The day of your wedding is full of excitement! You’ve most likely been planning for months, and it’s finally time where everything comes together! It’s truly a day for you and your significant other to celebrate your love amongst friends and family, with little to NO stress (that’s the goal). To help prepare you for the photo portion of your wedding, we’ve created a small list of tips to make sure the photo process is fun and organized, and that you get everything you want out of it! (Yes, I just used the words “fun” and “organized” in the same sentence.)
DECIDE ON COVERAGE TIME FRAME
When you book with us, you will choose the amount of hourly coverage for your wedding day, and what time frame you’d like your photo coverage to take place. For example, if you choose 8 hours of coverage, you can have us shoot from 7am-3pm, 12pm-8pm etc, you get the picture (no pun intended). This is also when you decide if you’d like to incorporate the traditional getting ready photos. If so, you would begin your coverage during this process. If you aren’t interested in the getting ready photos, you’d start your coverage AFTER you’re dressed to impress!
Keep in mind, if you are choosing to have your getting ready process photographed, that it’s ideal to have us arrive when the final touches to hair and makeup are happening! Hair and makeup can sometimes take a couple of hours, and if you have a full day worth of moments you want captured, it’s best to keep the morning photo session short and sweet, with only the important details being highlighted! However, this is only our opinion, and it is your day, so we will always start photo coverage when you want us to start.
DECIDE ON A FIRST LOOK
A big decision that many couples make is whether or not they will be doing a first look on their wedding day. Some couples opt for a first look before the ceremony, others wait until the ceremony, and a handful of couples find it easier to skip it all together. No matter your choice, it’s always important to fill us in before your big day, as the decision to do a first look, and when it will take place in relation to your ceremony, will determine when wedding party, family, and couple photos can take place. For example, if you’re having the first look at the ceremony, couple portraits, and any other photos that involve the couple together won’t be possible until after the ceremony.
Some couples prefer to have all formal photos done before the ceremony, while others don’t mind doing them during cocktail hour.
DECIDE WHAT PHOTOS YOU WANT PRIORITIZED
During your wedding day, there are many different moments and portrait opportunities to capture. As your wedding approaches, you may have an idea of what photos are most important to you. Some couples prefer to have more time spent on their couple portraits, while others would rather spend more time on their wedding party photos. Before your wedding day, we will send you a final survey where you’ll have the opportunity to let us know what photos are most important to you! As wedding days tend to be fast-paced, the amount of time the couple has available to get their formal photos completed is precious! So we want to make sure that we spend enough time on the photos that are most important to you, without having to steal you away from your own wedding for too long!
SHARE YOUR WEDDING DAY SCHEDULE WITH US
It’s so important for us to have a copy of your wedding schedule! If you don’t have a wedding schedule, we recommend creating one to keep all guests and vendors on track! Try to keep in mind all of the important moments you wish to have photographed, and be sure to schedule those moments within your photo coverage time frame. We understand that life happens, and weddings don’t always run on schedule, so please, don’t stress about your coverage time! If we are scheduled to end at 8:30pm, but you have an important event that got pushed back to 8:45, we will be more than happy to stick around and make sure we capture that moment!
By having a copy of your wedding day schedule, we’ll have a better understanding of where we need to be and when we need to be there, to ensure that we capture all of the important moments!
DELEGATE JOBS
As mentioned above, before your wedding day, we will send you a final survey where you will also have the opportunity to let us know what group photos you wish to have, and who will be in those photos. Whether you want one or two large family photos, or multiple specific family photos, it always helps to have a designated person who can round up the crew. People will be mingling and wandering, and although we know that you want a photo with all of your cousins, we don’t know who your cousins are, or where they’re located, so it’s key that the couple designates a person who is acquainted with your family and friends to gather the various members needed for the photo. This process will keep the group photo session running quick and smooth, and limit the amount of time the couple and family members have to be whisked away from the wedding festivities!
All in all, it is our first priority to make sure that your day goes the way you want it to go, and that you get the photos that are most important to you! Never hesitate to ask us questions, and never hesitate to voice your opinion.
THIS IS YOUR DAY!
Which brings us to our next point. Your wedding day is your wedding day! As your photographers, we are at your service, and our duty is to make your vision a reality! If you have any ideas or special requests, do not hesitate to ask! Whether these ideas are planned in advance, or spur of the moment, if we can make it happen, we will! For instance, we’ve photographed lightsaber wars in a vineyard, and we have even taken a boat ride to a secluded island where the bride climbed rocks in her wedding dress (upon her request) to get the perfect photo (SO worth it btw).
Maybe you’re not into posing, and don’t care much for staged formal photos, in that case, we will keep the day feeling extra candid. Or maybe you and your significant other want a photo album worth of super vogue / posed photos, in which case, that will be our mission!
We can’t stress enough that the day is yours, so please don’t be afraid to speak up and ask us to take multiple photos of your cat wearing a flower crown, if of course you brought your cat to the wedding and she is indeed wearing a flower crown (this is my dream photo).