How to Be Ready for Your Wedding Photos: Wedding Photography Tips for Brides and Grooms
When your big day is coming up, there are SO many things on your mind. I'm writing this post to share a few ways you can get ready for your wedding photos, so on your wedding day you can just relax and know that the photos are going smoothly.
1. Meet with your photographer beforehand. Whether it's in person or over the phone, meeting with your photographer before the wedding day breaks the ice and helps you get a sense for them. You can make sure it's a right fit and won't be meeting them for the very first time at your wedding.
2. Take photos with your photographer before the wedding. An engagement session before the wedding is ideal to see what photographs you like and don't like, try different things, and get used to having your photo taken in public. Then on your wedding day, you'll have already done it before and it will be no big deal. Plus, you get comfortable with your photographer (see #1!) which helps a lot with day-of photos.
3. Think of any personal details you want photographed on your wedding day. It could be shoes, watches, invitations, letters, jewelry, anything personal and small that could potentially get lost in the grand scheme of things (because wedding days can be a lot and there's a lot going on at all times). Think about this beforehand and make a list of them for your photographer, or better yet have them set aside so when the photographer arrives they can just grab the bag of things to photograph and get started!
4. Do a venue walkthrough. Depending on the venue, they may let you do a walkthrough after the initial meeting and before the wedding, possibly with your planner. This is a good time to also invite your photographer to come by and walk through the venue with you. You can point out your favorite spots and your photographer can scope out good opportunities for family photos and make plans for portraits if it rains. This is just another opportunity to be prepared!
5. Invite your photographer to the rehearsal dinner. Most people don't get their rehearsal dinners photographed and you absolutely don't have to. But it's a good opportunity to invite your photographer who you're going to be spending a lot of time with to meet your family and friends and get acquainted before the wedding, because they'll also be getting photographed a lot on the wedding day and it may be their only opportunity to meet the photographer before the wedding.
6. Allot the appropriate amount of time for the photos you want. This varies, of course, if you have one or two photographers, or if it's a giant venue where everything is super spread out. But this really is so important. You don't want to feel rushed on your wedding day and you want everything to get photographed. You're spending a lot on this day, so there's no reason it needs to be rushed. Just work the appropriate amount of time into the schedule for the day!
7. Remember to smile! My nothing face can be weird for some reason, so don't force it if yours is too but if you want to look happy in the photos, just keep this in the back of your mind. At the same time, don't worry about it too much! Just enjoy your day and if your nothing face is weird feel free to just be you. I'll relate 😊
8. Plan the bouquet toss and sparkler exit. These are two of the things that you probably really want to be photographed, but are tricky to catch. For bouquet tosses, I always say do one fake toss first and one real. For sparkler exits, it can take a moment to get in focus, so typically I tell couples to come down, stop in the middle to kiss or do something fun or weird, then come back down and kiss again. That's it!
Basically, the more prepared you are and the more of a heads up you give your photographer, the more ready for wedding day photos you'll be! If you're in the middle of planning your wedding and want me to be the photographer you give that heads up to, contact me here and let's talk.