Weddings are my core business and what I feel I am best at and have the most experience in.
Q: Will you let our guests take photos?
A: Yes, of course I will. After I have captured key moments such as the signing of the register or cutting of the cake, I will usually positively encourage the guests to take photos. It can be a bit irritating and distracting for the couple if a relative shadows my every move for the entire day though. Occasionally, I have to ask one guest to refrain from over shooting everything and getting in my way all the time. It is better to do this at the time it becomes really problematic, than be seem to be raising it as an 'excuse' afterwards.
Q: I really want to book you, but my Uncle says he can photograph our wedding and so that will be cheaper.
A: OK and he or she may get some good shots too. But he won't be there from getting ready, till first dance without getting distracted, losing interest, or missing a key part. He is unlikely to know intuitively when each phase of the day will unfold, nor when certain expressions are going to occur naturally. He is unlikely to have at least two of everything that might break in his kit bag, won't have a formal qualification in wedding photography, nor insurances and public liability and probably won't have photographed up to 70 weddings a year in many locations and every weather and light condition imaginable, etc!
Q: What happens if you fall seriously ill or are injured just before our wedding?
A: Good question and please rest assured I don't want to! I belong to the MPA who are a major UK wide professional photographer trade association, primarily promoting good practise and high standards of professionalism in photography. They are trainers / assessors and provide networking and support. Through them and a couple of local trusted colleagues – I could provide a substitute on your day, if required. So far (since 2002), it hasn't been required!
Q: Are you subtle or overpowering?
A: I am never deliberately rude and I am well versed in the way most registrars, vicars or venue wedding coordinators and catering suppliers will run their ceremonies and events. I will work exceptionally hard to get some great results even during each ceremony, but will try and be as unobtrusive as I can. This means rarely moving around during the ceremony and at a church I will typically stand a long way away from the marriage and use a long lens, with camera rested on a mono pod (where permitted - occasionally, no photography at all is allowed during the ceremony). I never use flash during the natural flow of the ceremony and this always applies during a church service. During group photos I always ask each couple to nominate a helper to 'shout' group names out and try and keep my own 'shouting' to a minimum.
Q: We went to a wedding recently and the photographer took over the day and was very loud and took hours doing group photos and romantic photos with the couple – Will you?
A: Hopefully, you can see from my portfolios that I don't particularly thrive on mountains of posed group shots and classical poses & that people tend to look relaxed and natural. It's always a balancing act as I know most people will want a certain style and number of key of photos. Many of the guests won't have a nice photo portrait on their wish list though and will be much more interested in socialising and enjoying themselves. Some of what I do is discrete and candid, but some is posed and choreographed. The secret is to keep those times to a minimum and so this is something I always try to plan and discuss fully with each couple.
Q: What albums to you use?
A: I use a range of premium products, sourced from UK based and European and Australian suppliers. Books can be more traditional or contemporary 'coffee table' style books or matted albums. I offer a wide range of albums, but primarily use Graphistudio and Jorgensen. They are individually designed and assembled and so please allow around 28 days for albums to arrive from the point of order. Some of my packages include an album, although I can just produce digital files alone, if required. I use one of the top UK pro labs for the majority of my printing. I also offer various parents albums and display options such as canvass, box or acrylic frames – to individual order.
Q: Do you shoot alone or with a second shooter?
A: I usually shoot weddings alone, very occasionally with a second shooter. My style and work would be disrupted if another pro photographer (or videographer) were also present. Occasionally, I will naturally have to work alongside a videographer and with cooperation and professionalism both ways – this can work OK. Most of my clients prefer a discrete service and the word unobtrusive is one which often attracted them in the first place. In some ways – two individuals with long lenses and flash guns wandering about taking photos is double the trouble. It does work for some people and some photography teams (often a married couple themselves) can be fantastic. More often though, it's an excuse for poor photography, where quantity is seen to make up for quality. Second shooters are often aspiring wedding photographers who have poor experience, confidence or people skills (or simply don't like shooting weddings) and who couldn't command a comparable fee to the main shooter – were they working on their own.
Q: Can you travel?
A: Yes, but I typically cover weddings in Hampshire, Sussex, Berkshire, Wiltshire, Dorset and the New Forest, Surrey and occasionally in London. Whilst I don't typically charge extra for anything on the day – I would negotiate a fee for travel if booked to shoot a wedding a long distance away, or abroad.
Q: Can you discount your price, if say I pay you by cash?
A: Sorry, but no. I cover around 50 weddings each year and many are booked 12-18 months in advance. My prices remain very reasonable compared to my competitors and from time to time I offer every potential client a discount if they book at a certain time of year, for instance. I can't offer discount for cash as I am a bona fide business with bills to pay and all my income is declared and accounted for. It should also be important to you to know that I will still be trading (legally) when we get to your wedding date. Advertisers, album and print companies won't discount for me for cash either!!
Q: My friend booked you for their wedding. Will my photos and album look the same?
A: Certainly not. There are certainly character traits that are clearly mine, but each album, album design and each wedding is different.
Q: Can we print from the DVD we get?
A: Yes, of course you can. I used to sell the DVD as an extra option and charge a once off fee of £299 for all the 'high res' images on DVD. Whereas nowadays it is complementary (free) with all my packages. So you will also receive a letter, granting you permission to print, copy, email, social network, whenever you want. The only proviso is that you don't use or supply them for commercial purpose. The DVD will be supplied at the time I complete each 'job'. In other words I will supply the DVD if you are not having an album within say seven to fourteen days of the date of the wedding and once all the photos are edited and ready for presentation. Whereas, if your package includes an album, you will receive preview sized files in the first instance and then you will receive your album, DVD and / or any other items in one bundle at the time that your album is completed and ready for you. As a busy and full time pro photographer it suits my workflow and record keeping to work in this clear and structured way.
You can view or even leave a client review on my Facebook Page or my Guides for Brides listing - please click any of the social media links on my site to view them.