If you are a photographer who has ever thought: should I put this wedding in my portfolio? Should I not put it in my portfolio? This is for you!

So the very first thing we need to address before we can answer this question is actually the portfolio structure.

Portfolio Structure 

There are two ways to display a wedding photography portfolio, and this makes a big difference for how your photos will display:

Option 1: One big gallery and it’s a mashup of all different parts of different weddings.

 

Example here: https://magnolia.alexcollierdesign.com/portfolio 

This website displays a ‘wedding gallery’ which is the photographers best work from all of the weddings he or she has photographed.

Option 2 (Recommended): Six curated galleries of six weddings. 

 

 

Example here: https://monarch.mariposadesignco.com/portfolio

This website displays multiple galleries within the porfolio, each gallery is a wedding.

How to Decide What To Put In Your Portfolio

I would recommend asking yourself three questions to determine this:

1. Is this something you would want to be shooting in five years?

If you don’t know the answer to that question, you probably need a little bit more exposure to the wedding industry and figuring out what it is you like to shoot and what inspires you as an artist. Discover what lights you up as an artist and if you start to craft a visual, a vision board, a Pinterest board of a vision of what you want to be shooting, you’ll start to understand what it is you should be showcasing that matches your overall vision.

Answering this question will tell you whether or not it makes sense in the long run of building your photography business.

2. Is it full and complete?

This means, did the wedding showcase everything about a wedding you would like to showcase? For example, were there details? Was there a bridal party? Was there a ceremony? Was there dancing at the reception? Not all weddings have all of these things, so it’s important to select the weddings that are the most complete pieces of work to show potential clients.

And the important thing with this is that it is complete for your brand. If you don’t like photographing details, then don’t put them in your portfolio. Your galleries would be complete without them because they are a complete showcase of your work and your brand,

If your ideal client found just one gallery in your portfolio, would that be the best gallery to show them?

3. Is it your best work from a technical standpoint?

Was it your best technical work in terms of flash exposure, things in focus, composition, editing?

It’s still not your best work, even though it answers those first two questions, then it shouldn’t make the cut for your portfolio.

You can watch the video version of this on Youtube:

If you enjoyed this blog post or Youtube video, you might also enjoy my: Wedding Pricing Guide for wedding photographers, you can get here:

 

as well as other freebies here on the site.

And if no one had told you lately, I believe in you and your business.