As the New Year approaches, guest blogger Nicole Bruce tells couples 5 moments to remember to get photographed on their wedding day.
First comes the happiness, followed by the realization that planning a wedding is a lot to handle. When looking for photographers, couples are often asked how many hours they need, as if they know what their timeline is going to look like a year down the road. Part of what I do at Wanderlust Photography is plan a rough timeline out for them so they actually know the different parts of the wedding that are photographed. I can’t tell you how many times couples leave me with the remark, “We hadn’t even thought about that!”
During wedding planning, many moments are thought through. Here are the most commonly missed moments couples don’t think about wanting photographed during their big day.
1. Grand Entrance/Exit
These take place before and after your reception. A grand entrance is when couples walk into the reception, usually after portraits or the cocktail hour. This can be announced by the DJ to allow the bridal party to be introduce and ending with the bride and groom.
The grand exit will take place after your reception, when everyone is getting ready to leave for the night. Many couples do bubbles, sparklers, or glow sticks to name a few options. Make sure your photographer is very familiar with flash for your reception and exit.
2. When to do Portraits
Most brides and grooms assume that portraits are done after the wedding and keep the guests waiting during the cocktail hour, however this is not the case. In fact, many people are doing portraits before the ceremony now to ensure guests aren’t waiting. Bridal, family, and even bride and groom portraits can be done before the ceremony if a first look is done (when a bride and groom see each other before the ceremony). This gives the timeline more flex and more focus and time for portraits.
3. Popular Reception Activities
There are many different reception activities. Couples usually book too much time on the reception. Photographers only need to be booked for the main activities, unless a grand exit is done. If no grand exit is done, usually eating and reception activities are done first to save time. Activities include toasts, a receiving line, eating dinner, garter takeoff, bouquet throw, first dances, and cutting the cake. Photographers usually stay for open dancing, but only about half hour. This is because when drinking starts, pictures get sloppy and can be repetitive over multiple hours of people dancing.
4. Getting Ready Details
There’s two ways to do this. Do you want all of the getting ready such as makeup and hair? Or just putting on the dress and tie, etc. Getting ready details usually only take about half hour to one hour with two photographers if you’re just catching details. This includes putting on the dress and veil, and pictures of the cuff links, tie, shoes, etc.
5. Family Pictures
Family Pictures shouldn’t take longer than 30 minutes. To avoid wasted time here, put together a shot list for your photographer. This would look something like this:
Groom mom, dad, groom, bride
Groom aunt, uncle, groom
Flower girls
All family
Etc.
All in all, ensure that your photographer is designing your package to fit your needs. Many couples book too much time and find no assistance in what’s popularly captured on wedding days. These are a few items that are most popularly misunderstood or missed. If you have at questions or want more tips, don’t hesitate to contact me on my website above.
Sunday, December 31, 2017
