Your Wedding Photography (a MUST read!)

To: All soon to be bride and grooms

This is a definite must read for all brides and grooms who plan to hire a photographer - which you all should! This is advice for couples who are budgeting for a wedding photographer...

If you are considering setting aside 30%+ of your wedding budget on professional photography (and I hope that you are!) then you definitely want to make sure that you are making the absolute best use of your photographer!  It is without a doubt a big investment and there are a few important things that you can do, that from the prospective of a professional photographer, can be the difference between an “ok” experience and final product and an incredible experience and final product!  It is all about making the most of your investment!

Here are my top 6 ways to get the most out of your wedding photographer!

1) If at all possible, meet in person for your consultation. Even better, bring the groom!  Not only does meeting face to face with your photographer tell you WAY more then their website alone can, but it also gives your photographer the chance to see you two together in person before the wedding day.  Everything from what you wear to your consultation to the way that you and your groom interact helps the photographer to get a feel for your personalty and style as a couple.  All of this means that your photographer is even more prepared to capture what represents “you” most on your wedding day.

2) Schedule an engagement session.  If it is at all possible to work into your wedding budget, schedule an engagement session with the photographer that you are considering hiring for your wedding day.  This can even be done before actually booking the photographer for your wedding.  Think of it as taking your photographer for a test drive before making the big investment of hiring them for your big day.  You will get to see how they work with you during the shoot, their turn around time on delivery of the images, and most importantly, you will get to see the quality of the finished product firsthand.  If for some reason you are not satisfied, then it is better that you figure that out before hiring them for the wedding day!

3) Shift your coverage earlier in the day. If the number of hours in the wedding package that meets your budget do not cover the entire span of the wedding itinerary my advice to clients is alway this; opt to use your hours beginning earlier in the day as opposed to trying to get the entire reception covered. Trust me on this…you will not regret missing out on the extra 100-200 pictures of your friends dancing at your reception that will never make it on your wall or in your wedding album.  What you will regret is never getting any detail shots of your dress or capturing that special moment when your mom walks in and sees you in your dress and veil for the first time.  Ideally, start your wedding coverage 2-3 hours before the ceremony start time. Coverage will still likely take you through the ceremony, through the “important” parts of the reception and will still leave time for plenty of fun dancing shots!

4) Do a “first glance” and your bride groom session prior to the ceremony. Hear me out on this one…tradition (and grandma) have told us that seeing the bride before she walks down the aisle is somehow not as “special” and will take away from the big moment during your ceremony.  In reality, what is more special then getting to see your love for the first time on your wedding day in a beautiful, quiet and private moment instead of under the gawking eyes of all of your camera wielding guests!  You will be surrounded by family and friends for the rest of your wedding day – your bride & groom session is likely the only time you will have to stop and take the moment in. Sadly this inevitably gets squished into the remaining 10 minutes between the ceremony and reception after the craziness of family portraits and when you are already exhausted from the sheer adrenalin rush of the ceremony!

5) Prioritize your Bride and Groom session! If seeing each other before the ceremony just isn’t your thing – and I completely understand, then prioritize these shots by allowing a decent amount of time after the ceremony for your bride groom session. Think about it – what are the wedding images that will end up on your walls?  Not the getting ready shots. Not the cake cutting. Not the picture of uncle Bobby dancing with his tie on his forehead.  When you look back on your wedding images it is the dramatic and romantic shots of you and your groom that become the most iconic.  These are the images that you remember.  These are the ones that get framed.  These are the ones the truly encapsulate this incredible time in your lives and inevitably, however… these are the ones that get prioritized LAST in the sheer busy-ness of the wedding day.  In 10 years you will NOT be disappointed if you missed the cocktail hour, you WILL be disapointed if you paid all of that money for your awesome arsty photographer and don’t have any incredible jaw dropping images on your wall to show for it because there was no time left to really create those images.   Consider setting aside 30-45 minutes just for your bride groom session on the wedding day.  As long as your guests are being fed at a cocktail hour they will not complain!  Again, it is about making the most of your investment in your awesome photographer by making that session a prioritized part of your wedding day experience instead of an afterthought.

6) Finally, and probably most importantly, find a way to work a wedding album into your budget. Think about it, at some point in your life you sat down to look at your parent’s wedding album, maybe even your grandparents wedding album.  How incredible was it to be able to hold that little piece of history?  To smell the old leather as you turned the pages.  It is like looking through a window into the past.  The style of the clothes, those hideous bridesmaid dresses, your dad at such a young age. Digital photography has changed everything and as a result, “shoot and burn” wedding packages have become very popular.  Of course you want to have digital negatives to put up on Facebook and share online but 10-15 years from now are you going to crack open your laptop and pull up Facebook to show your children your wedding day?  Are you and your husband going to sit down on your 20th wedding anniversary and go through all 700 wedding images on iPhoto to relive the start of your life together?  The album is almost equally as important as getting the event captured because it is what adds tangible value to your investment which only increases with time. It is worth it and you will walk away feeling like you got more for your money than if you are simply shipped a disk of images.

All information was provided by Shay Cochrance