FAQ’S
FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS
The following is a list of frequently asked questions regarding our documentary style wedding photography. Of course, if you have a specific question regarding your wedding plans, we would love to hear from you. Just click on the button below.
Do you take group photos?
Yes, of course we will take a limited number of group photos for you. We ask for a list of the groups you would like before the wedding day, and a groomsman to help us get the people together. Sam will set up the groups, and Steve takes the photos. We suggest no more than 10; this way, we get the photos taken in around 20 minutes. You can then get back to enjoying being with your friends and family, and us to our documentary approach.
will you take formal photos of the two of us?
Whilst most of the images we will take of you both will be as part of our telling the story of the day, we will of course take some (slightly) more formal pictures of the two of you. We usually leave these until later in the day, often after the wedding breakfast. In the summer, the light is lower and less harsh at this time, plus your guests will not miss you if we "borrow you" for 10 minutes or so. However, we don't ask you to pose elaborately, but merely just have some quiet time together whilst we take some relaxed photos. We specialise in non posed wedding photography, but of course want to make sure you have some gorgeous images of just the two of you. We just won’t make taking them a big drama!
How many photos do we get? Are they copyright free?
We typically take around 4000 images together at a wedding. We select and edit these down to the best 400 (minimum) that represent the day in total. You will receive these is a gorgeous Sim Imaging Photo Folio with a USB key in the back. You and your guests will also be able to view photos and order prints from a secure, password protected hosting site. With regards to copyright, whilst technically we own and retain the copyright to every image we take, we give you full print and sharing rights to the images we give you. We do ask you not to significantly change them (say with Instagram filters) and share them however, as this then is no longer our work.
what mix of colour and black and white photos will we get?
Its impossible to be specific on this until we edit your wedding photos. However we do typically provide at least 30% black and white images to our couples. Black and white works especially well where colour would distract from the emotion of the image; joy, tears, laugher. Black and white photography is a particular favourite of Steve's from his film and dark room days, and we would be particularly interested in hearing from couples that would like all black and white images! For a small extra fee, we can provide all your final edited images in both colour AND black and white.
What happens if one of you is ill and can't attend our wedding?
Although this hasn't happened in 8 years and over 250 weddings, of course it could happen. in the unlikely event that one of us can't photograph your wedding due to ill health, we will make every effort to bring a replacement photographer. We have an extensive local network of professional photographers that we know and trust and we will reach out to find a stand in. In the extremely unlikely event we can't get a stand in, we would provide one photographer and refund 30% of our fee.
do we need to provide food for you on the day?
As we are typically photograph for between 10 and 12 hours at a wedding, we will naturally need to eat something! We recognise however our couples have a lot of expense on their wedding day and don't expect you to feed us, although we are extremely grateful if you do. We do though ask you to let us know before the day, in case we need to bring our own food with us.
do you take video at our wedding?
We do have an option in our price list for a “Video-Lite” package. Our Fujifilm cameras can capture high quality video, and we have provided a number of our customers with video memories from their wedding day. However, our priority will always be your photographs on the day. If video is top of your priorities, we would suggest you hire a dedicated wedding videographer (as well as us for your photos :-) ). We can recommend several that we work with regularly. Below is some video we shot at a wedding in 2019.
Can you provide a photo booth?
It's not really our style.....but if you do have one we will for sure take photos of your guests having fun around yours!
Can you recommend a venue, cake maker, dress shop, etc, etc
We have an extensive network of wedding professionals throughout the Thames Valley. If you would like us to recommend a supplier, just get in touch through our contact page. We have a regular podcast, the Sam and Steve Podcast, where we interview local wedding suppliers.
how long will it take for you to get our photos to us?
This does depend very much on the time of year. At the height of summer, when we are busiest, we may have 4 or 5 weddings we are editing at the same time. Typically we get the images uploaded to the hosting site within 4 to 6 weeks. The USB folio takes around 10 days once ordered, the albums around 2 to 3 weeks.
have you photographed same sex weddings?
We love photographing couples in love, whether bride and groom, bride and bride or groom and groom! We are happy to show you examples of any of our weddings.
Hopefully this list has answered most of your questions. Feel free to contact us if you have any more!