Your Wedding Day

It’s your wedding day and you have a million things on your mind…but photography won’t be one of them. You can sit back and relax, knowing that I’ve got it all covered.

Every wedding is different, and there is no right or wrong way to get married. Maybe getting ready photos aren’t important to you, or maybe you have a low key group of friends who won’t be doing any dancing. Maybe you’re skipping the speeches, or you don’t have a wedding party. The following goes over a very typical wedding day, but I’m all for being a part of whatever your specific wedding day entails.

Generally, wedding coverage starts about 30 minutes before you start getting dressed, and ends 20-30 minutes into dancing. Along with portraits and formal/posed images, I spend a lot of the day capturing photos that help tell your story. These include scenic shots, detail shots and candid moments. I want you to be able to remember every little detail…the people, the atmosphere, the emotions.

When I arrive for your getting ready photos you don’t have to do anything special for me. Just keep getting ready and I’ll start snapping, it’s really that simple. Once it’s time for you to get dressed I’ll likely suggest the best location in the room or house, however I mostly just want you to do you. I’ll also ask that you have all your detail items (flowers, rings, jewelry, dress/suit, invitations, perfume, etc..) gathered so I can take those photos first thing when I arrive.

At this point you may choose to do a first look. A first look (seeing each other before the ceremony) is a popular choice these days because it means that you can take many of your wedding party and family photos prior to your ceremony. This, in turn, means that you get to stay and hang out with your guests during your cocktail hour rather than having to disappear for photos (which is very much ideal)!

The first look itself doesn’t take more than 5-10 minutes, but we’ll take this opportunity to grab some couple portraits as well (so you should allocate about 20-30 minutes for your first look). You’ll want this time to be private, so we’ll ask your friends and family to hang back for a bit while we take these photos.

From there we’ll take photos with your wedding party, followed by the group photos with your family. During the portraits and group photos I’ll give you plenty of direction.

Before your ceremony I’ll capture some candid shots as your guests arrive and are seated, and during your ceremony it’s all real moments as you officially become a married couple. I move around a lot during the ceremony to offer lots of angles and to avoid being in the way of your guests.

If we haven’t done so already, we’ll photograph your wedding party and family photos immediately following the ceremony. If you chose to do a first look and these photos have already been taken then you’re all set to go and enjoy your cocktail hour with your guests! During cocktail hour I grab detail shots of the venue as well as the drinks and the food, but I’ll be primarily taking photos of all the beautiful moments that are happening as you and your guests mingle.

Depending on the time of year, sunset may happen before or during dinner. I always ask that my couples carve out at least 20 minutes to sneak off for some portraits during this time (keeping in mind that the more time you leave for portraits, the more portraits you’ll get). The evening light will be amazing and it’s by far the best time of day for romantic photos.

My goal with portraiture is to make it fun and organic. Rather than micro managing your every movement, I prefer to gently stage the scene by giving you a prompt and then I let the organic moments happen. I’ll certainly let you know if a hand should be moved or if I want you to look in a certain direction, but generally speaking, I find the most authentic portraits happen when I let a couple have a moment to be themselves.

During dinner I ask to be sat out of the way so that I have a place to leave my gear, and so that I don’t disturb your guests if I’m in and out of my seat as I jump up to capture impromptu moments and speeches. While I try to avoid photographing people while they’re eating (because who wants to be photographed with a mouthful of food) I will get wide detail shots of the dining area, photos of your food, and, of course, photos of the speeches and everyone’s reactions.

After dinner it’s time to party! I usually spend about 20-30 minutes photographing dancing (I love a good dance party!) before wrapping up your wedding day coverage and calling it a night.