4 Easy Wedding Ways for Brides to Get Amazing Photos
Plan for Your Wedding Photos
Planning a wedding can be very stressful for a bride. Did you book that 12-piece music orchestra yet for the ceremony? Hopefully, those caterers with the most delicious steaks in the world are still available!
Wherever you are in the wedding planning process, here are some quick tips, tricks, and advice to think about coming from a photographer’s perspective.
1. Do Not Book a Wedding at Noon
There have been times when a bride will contact me for a wedding, and there have been cases where I ask what time the wedding will take place at, and when I hear noon, or sometime early in the afternoon where the sun for sure won’t be set for a while, my heart gets a bit saddened.
Why? Because the afternoon is that peak time of day when the sun casts the ugliest of shadows. Have you ever heard of Golden Hour? It’s considered the most beautiful of lighting by most photographers for a reason. See, when the sun is near its lowest, whether that be rising, or setting, it’s more flattering to the subjects being photographed as the light is more evenly distributed throughout the entire area that they are standing on.
There won’t be any harsh shadows on the eyes, nose, neck, etc., which is the main issue with the sun around the afternoon. Scenes will look too contrasty as the sun is just beating down with its heat upon you, your bridal party, and your guests.
Whenever the sun is schedule to set, try to schedule your wedding two hours before that. While the sun may cast some shadows still, the photos will turn out better as the sun won’t be as high and harsh during that time.
If you want to know the best time to take portraits, please keep scrolling!
2. Take Getting Ready Photos at the Wedding Venue
This piece of advice is extremely important to me as a photographer. Many couples will choose a wedding venue, then will want to have the bridal preparation photos taken everywhere else except the actual ceremony location itself. This should be high on your list to make happen for a couple of reasons.
SAVE TIME TRAVELING
For the photographer, one of the most stressful things that can happen is having to cover the bride, then having to drive 20-30 minutes to another location to photograph the groom, then drive another 20-40 minutes to get to the wedding ceremony. It’s simply unnecessary and brings needless stress to the photographer, their vehicle, and their wallet for gas. Please help your photographer out by planning for you and your fiancé to be at one location. Most wedding venues offer a gorgeous bridal suite, take advantage of it!
ALLOWS TIME FOR DETAIL SHOTS
When the photographer is finished photographing the bride and the fiancé, this will allow them to simply walk from the bridal suite into the room where the ceremony will be held. This will be a great opportunity for them to take photos of what the venue looks like before anyone else steps foot into the area. If the bride and groom are located somewhere offsite, then that adds pressure on the photographer to get all that they need for the getting ready photos, first look, etc., and make it to the venue in time before the guests arrive.
No photographer deserves to be that stressed if they were hired to be a solo shooter. Not every photographer has an assistant who can just go and achieve those detailed photos for them. If they are on their own, then please allow ample time for them to be able to get all of those shots of the venue, as well as the reception room (if it happens to be at the same location). As a bride, don’t you want to make sure that the details of your wedding have been captured in a way that doesn’t seem rushed?
KEEPS YOUR FIANCÉ ACCOUNTABLE
We all know that you will be on time for your bridal prep, what about your fiancé? Keeping everything at the same location will allow everyone in the bridal party to keep tabs on one another and know what’s going on. Everyone will be able to see if they will make it in time for the first look, first touch, etc. Bridesmaids can hand deliver a love letter from the bride to the fiancé, and vice versa. Keeping everything in one location makes it feel like one big family is getting ready for the love story of the year, yours!
3. Plan Wedding Portraits for Sunset
Some brides will assume that you have to take the wedding portraits right after the ceremony, this is not always the case! Say for instance that your wedding is at 3PM, the sun doesn’t set until 7PM, why take photos during a time when the lighting won’t be flattering?
Whenever the sun sets, please schedule for couples photos to be taken around an hour before sunset. If the reception starts before that time, simply schedule in your itinerary where the bride, groom, and photographer can leave the reception to take the official wedding portraits when the lighting is better. This will not only result in more epic photos, but your photographer will be very happy due to the much better lighting conditions.
4. Plan Grand Exits During the Wedding Reception
If you’re not having a grand exit, I strongly recommend you reconsider having one as they are awesome! When planning for this, there is one big mistake that I do see from couples 100% of the time and that is scheduling for it to happen at the end of the wedding. The reason why this isn’t a good idea is that most of the guests won’t be around to experience it. Unless you have the coolest grandma in the world who is down to party into the wee hours of the night, do you think she’s going to have the energy to stick around at 10 PM or midnight? Most likely not.
Instead of planning the grand exit at the end, my suggestion (that always works), is to do a “fake grand exit” with the guests before the dance floor is officially opened. That way the majority of your guests are still there, everyone is pumped up by the exit photoshoot and wants to take those fun vibes back to the open dance floor.
How does this make me happy as a photographer? Well, besides having more people to photograph during that time, it also helps me to know that you’re not stressed out about a relative who has to leave early. The less stress you have before the key points of the reception, the better for all of us as I want you to be in a great mood during your party.
And there you have it! Four tips that may not seem like much at first, but upon reflection, you’ll find yourself saying that you were so happy to have planned your wedding day like this.
