Your search for the best lens for wedding photography ends here as we explain how to select one and our recommendations based on the professional criteria of selection.
Before we get into our humble explanation of how to select the best lens and our recommendation of the best lens for wedding photography in 2025, we just want to let this out: prime lenses are much better during weddings rather than a single zoom lens.
We understand there might be some "no way" and "hell no" remarks on this, but in our years of testing and experience, prime lenses happen to perform much better, especially in dynamic stations like weddings, and are endorsed by numerous professionals in this niche.
These lenses allow for a larger aperture, which gets you a creamier bokeh that everyone loves. Pictures will have much better contrast, and there will be more separation between your subject and background.
Zoom lenses can also be great, but they can be inconsistent at different focal lengths. Plus, carrying two prime lenses, let's just say 35mm for wider shots and 85mm for portraits, will give you consistent and professional-grade results.
Having said that, every wedding is unique, and the "best" lens for a church wedding considered by a professional may be different for a ceremony being held in a small space. Timing of weddings also affects lens performance, some might be great in daylight and will suffer in performance when the sun falls down during an extended ceremony, especially with a zoom lens.
Now we have the prime vs. zoom lens debate out of the way, the question "What makes a great choice when a professional is looking to hunt down the best lens for wedding photography in today's era needs to be dissected.
Well, there would be five things to look for: aperture, which comes first in the consideration list, as wedding photography is all about capturing the best possible quality of wedding photos. For that, a fast lens with a wide aperture ranging from f/1.2 to f/2.8 should be in the specification sheet of this "best" lens.
Next, your camera lens should be great on different focal lengths, and it should be noted that different focal lengths of lenses are designed to serve different purposes. As explained above, zoom lenses are not consistent on different focal lengths, especially in low light conditions.
Next is the quality of photos. Your lens should have higher quality specifications, above 40-60 line pairs per mm of sharpness and less than 1% distortion, which ensures straight lines stay straight in the lens.
When it comes to the versatility of using such a lens, using a prime lens combo like the 35/85mm dual setup works great for most people, but some also choose to carry a 24/50mm combo in tight or medium-spaced wedding venues.
If you plan to capture shots in a wider space and aim to cover almost all focal lengths during a wedding, carrying a zoom up to 150mm along with a prime lens is recommended to ensure that you are confident in a variety of scenes in both portraits and wide-angle ceremony shots. Most zoom lenses come with good magnification factors, which can be used to take macro closeups of small objects (like wedding rings) by using cropping.
Now you know what should be on the checklist for the best lens for wedding photography in 2025, and one such lens that checks the boxes for the primes lens is the SIRUI Aurora Series 85mm Full-Frame Autofocus Lens. This prime lens with an ultra-fast f1.4 aperture for dealing with low light situations is designed to get ultra-creamy bookend shots for a ceremony like a wedding.
Weighing just above 500 grams, the 85mm focal length of this lens is a sweet spot for wedding portraits with crisp quality and smooth blurring. The construction of this lens with ED and HRI glass allows a smooth light passage with a reduction of reduction stray light. Not to mention, the bright aperture of this lens makes it a go-to choice for various wedding scenes and is makes in our list as the first choice for wedding photography.
Wrap-Up:
However, picking and naming a single lens as the best lens for wedding photography in 2025 is quite subjective, as the choice is affected by different factors. This includes one's photography style, the size of the wedding ceremony, and the time of this event. The 35/85mm combo of the prime lens makes a great choice for capturing most of the scenarios, and if you want even more freedom, bring a zoom lens with these two.
