You’re excited and anxious all at the same time.  Planning a wedding is hard work, for sure.  Especially when you’re trying to figure out all the logistics as well as ensuring you get the photos you love.

I’ve been so blessed through my photography career that brides have always come to me for advice about getting the best photos they can out of their day.  I’ve always shared the same things with them, and I thought today, that might make an excellent blog post.  No matter who is doing your photos, there are some things you can do to make things easier and make sure you get images that you adore.  After all, when the cake is gone and the rose petals are swept away, all that’s left of your big day is the photos tucked away in an album.  So it’s a big deal. 🙂

Here’s just a few tips I love to share with my brides about photos on wedding day:

1. Pinterest is grand.  It’s a great way to share with your photographer the types of photos you love.  If you want to re-create a few photos you’ve seen on pinterest, that’s grand — but keep it to a minimum of 1-5 of your ABSOLUTE FAVORITES.  Take a photo of them on your phone and have the examples handy for the day so they’re easy to find.  Having a list of 20-30 photos to recreate takes time, and also takes away from the uniqueness that your photographer sees within your day.  You never know– your photographer may be finding something pinterest worthy on her own.  Our job is to capture the day as we see it– that’s why choosing a photographer you LOVE and TRUST is key.

2. The List :  Making a list of all the photos you want is a great idea.  But because shooting from a list can take away from time used to capture, here’s the most important things to keep on your list.  Your photographer already knows to get things like your rings and details, the first kiss and parts of the ceremony. But in order to make those tedious family formals quick and easy and stress free– make a list of all the family photos you’d like to have taken in specific order, including names– that way, all the stress can be taken off you to wrangle everyone together.  Your photographer can easily know what photos you’ve taken, and who needs to be in the next one.  It’s also a great time to ask your family and your in-laws ahead of time what photos they’d like to have taken that day — a great way to include everyone in the plan so that no photo wanted is left out.

3. Time.  Time is of the essence on your wedding day.  It’s great to have a good plan — consult your photographer ahead of time to see what kinds of time she needs to make sure she can do her job creating wonderful memories for you.  I, personally request at least 30 minutes alone with the bride and groom, and then additional time for bridal party and then family.  Sometimes, we even schedule time after the bride and groom have “left” to take some gorgeous sunset photos or to travel to an epic location like cliffs to get some unique and wonderful wedding photos.  If you’d like to leave your area and take photos elsewhere — discuss it with your photographer. Most likely, she’ll be giddy at the thought!

4. Details — I, like any photographer love styling details. It’s one of the fun parts of our job for you.  I for sure don’t want to leave anything out, so a lot of times, I’ll ask my brides to include everything they want photographed in the box with their shoes.  Jewelry, head pieces (excluding veils — don’t want to wrinkle that bad boy!), handkerchiefs, garters, stationary (don’t forget the invitations!), etc.  This is a great way to keep everything together to be photographed and makes it convenient and easy for your photographer to grab the box and head out. 🙂  Also, on the subject of details, an inexpensive custom hanger can make a world of difference in a dress shot on your wedding day.  You can also find customizable ones on Etsy.

5. The Ceremony — It’s great to go over the ceremony plan with your photographer so she knows what’s going on and doesn’t have any surprises when she’s photographing your ceremony.  A lot goes in to capturing a ceremony — as a photographer not only worries about capturing each element creatively but also, staying out of the way of your guests.  There’s a lot of strategy involved in maneuvering about without being an eye sore to onlookers and your videographers.  If she knows the plan, she’ll be able to better plan her movements for the ceremony, discuss them with the videographer and make sure she’s out of everyone’s way. Also, if there are restrictions from the venue or preacher, it’s best to find these out before hand, and let your photographer know so she can plan accordingly.  (i.e. if flash is not allowed, if there are certain movement and placement restrictions)  One church I shot a wedding in, I wasn’t allowed to move past the back row! (THE HORROR!) … but because I knew ahead of time, I rented an extra long zoom lens for the day in particular so there was absolutely no problem capturing what was going on what seemed like miles away in the long sanctuary!

I hope all you brides out there have enjoyed these tips and I hope they help as you go about planning your big day!  Much love to all! xoxo,

Cass

And because every post deserves a photo, here’s just one of my favorite wedding shots from this year: