Frequently Asked Questions about our photography and of wedding photographers in general

Ideally we like you to make an appointment to visit the studio and come an meet us. We like to get to know you and make sure you are comfortable with us and our service. A £300 booking fee secures your date with a completed booking form and signed T&Cs. We can send these out to you if you live away and are unable to meet us yet but want to secure our services.

We always only photograph one wedding a day.

Yes of course. We talk about family groups at our pre-wedding meeting and I don't restrict groups to a certain number. What I do ask is that you give me time to photograph them - and still allow enough time to photograph you both and some of the more relaxed images of you with your guests. If time is tight then we prioritise the groups to get the most important ones for you and your families.

Absolutely. I wouldn't consider myself a professional photographer without insurance. We hold professional equipment insurance, 3rd party liability (your venue may require us to have this to work on the premises) and professional indemnity insurance. We also hold employers liability insurance.

Unless you have a very large wedding and request a second photographer (and pay for them) from us then Mike French is your sole photographer. This enables your images to be consistent with his vision and ensures that you don't have another photographer in your images or that your guests become self conscious with multiple cameras and photographers.

Our preference is not to work with videographers as we find that it compromises our ability to deliver our normal level of service to you. Under certain circumstances we will work with professional videographers but ask that you speak with us before booking us if you are looking to have both. We are happy to work with family or friends using a video camera from their seats for the ceremony and speeches.

Yes. We have sufficient experience and weddings photographed that we never show models, friends or images from portfolio days on our site where you would expect them to be clients. All of our wedding images are taken for paying clients who have booked us for a professional service.

Mike assisted and then apprenticed at a leading photographic studio for two years learning how to photograph weddings. He then continued his education there working as both a second and primary photographer before working exclusively for Meonshore Studios. Mike has attended many seminars with leading wedding photographers from around the world and had received 1:1 consultancy from one of the Australian Master wedding photographers. He gains continued education, experience and inspiration from a network of exceptional UK photographers with whom he is closely associated.

We run a prudent and sound business. Our intention is to be photographers for a long time and have no desire to concentrate on training, seminars or product manufacture like some photographers, at the expense of being behind the camera. You hold a contract upon booking us and we expect to deliver on that.

There are a lot of factors which determine our prices. Certainly our products are of a very high quality, and we run a professional legitimate business - insurance, backup equipment and tax all add to our costs. However you often get what you pay for and our experience, the quality of the work we produce and the level of client service places us in the quality end of the wedding photography market where you will find that we are reaonably priced compared to photographers of a similar standard.

The images on the website should be a guide to the qualty you will receive. There is no substitute for coming and seeing complete wedding albums and proof books to satisfy any concerns you may have.

Certainly. We have a studio and are very happy to schedule an appointment for you to meet with us and take a look through several complete display wedding albums, parents albums, proof books and also our wall prints and canvas wraps. The quality of our products is such that we highly recommend you view our albums and prints if you are trying to compare us against other photographers work.

Yes we happily and frequently travel outside of Hampshire for weddings and are often found in Sussex, Dorset, Berkshire and Surrey. We also travel further afield in the UK, and abroad in Europe. For destinations requiring extended travel we do ask for expenses and overnight stays dependant on your specific requirements. We are happy to quote you for these.

Ideally as many as we can whilst still maintaining respect for the ceremony itself. We aim to capture all of the key elements of the service and as many natural moments that occur during it. However, we are respectful of the wishes of the officiant and whilst we will try to ensure as comprehensive cover as possible it may be that we are limited in what we take. If photography of the ceremony is important to you then we suggest you make this clear to whoever will be marrying you - this can make a big difference.

Quite possiby we have worked in many venues in Hampshire and the surrounding areas. It is possible we may have examples of our work on the site. If you can't see then please ask. However with our experience we are able to quickly determine the best areas for photography and light on the day and our pre-wedding shoot often allows us to work with you at a new venue to get the right locations based on both of our preferences.

Quite simply I will use one of the others I have with me. As a professional photographer we have multiple cameras and lenses, and lighting and have backups for all of the main equipment we carry. Our professional cameras have twin card slots which means that your images are duplicated in camera and we have never lost a client image.