David Dunand

David Dunand is a self-taught photographer based in Neyruz, in the canton of Fribourg, who photographs weddings across French-speaking Switzerland (Suisse romande, as his wedding page puts it). His wedding offer is reportage from the preparations to the first dance, billed by the hour rather than sold as a fixed day package, and his site describes each stage of the day in more detail than most photographers bother to.

Who he is

The about section on his homepage gives the essentials. He is 34, self-taught, and was introduced to photography as a child when his father gave him his first camera. He later put his savings into his first camera body and taught himself the craft by experimenting. The moment he names as decisive came in 2019, on a mountain bivouac, when he says he first really felt the power of photography. Over the five years since, he writes, it has become "ma vocation, mon mode de vie" (my vocation, my way of life).

That landscape background still shows in the business. Alongside weddings he sells prints and calendars of Swiss landscapes, runs photography courses for beginners and retouching courses, and leads workshops in winter, in autumn, in the mountains and under the Milky Way at night. He also photographs families, couples, pregnancies, baptisms and individuals, and does corporate work: real estate and architecture, company events, food, conferences and concerts. His services page adds that he rents out a photo booth for events. Weddings are one strand of a broad practice, not the only thing he does.

How he works on a wedding day

The wedding page is written as a walk through the day. His stated style is to be everywhere and nowhere at once: "Etre partout et nulle part à la fois, se fondre dans la foule sans que les invités vous regardent" (to be everywhere and nowhere at once, blending into the crowd without the guests looking at you). He adds that he stays close to both the couple and the guests, available all day for questions, doubts or less ordinary photo requests.

Preparations. He photographs the hours before the ceremony, when family and friends come to help the couple get ready, and records the details of the dress and suit.

The couple shoot. He takes the couple to a place where they feel at ease, possibly one that means something to them, and guides them toward natural images. He says his couple sessions generally last 1h or a little longer, because the point is for the couple to relax and set the stress aside for a while. The shoot can open with a first look. Couples who would rather see each other for the first time at the ceremony can move the session to another part of the day, for example before or after the aperitif.

The ceremony. Religious, secular or civil, he treats it as the solemn moment of the day and moves around the couple to get different angles. He notes that a civil ceremony is usually fairly short and that not every guest may attend it, with the rest greeting the couple as they come out.

The aperitif. This is where he works most as a reporter, photographing guests naturally. Guests can ask him for pictures with a partner, family or friends, and he says group photos are usually taken during the aperitif while everyone is gathered in one place.

The meal and the evening. If the couple agree, he eats at a table with the guests, though he writes that he will not sit for long, since he gets up to catch speeches, laughter and toasts. After the first dance he stays a while to photograph the start of the dancing, then stops, leaving the couple and their guests to the rest of the night. That end point is worth noting for couples who want coverage deep into the evening.

What the wedding service includes

The page lists what comes with a booking:

• A first meeting at home to learn what the couple want and to plan the day's photo schedule together, including rain alternatives, since he points out that the weather is the one thing nobody can plan.
• Finding the couple-shoot location. Either the couple already have a place they like, or he scouts one to their criteria: a lakeshore, the mountains or a forest.
• Presence on the day, for the large and the small moments, to deliver a complete photo reportage.
• Sorting and retouching. He selects the best images and edits them as a coherent set. Every delivered photo is retouched and ready to print or frame.
• A private album on his site, protected by a password the couple can share with family and friends. Downloading by visitors can be switched on if the couple choose; by default it is off and the photos are view-only.
• Delivery of all photos in high quality by email, with a download link.

Pricing

His wording on price is direct: "Pour mes tarifs, je fonctionne à l'heure. Avec moi, pas de surprise et pas d'heure supplémentaire dont vous n'avez pas besoin !" (For my rates, I work by the hour. With me, no surprises and no extra hour you don't need.) He adds that everything can be customized. The wedding page does not publish the hourly rate itself; it sends couples to a quote request.

For his other sessions, the shootings page does publish prices, which give a sense of his level. An outdoor family session runs 1h to 1h30 with 35 retouched photos for 340 CHF. A couple session is one hour with 30 retouched photos for 300 CHF, and an individual session is one hour with 25 retouched photos for 260 CHF. For those sessions the first 15 kilometers to the location are free, and further kilometers from Neyruz are charged at 80 centimes each. Payment is due on the day by Twint, cash or bank transfer, and a first selection arrives one to two weeks after the shoot. Those terms are stated for shootings only; whether the same travel and payment rules apply to a wedding is something to confirm in the quote.

What the site does not settle

For a couple planning from abroad, several things remain open. The wedding hourly rate is not published, and neither is a minimum number of hours. The site does not say how far he travels for weddings or how travel is billed for them. It gives no delivery time for wedding photos (the one-to-two-week figure belongs to the shorter sessions). There is no printed album product described on the wedding page, although one past couple mention an album they made afterward.

Language is the other gap. The whole site is in French, and it does not say whether he works in English or German. An English-speaking couple should raise that in the first message rather than assume it.

Booking and contact

Enquiries go through the quote button on the wedding page or the contact form on the homepage, which asks for name, email, phone, a subject and a message. The listed contact details are contact@daviddunand.com and +41 79 903 28 43, and the business address is Route en Champ Didon 122, 1740 Neyruz. The first step after that is the home meeting described above, which a couple living abroad would need to arrange around a visit or ask to hold by video.

What past couples say

Two wedding testimonials appear on the site. Justine and Simon, married on 15 April 2023, thank him for his professionalism, kindness and discretion and write that their guests enjoyed his presence and good humor. Elodie and Valentin write that he followed them through their whole wedding day, that he listens and quickly puts people at ease, and that they are delighted with the photos.

Who he suits

Dunand suits couples marrying in Fribourg or elsewhere in Suisse romande who want unobtrusive reportage rather than long posed sessions, and who like the idea of paying only for the hours they need. The detailed day plan, the home meeting and the password-protected online album make him easy to understand before the first call. He suits less well a couple who need a published wedding price up front, coverage that runs late into the night, or a photographer whose site confirms English. His strength is the calm, observational style his clients keep mentioning, backed by a clear description of how he spends the day.