The best Canon lenses for wedding photography

Whether you're photographing an intimate elopement, a micro wedding, a quirky alternative wedding or a traditional big wedding reception, the right kit is key. So which are the best Canon lenses for wedding photography? What are the essential features to look for in a Canon wedding lens? And which lenses will be both reliable and fast to focus, enabling you to deliver results time and time again?

We spoke to internationally renowned wedding and bridal fashion photographer Félicia Sisco, based in Paris and Corsica, and Fabio Mirulla, from near Florence in Italy, who was the grand winner at the International Wedding Photographer of the Year awards in 2021. Here, these wedding specialists open their kitbags and reveal their favourite Canon lenses for capturing a couple's special day. In addition, Mike Burnhill, Senior Product Specialist at Canon Europe, explains how the technology behind these lenses makes them so well-suited to the genre.

Fabio, who also uses the RF 85mm F1.2L USM, recently shot an entire wedding using only prime lenses. "Prime lenses stop you being lazy. You're forced to move, to find the right position at the right moment. And when I'm moving around, other great shooting possibilities will catch my eye. For picking out details, the precision of this lens with the autofocus systems of my EOS R5 and EOS R6 cameras is unbelievable. At beautiful locations, especially in the countryside, you can focus on the detail you want and make it stand out by blurring the background, while keeping all its wonderful colours."

"The Canon EF 85mm f/1.2L II USM is one of Canon's legendary lenses but the latest RF edition produces stunning portraits," adds Mike. "You can get incredible sharpness in the eyes but the roll-off is very flattering for skin, making it look smooth and beautiful without picking out every hair and whisker. It's renowned for its beautiful bokeh. The Defocus Smoothing edition (Canon RF 85mm F1.2L USM DS) further enhances bokeh. Two layers of coatings are applied to smooth the edges of 'bokeh discs', typically created by the likes of defocused fairy lights and candles."

Fabio adds, "The speed of this lens is superb when there's very little light. It gives me beautiful results when I shoot in churches and at candlelit receptions. For portraits especially, I don't want people to look at an image and say, 'Wow, what a beautiful church.' By throwing the background out of focus, the people in the portraits get full attention."

Mike describes this as "Canon's 'game-changing' lens" because it has brought something new to photographers and videographers alike. "There was once a time when super-fast apertures meant there was a compromise in overall image quality. This lens changed these rules, not only producing stunning image quality but delivering that super-fast aperture for low light or extremely shallow depth of field."

Mike is particularly impressed with the Canon RF 28-70mm F2L USM's abilities as a zoom lens. "It provides stunning image quality with a fast aperture, normally only found in prime lenses. The range of focal lengths at f/2 means you don't have to carry numerous prime lenses and keep swapping between them. It also avoids the risk of missing an important shot due to changing the lens on the camera. The zoom range covers most of the favoured focal lengths for wedding photography, coupled with the unique ability for a zoom lens to shoot in very low light or blur backgrounds." If you're shooting on a DSLR, the closest match is the highly acclaimed Canon EF 24-70mm f/2.8L II USM, which pairs seamlessly with EOS R System cameras via the Canon Mount Adapter EF-EOS R.

"You'll find a 70-200mm f/2.8 lens in practically every professional wedding photographer's bag," agrees Mike. "The telephoto reach and fast aperture let you get in close even when you physically need to keep a distance, and it's great for candid wedding shots as well as for blurring the background to get rid of distractions."

Canon also offers a wide range of prime lenses, perfectly suited to wedding portraits. "When I shoot the couple outdoors and I want that incredible bokeh, the Canon EF 135mm f/2L USM lens is fantastic. It's one of my favourite lenses in the world," says Fabio. "I can use it at the maximum aperture of f/2 because it has incredible image quality, and on my EOS R5 and EOS R6 via an EF-EOS R mount adapter, I also get image stabilisation.

"The reception is my favourite time during the big day," Fabio continues. "It's when I get to tell the story and I use the Canon EF 24mm f/1.4L II USM lens for an immersive look. To stay close to people and to stay in the moment, the 24mm is perfect for me, and it works really well on an EOS R System body with an EF-EOS R adapter. I'm also a fan of the Canon RF 16mm F2.8 STM. It gives an incredibly wide viewing angle but it's tiny."