Looking for a Wedding Photographer in Stockholm? Here’s What You Should Really Look For
If you are searching for a wedding photographer in Stockholm, you have probably discovered there are a lot of us. Beautiful websites, beautiful couples, beautiful Swedish summer evenings. So how do you actually choose? I have photographed weddings and families for more than twelve years, and I think one of the biggest mistakes couples make is choosing a photographer based purely on a handful of beautiful portfolio images. Because your wedding photographer isn't just creating those big photographs you will frame afterwards. They are documenting everything that happens around them.
Start by deciding how you want your wedding to feel
Before comparing wedding photographers, think about the kind of photographs you actually want to have afterwards. Do you love beautifully composed portraits? Do you want mostly documentary wedding photography? Do you love editorial images? Film? Flash? video? Or a mixture of everything?
My own approach is predominantly documentary and storytelling-led. I will absolutely take you away for portraits and create beautiful photographs of the two of you, but I don't want your wedding day to become one enormous photoshoot. I would much rather you spend it at your wedding, because some of my favourite photographs are the ones no-one planned.
They are someone's mum laughing at dinner, A child underneath a table, your friends losing their minds on the dance floor. Someone wiping away a tear when they think nobody is looking.
You can't put those things on a shot list, and they are often the photographs that become more valuable with time.
Look at a complete wedding gallery, not just Instagram
This is something I would recommend to anyone searching for a wedding photographer in Stockholm or anywhere in Sweden. Ask to see a full wedding, Instagram and portfolio pages naturally show a photographer's strongest individual images. A complete wedding gallery tells you something different. Can they photograph a dark ceremony as well as golden-hour portraits? Can they capture people? Details?Rain? Dinner? Speeches? The dance floor? Can they still make beautiful photographs when the venue isn't flooded with perfect Scandinavian summer light? A Swedish wedding can involve bright sunshine at 3pm, rain at 5pm and a very dark room several hours later. You need someone who can work through all of it.
Your photographer's personality matters more than you might think
You are going to spend quite a lot of your wedding day with this person. I don't think your photographer should become the main character at your wedding, but you should feel comfortable around them. My aim is always to give direction when it's useful and disappear into the background when it isn't. During portraits, I will help rather than leaving you standing awkwardly wondering what to do with your hands. During the rest of the day, I'm watching. That's an important distinction when you are comparing documentary wedding photographers. Documentary doesn't have to mean receiving absolutely no direction whatsoever, It means knowing when to direct and, perhaps more importantly, when not to.
Don't dismiss a photographer because they aren't based next door to your venue
If you are getting married in Stockholm, you don't necessarily need a photographer who lives in central Stockholm. I am based just outside the city in Norrtälje, Stockholm County, and photograph weddings across Stockholm and throughout Sweden and Scandinavia. So whether you are getting married in the Stockholm archipelago, at a countryside estate, in the city or much further north, it's worth searching by photography style as well as exact location. The right photographer travelling an hour or two is probably a better decision than choosing the wrong photographer because they happen to live ten minutes away.
If you are coming to Sweden from abroad, find someone who speaks English.
Sweden is an incredible place for a destination wedding. The archipelago, forests, lakes, long summer evenings and snowy winter landscapes give you an enormous amount of choice.
But if you're planning your wedding from the UK or the US, its important that your photographer can communicate with you and your guests. I'm English and live in Sweden, so I work in English. That can be particularly useful for international couples looking for an English-speaking wedding photographer in Stockholm or Sweden.
Think about whether you want film as well as digital
This is one of my favourite parts. I shoot both digital photography and 35mm film. Film isn't there to replace your digital wedding photographs. It's another layer, it's imperfect. The grain is real, The colours behave differently and it’s a little unpredictable. That's exactly why I love it, There is something particularly lovely about receiving photographs from your wedding that genuinely existed on a tiny strip of film inside a camera. If you love that look, ask photographers whether they actually shoot film rather than simply applying a film-style preset to digital photographs, because they are not the same thing.
How far in advance should you book a wedding photographer in Stockholm?
For popular summer Saturdays, earlier is always safer. The main wedding season in Sweden is concentrated around the warmer months, which means photographers can have certain dates booked well in advance. If photography is one of your priorities, I wouldn't leave it until the end of your planning. But if your wedding is approaching, still ask. Cancellations happen and weekday weddings have more flexibility.
How much does a wedding photographer in Stockholm cost?
You will find a large range of wedding photography prices in Stockholm and across Sweden. Photography is one of the few things you buy for your wedding that becomes more important after the wedding is over, So it’s important to Choose the work you want to live with, and sometimes that might mean spending a little more money to get photographs you will be happy with now, and for years to come.
What should I ask a wedding photographer before booking?
I would ask:
Can we see a complete wedding gallery?
How would you describe your approach on the day?
What happens if it rains?
Are travel costs included?
How and when are our photographs delivered?
Do you have backup equipment?
Do you shoot film as well as digital?
How much direction do you give during portraits?
Can we print our photographs ourselves?
What happens if you're unable to photograph our wedding?
Do we actually like this person's photographs?
Looking for a wedding photographer in Stockholm or Sweden?
I'm Annie Lew, an English photographer based in Norrtälje, just outside Stockholm. I photograph weddings throughout Stockholm, Sweden and Scandinavia, using a mixture of documentary storytelling, creative portraiture and 35mm film. My approach is simple: I want you to have beautiful photographs without spending your wedding day performing for the camera, You enjoy it, I'll pay attention to everything happening around you.
If you want to see more of my wedding photography head over to my Wedding Photography page.
