Wedding Day Photography Tips

Getting Ready Photography Tips

Here are some ideas for wedding day photography tips!

Allocate Time: Allocate about 40 minutes for the groom’s party and approximately 60 minutes for the bride’s party. If your bridal party is a mix, consider planning for around 1 hour to be on the safe side.

No Need to Be Fully Ready: You don’t need to be completely dressed when I arrive. Grooms can have pants and under shirts on. The final dressing shots and shoe images will be captured. Brides can wear their getting ready clothes or robes for any pre-formal wear photos.

Organize Important Items: Keep your shoes, jewelry, dress/suit, invitations, perfume, or any other significant items you want photographed in a designated box or bag. This makes it easy for your photographer to capture them.

Gifts and Special Moments: If you plan to exchange gifts among the wedding party or as a couple, inform your photographer and have the gifts set aside for documentation.

Stick to Hair and Makeup Schedule: Try your best to adhere to the hair and makeup timeline. While schedules can shift, starting the day smoothly reduces stress.

Plan Your Style: Decide whether you want candid and natural images or a more polished look. If opting for the latter, designate an area as a ‘bag/stuff pile’ to keep clutter out of the shots.

Embrace Natural Light: Open windows and blinds to allow beautiful natural light to enhance the images.

Designate an Assistant: Choose a member from each side of the wedding party to be your primary assistant for the day.

Minimize Stress: Spend limited time with anyone who might cause stress. Delegate tasks to individuals who won’t cause anxiety.

Stay Nourished: Make sure to eat, as the day will be busy. Keeping yourself fueled is essential.

Champagne Photos: If planning champagne photos, consider getting an affordable bottle just for the popping  photos.

Relax During Photography: Let your family and wedding party members know that the getting ready session is laid-back in terms of photography. They don’t need to pose for the camera constantly or worry about what to do with their hands. I’ll be documenting the natural flow, offering light guidance when needed, but mostly capturing candid moments as they happen.”

Remember, getting ready moments are about capturing genuine emotions and the natural atmosphere of the day. By following these tips, you’ll ensure that the process is enjoyable and that the resulting photos tell an authentic story.

Portraits

To make the day easier I highly suggest a first look.I know they are not for everyone and some people want the traditional route of seeing one another down the aisle. And thats ok too! But if you do have a first look it will get a ton of photos done and out of the way. This makes for a more relaxed wedding and you can actually enjoy your cocktail hour!

With first looks you can get your couples portraits and bridal party photos out of the way. And if time and location permits asking your family to come early for family photos can really make a difference!

If first looks are not the way you want to go you should still aim to get your own individual images and images with your bridal party separate before the ceremony time. This will save a nice chunk of time later. These wedding day photography tips can be taken with a grain of salt depending on the flow of your day.

Minimize locations. One huge aspect that can eat up a day is wanting to drive to multiple places for photos. Depending on the day this can or cannot work. If you’re leaving lots of time prior to the ceremony for photos and a first look this might be more possible. But if your looking to drive to a few places especially in the city it can be a mess with parking and timelines!

As I noted earlier its nice to have a designated wedding party member assist you during this time as well. It’s nice to have additional hands ready to help with dress placement or hold flowers when needed.

Don’t forget to carve out time for your dress bustle.

You will be smiling a lot during family formals. You can for sure tell your photographer you need a second to stretch out those face muscles lol!

For family photos be sure to have a designated bridal party member or family member who knows a bulk of the people in the family photos. As your photographer yells out names it can be beneficial to have people who know who they are talking about close by.

Try to set aside time for sunset photos. Its so nice for you to take some time to get away from the busy reception time and get some alone time.

Ceremony

If possible have your photographer put an x on the ground of where they want you to stand. This will vary location to location but if possible have a small marker for the middle of the aisle. Sometimes couples are so in the moment they dont realize they are standing off to the side. And it can cause some uneven photos. If its an outdoor wedding sometimes the light can be right in your face and splotchy coloring. So this can help avoid standing in bad light.

Ask your officiant prior to the wedding if they can step to the side during your first kiss.

Kiss a few separate times ( if you can remember lol). This way you photographer for sure captures it!

 

Reception

If time permits it can be nice for you and your partner to go and view the reception space alone before all your guests come in. Its nice to see all the hard work before hands touch everything haha.

Table visits can take MUCH longer than you realize. The thing about weddings is, you can do whatever you want! So if talking to all your guest a bulk of the time is what you want, then do it up. But if you’re trying to thank people and do a quick hello so you can dance or do other activities then you must try hard to bounce table to table.

A recent trend of 1 or 2 songs plays while you run to each table and grab a photo or they come to you on the dance floor. This is nice because you get a quick hello, laugh and funny photo with each group of guests. And its a time crunch so you know you will be done with this in 5-10 minutes max.

Sparkler exits (or other exit photos) don’t always have to be at the very end of the night. Depending on the hours your photographer is with you there is a possibility you will want to move these photos up. By the end of the night some of your older guest could have already left. You also will have a lot more drunk people at the end of the night. And that can cause some serious damage. I’v seen people catch things on fire and brides dresses and hair catch on fire. For safety I always advise doing these images a bit earlier than the very end of the night.

Hope these wedding day photography tips help you with your planning!

 

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