I’m no expert on weddings or anything……but I’ve been to a few. Enough to know what makes a wedding day awesome and what makes it not-so awesome. I get emails all the time from brides asking questions about their wedding and photography, here are a few of the more common ones I get. Hopefully some of my answers will help you plan and to help make your wedding photographs the best they can be.
How long do I need to get ready?
Time is a precious comodity on your wedding day. You need it. Lots of it. Even if you don’t think you do, you do. Trust me on this one. For the love of all things good in this life, give yourself plenty of time to get ready on your wedding day.
I would say a minimum of 2 hours. I’ve never seen it go very well in under 2 hours. Ideally, 2-3 hours is enough time to get your hair done, make-up applied, dress on, and finish up with all the details with enough time to do some bridal portraits. Keep in mind that not everything goes as planned on the wedding day and you need to give yourself lots of time in case anything should happen that wasn’t planned for (like fixing a zipper on your dress or having to redo your hair.)
We’re having an outdoor ceremony, what time should it start?
The time of day you get married can really influence how your pictures turn out. Many couples are not able to chose the time of their ceremony due to venue regulations, but for those of you who can control it, take advantage of it!
During the summer months, the absolute best time for lighting is 1-2 hours before sunset, which is typically somewhere between 4pm-7pm. If you can plan to have your ceremony start in that time range, do it! And plan accordingly so that there is still at least an hour of sunlight to play with once the ceremony is over for more pictures. You will be happy you did because the sunlight at that time of day is just glorious. It’s soft, golden, radiant, and just plain lovely.
If at all possible, avoid doing an outdoor ceremony when the sun is right overhead (11am-2pm). It produces harsh shadows and it can wash out your skin as well. Here is a website of when the sun sets
Trust me, you want this in your pictures.
Of course I know that ALL of my brides are naturally beautiful and need little to no make-up at all. =)
But let’s face it, everyone wears even just a little make-up on their wedding day. You’ll be wearing make-up for 8+ hours on your wedding day and you want it to look great the entire time. I’ve seen many weddings where the bride looks beautiful right before the ceremony, but after some time in the sun and maybe a few tears, mascara starts to run, blush gets rubbed off as you hug Aunt Betty, and by the end of the reception, there’s nothing left…..but I’m still taking pictures. Uh-oh.
Enter in the make-up artist. The thing I love about make-up artists is not only are they great at what they do, but they use professional products that last forever! All good make-up artists use primers and other magic little potions that allow your make-up to look flawless for hours upon hours. If nothing else, I would hire a make-up artist to take advantage of this factor. I’ve seen many brides use a friend to do their make-up, and let’s just say there’s a night and day difference between brides who hire a professional and brides who use a friend. Do yourself a favor and hire a professional!
I have a big family, how can we make the formals pictures go smoothly?
First of all, it helps when everyone is on the same page. I recommend making an announcement at the rehearsal or rehearsal dinner to all family members, letting them know where they need to be for pictures and what time they need to arrive. It’s also helpful if the pastor or officiant at your ceremony makes an announcement as well to help remind family members that they need to stay put for pictures.
Also, if you have a really big family, formal pictures can get very time consuming. I suggest doing some larger group shots with the 2nd cousins and distant relatives and then allowing them to go to the reception rather than trying to do individual pictures with each family member. This frees up a lot of time and allows you to get some great pictures with closer family members like siblings, parents and grandparents. Better yet, we can do a more informal group photo of extended family members at the reception to give you even more time for the bride and groom shots.
Should we hire a wedding coordinator?
The wedding day can be really stressful for the bride and groom. You wind up thinking ”who is setting up the centerpieces? has the cake arrived yet? did I give directions to the florist? is the aisle runner in place? who is going to clean up after the ceremony? who is loading wedding gifts into their car after the reception? etc. etc.” Really, do you want to deal with this stuff on the most important day of your life?
Enter the wedding coordinator.
Wedding coordinators are really the unsung heros of most of the most fantastic weddings I have photographed. To be quite honest, there is a night and day difference between the weddings I photograph where there is a wedding coordinator and weddings where there isn’t one. Night and day.
They do everything and then some. The set up, break down, clean up, bustle dresses, give directions, help with broken zippers and make sure everything and everyone is running according to schedule. They make your wedding run like a well-oiled machine. They take so much stress off of the bride and bridal party, it’s really quite amazing. I could talk all day about how I love them and how much they do, but I’ll spare you. Here are a few of my favorites:
Talia Events, Something Class Events , Save the Date Events, Sapphire Celebrations
Can you suggest a good timeline for our wedding day?
Sure! Let’s say you’re having a 5pm ceremony and you are not planning on seeing each other before the ceremony, here is a good starting point:
2:00-Arrive and begin getting ready
2:00-4:00-Getting Ready
4:00-4:20-Pictures of bride with family and bridesmaids
4:20-4:40- Pictures of groom with family and groomsmen
4:40-5- Relax!
5:00-5:30- Ceremony
5:30-6-Family formal pictures (begin cocktail hour)
6-6:30- Pictures with bride and groom
6:30- Bride and groom are announced into the reception
6:45-7:45- Dinner
8:00- Toasts
8:15-Cake cutting
8:20- 1st dance, father/daughter dance, mother/son dance
9:00- Garter and bouquet toss
9:15-end-Dance the night away!
