Part of every wedding soundtrack is the click of camera shutters as guests and photographers capture the day in pixel-perfect digital clarity. But when it comes to the official photo album, does film edge out digital as the format of choice?

If you're looking for consensus, you're not likely to find it, even among wedding photographers who have their own allegiances.

Behind the Lens

"Film is more beautiful," says Alice Garik, a professional photographer based in New York and Vermont known for her photojournalistic style. "It has grain, not small square pixels." That grain gives film its distinctive characteristic and the subtlety that purists love.

Nicole Braun Carrasco, who heads up the Manhattan-based photography firm called Wink, shoots only about 10 percent of her weddings on film, but says the grain, particularly in black-and-white film, "is a look that cannot be achieved with digital. It lends itself to great prints as well."

These days, however, film photography has become a specialized niche and a "point of distinction" for those who choose to work in it exclusively, according to
 Angela Wijesinghe of the nonprofit trade association Professional Photographers of America. "The overwhelming majority of wedding photographers shoot in digital," she says.

Instant Results

Digital delivers instant gratification. No need to wait for a lab to develop the negatives. "You see the results immediately," says Carrasco. If the lighting is not quite right or the exposure is off, the photographer can make real-time adjustments. And digital gives photographers the freedom to shoot more frames without having to be concerned with the costs of film and developing. As a result, Carrasco says digital "is a little more cost-effective."

What's Right For You

In the last decade, commercial-grade digital cameras and lenses have improved dramatically, and digital specialists contend that in the hands of a skilled photographer, many brides would be hard-pressed to distinguish one format from the other. That's why Wijesinghe says that, ultimately, the format is less important than the photographer. The more relevant questions to ask yourself: Does the photographer know how to capture light? Frame a moment? Tell a story? "It's always about the artist," Wijesinghe says. "It's never just about the tools."