Wedding photography advice for brides and grooms in the Raleigh area
Wedding day tips from your photographer
Here are a couple of easy tips though which will help me capture the beautiful photographs that you will want to look back on.
Number 1. The get ready photos
Photographing the bridal party getting ready has become an important part of the day. And why not? The transformation from normal to wedding day awesomeness is pretty cool to see. Brides will often want those all important shots of their make up being put on, hair being professionally done.
When planning your pre wedding time, think about where you will be getting ready and how big your bridal party is. It’s not unusual for me to arrive at a small hotel room with half a dozen bridesmaids, a make up artist, hairdresser, mother of the bride and sometimes a videographer too!
Often no room to stand, chaos everywhere and the room resembles a bomb site. It’s hard to pull out those amazing photographs of you getting ready when surrounded by clutter. See if you could designate one of your bridesmaids as someone who could straighten up the room a bit, even if its only in one spot just for the photos featuring your dress tightening.
A helpful bit of advice is keep a close eye on the time. It’s always a good idea to be ready about half an hour before you leave for the church/venue. This way I have some time to take a few photos as soon once you are completely ready. Otherwise you are faced with the choice of skipping these photos or missing capturing guests/groom’s party arriving.
Number 2. The pursuit of Light
Simply put, photography is the art of painting by light. As a wedding photographer I am always searching for the most flattering lighting situations and if a good natural source cannot be found I will create my own using the flash on my camera. A soft filtered light as shown through a window, a colorful romantic sunset or artificial light from a diffused speed light no matter what the following holds true, beautiful light = beautiful photos. Bad light = bad photos. Thats it.
So why is that fact important for my wedding photography clients to understand? Well for example if it’s a hot, humid summer day at 1:00 pm with the sun blazing high overhead in the sky, you may think that it will make for pretty photos. In reality people standing outside while having their formal family portraits taken will be squinting and sweating. Neither of which will you will want to see in your final photographs.
In this situation it might be best to move the start time of the group photos to a later hour that afternoon once the sun has dropped lower into the sky. Or maybe perhaps the solution is something as simple as me asking to face people in a different direction than you’d originally hoped to avoid facing the direct sunlight or moving the group of people into a shaded location to avoid the glare and help with the squinting.
Number 3. Speaking of the the family formal photos..
In my experience its best to photograph your families as follows immediately after your wedding ceremony and before your reception.
The easiest order is as follows..
* Entire extended family portrait including both sides of bride and grooms families in one frame time: approx. 8 mins
* Couple with brides extended family 3-5 mins
* Couple with brides immediate family 3 mins
* Couple with grooms extended family 3-5 mins
* Couple with grooms immediate family 3 mins
If you have a large family then you may need to be quite strict over how many group photographs you have. If you have scheduled time between the ceremony and the reception for photographs then my advice is to keep them to a minimum. There will be plenty of time later in the day. Concentrate on the ‘must haves’ such as immediate family and leave plenty of time for the Bride & Groom portraits.
To speed things up, think of one maybe two people who knows most of your family members, give them copies of your family photo list and get them to help the photographer. Keep in mind that I usually don’t know who your family members are and I appreciate the help of your friends in finding them. The helpers can be fetching the next group of people allowing the me to concentrate on getting the best images that i can. As a rule of thumb I usually allow for five to ten minutes per group.
Often there is a period of time during the reception where you may have a bit of time to walk around the reception greeting and thanking your guests for attending. This is an ideal time to ask me to grab those photos of family and friends you didn’t have time for earlier or any you’d just like to have that were not planned beforehand.
Finally please understand that when the formal portrait time comes if your Uncle Billy has wandered off to grab a shot from the bar and can’t be found then I cannot be held responsible later when he’s not in your photos.
Number 4. Your Bride & Groom Portraits
This will be the part of the day that my artistic style will come out the most. Allow me to guide you and pose you to get the most flattering shots possible.
If you have a particular idea, feel free to let me know! I love it when my clients give me suggestions on what kind of photos they would want to have taken. Just bear in mind that if you are having your couples photographs taken in an open field on a cold, damp December evening, even with all the best will in the world, It’s going to be impossible for me to recreate those beautiful sunny summer meadow photos that you’ve pinned on your Pinterest board. Take heart though, there is no need for disappointment!
The secret here is make time for us to explore our creative options. The thing is even though it might be cold, damp and dreary with time we can create some incredible photos together using the backdrop of a cloudy sky and the raindrops reflecting off of my cameras flash to create a magical portrait that you might not even realize was possible. The bottom line is this, when you are planning your day, make some time in the schedule specifically to get some great couple shots. These are the ones you will want to frame, give to friends and use as thank you cards. The more time you give, the better the results will be for all of us in the end.
Number 5. The unexpected
Planning a special surprise during your thank you speech? Maybe a bit dirty dancing during the first dance? If so Please please let me know and don’t forget to tell me who is in on the surprise. I’ll keep my mouth shut haha! The reason for this request is that I will be using lenses most suitable for photographing the events at hand. So for example during the first dance I may have chosen to use a portrait lens which will be quite ‘zoomed’ into you and your spouse so that I can can capture the emotion of the dance. If you suddenly break out into a salsa number or sweeping tango around the dance floor I may struggle to switch lenses to a wider view in time. As a result I could miss some of the action.
Perhaps most importantly, the first dance is all about you two and I’m just here to document the occasion. Enjoy the moment! Stare longingly into each others eyes. Give your spouse a big hug! These are the moments that are the most precious for me to photograph while you glide across the dance floor.. I’ll capture them for you and you keep that memory forever in print. If you nervously shuffle around or talk all the way through it then your first dance photos will not be the best they can be.
Number 6. iphone Photography and your Uncle Tim the photographer
I’m talking about guests with cameras. Personally I think that guests should be free to take photos as often as they would like like the guy in the photo above in the red tie My only request is that they don’t fire off a camera flash at the exact same moment I am taking the formal portraits as this would ruin the light metering of my shots. As a professional wedding photographer I will have experience in dealing with your guests and make sure that even during the group photos that your guests will get a chance to capture their own snaps. Lets just say the more cameras, the better!
Thats what I’ve got so far. If you’ve got a hot tip or some advice that you would like to share please do so in the comments section below.
If you have any additional questions in regards to this post or want to learn more about my flat rate engagement and wedding photography service please contact me anytime!
-S. Siko
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