I haven't shot an entire wedding on film - not yet anyway. I'd absolutely love to with a second shooter handling digital. When I'm solo, I use film for specific moments: details that deserve it. quiet in-between moments that work with the slower pace of film photography, portraits where that emulsion just sings.
If a couple hires a second photographer and you've added film photography to your package, I'll often have them lean more heavily into digital while I weave in more film throughout the day. It's about balance - making sure we've got full coverage while I indulge in the medium I'm slightly obsessed with!
Do I Shoot Entire Weddings on Film?
35mm film is what most people think of when they picture film cameras - it's the standard film size that was used in everything from disposable cameras to professional press cameras. The film is literally 35 millimetres wide. It's what I currently shoot your weddings on with my Nikon L35AF and Olympus Mju III. It gives you that classic film look with beautiful grain and those warm, nostalgic tones.
It's the same process your parents or grandparents used with their cameras - think disposable cameras at parties, or old family photos with that distinctive grain and warmth to them. That's film. It's analog, it's tangible, and it creates images that have a completely different quality to digital photography.
If you're thinking "wait, what's film?" - totally fair question. Film photography is the original way photos were taken before digital cameras existed. The 90s fashion world and rave scene was immortalised on film. Instead of images being saved to a memory card, they're captured on actual physical film that gets loaded into the camera. Once I've shot a roll (usually 10, 24 or 36 frames), it gets sent off to a lab to be developed and scanned.
Photo by Roxanne Lowit - 1990. Three models in a tub, Naomi Campbell, Christy Turlington, and Linda Evangelista
Medium format film is much bigger. The negative is about 2.5 times larger than 35mm, which means more detail, smoother grain, and an even more luxurious quality to the images. Think of it as the difference between watching something on your phone versus on a cinema screen.
This is what the Hasselblad 503CX shoots, and it's the format that high-end fashion photographers used for editorial work and campaigns in the 90s. It's a much slower process to take a photograph, so if you're a couple that values the artistry I'll be bringing this to weddings too later in 2026/27.
What Actually Is Film Photography?
Let me tell you about my film cameras and why film photography has become something I love about how I shoot weddings. I use a Nikon L35AF and an Olympus Mju III, and I've just bought a Hasselblad 503CX (a 35-year-old camera that's still considered one of the best medium format systems ever made!) - so medium format film is coming soon once I've mastered that beauty! I currently charge £200 to include film photography in your day.
35mm vs Medium Format - What's the Difference?
Film makes me slow down. In a day that moves at a hundred miles an hour, loading a new roll forces me to pause, to be more intentional. Every frame costs money, so every frame matters.
The colours are different too - that nostalgic quality you just can't fully replicate digitally, the way highlights roll off, how skin tones render. It's softer, inherently romantic. Film doesn't try too hard.
There's a reason your parents' and grandparents' wedding photos still look beautiful decades later, When I shoot your wedding on film, you're getting that same quality that made the supermodel era legendary, applied to the most important day of your life
