Planning Your Wedding With Photography In Mind

I've been working weddings from many different perspectives over the years and one of the most overlooked, important, and time consuming tasks of the day is the wedding photography.  Most couple tend to forget about leaving time in between the ceremony and the reception for formal photos as well as bride and groom photos.  This can end up in very rushed looking photos and, in my experience, makes for more uncomfortable people and poses.  Timing is one of the most crucial factors in the wedding and the best advice we like to give our clients is that EVERYTHING WILL TAKE LONGER THAN YOU PLAN!  People seldom move as quickly as you hope and if you're hoping for a very regimented, time-tabled wedding then you're in for a very long stressful day.  The best thing you can do is overestimate time and end up exceeding people's expectations!

Timing between events is not the only crucial planning for wedding photography.  Photography is merely the use of a camera to paint with light.  They key factor being LIGHT!  Make sure you've talked to your photographer to make sure that your wedding is going to be photographed in a lighting setting that not only sets the mood of the ceremony itself, but also allows your photographer to make beautiful photographs.  It's my practice, and the practice of most professionals, to not use flash during the ceremony because it detracts from the event itself and distracts you and your guests from your special moment.  This completely contradicts the entire purpose of the photographer capturing YOUR day!  So, the photographer is left to rely on available light throughout the wedding and you can help this by talking to your photographer about location, timing, and lighting in your consultations.  There is a great medium that you'll find gives both parties the optimal results and leaves you with amazing memories!

A couple of factors can change the amount of time needed for wedding photography throughout your day.  One major factor is how traditional you feel about seeing your significant other before they walk down the isle.  While it is entirely up to preference, if formal photos and more time appropriate bride-and-groom photos can be done before the ceremony it can make for a seemless transition from the ceremony to the rehearsal dinner and keep you guests from awaiting your arrival for an extended period of time.  If you're not wanting to see your significant other before the ceremony, you can still speed up formal photos (and have a little more fun with them) by taking the groom only and bride only photos before the ceremony so those are not taking up any time during the bride, groom, and wedding party formals after the ceremony.  These two options can help tremendously, and all it takes is getting ready a little sooner than you would otherwise to get these photos out of the way.  Remember ladies, He's going to get dressed a lot quicker than you are so take that into consideration when planning these types of pre-ceremony shots.

The style of the photographer and the importance of more on-location style photos contribute to the timing and planning needed for wedding photography as well.  If you and your spouse-to-be are wanting to do very intimate, set-up bride-and-groom poses in a prettier setting, then you will want to take the timing of the shoot into account. i.e. is your wedding at dusk so there will be no available light to shoot with outside or are you having a morning wedding so the photographs will be taken in the middle of the day when the sun is harsh.  The style of the photographer can vary the amount of time needed as well depending on how many assistants they have, if they are wanting to control you and your planning throughout the night, or if they are taking a more photojournalistic approach where the only time you really see them is during your formals!  To learn more about different styles follow the link to the Wedding Photography Styles page.

As you can see, there is a lot to take into consideration when you are planning for your wedding photography and talking all of these things through with your photographer in pre-wedding consultations can help the day go smoother and less stressful resulting in more fun and better photos!  If you'd like some free consultation on how you can better plan your wedding Contact Me!