This blog is for all my future Brides and Grooms, it will hopefully give you an insight into what you can expect from me on your wedding day, there’s a little bit of information about how I approach your day, how I’ll be working and most importantly how we can me sure you get the best possible photographs for you on the wedding day. There’s also a little bit about what goes on after the wedding day too and what I’ll be up to while your on your honeymoon.
My first bit of advice would be… just ignore me!
Honestly, please don’t worry or concern yourself with me on the day. Try and forget that I’m even there and just enjoy your wedding. Sure it might feel a little bit strange to start with and probably doesn’t sound that easy to do , especially when someone is there pointing a camera at you or climbing into some strange spaces to get that shot, just ignore me, let me crack on with it and after a while I promise that you will hardly even remember me at all.
Let everyone know!
Please tell your Parents, your Bridesmaids and the Groomsmen and any other ‘important’ people the nature of how I work before the day, in fact tell everyone!! Seriously though, its also only so they know what to expect. If you’re wanting relaxed, natural photographs of you guests they’ll need to do the same as you nth and just ignore me, one of the guests spots me out of the corner of their eye, gives the person next to them a nudge with their elbow and they turn to look, and eugh, that great candid moment has gone and now it’s just a posed, smiley photo and that’s not what you booked me for. I really don’t mind taking a one or two posed photos for any of your guests but one snap can quickly turn into a “can I just have a photo with and can I just….” and while I’m busy taking those photos I could be missing out on some brilliant moments elsewhere. THIS IS IMPORTANT, please do this.
Its In The Details…
Dress, shoes & jewellery – I don’t handle these. Not just in case something happens but I want it to be as natural as possible so if you would like these photographing on their own, just hang the dress up somewhere nice, clear away any of the clutter that is almost inevitable on the wedding morning and leave the shoes and any other accessories you’d like photographing nearby.
Gift Time
If you are planing on giving out gifts, whether it’s to each other or to the Bridal party, if at all possible, please wait until I am around before you give them out or opening them. It’s a great opportunity for some brilliant reaction shots, lots of tears, smiles and “don’t ruin your makeup moments.”
Who’s who?
It’s not always obvious to me who the ‘important people’ are, so please can you point them out to me or introduce me when I first seem them, helps break the ice and I’ll then know who the main wedding party are. Also, there’s nothing as embarrassing as putting my foot in it so if there’s any family dynamics I need to be aware of, parents no longer together or siblings that don’t get along, give me a heads up, so I’m not wishing the ground would open up and swallow me whole.
The Official
If you’re having a church wedding and a rehearsal, you’ll not doubt be having a meeting with your vicar / minister / priest at some point so please do let them know that you’ve hired a photographer and also how I work. Some are brilliant and are genuinely happy to let you get the best photos and will do whatever they can to help out, others not so much. Whether they’ve had a previous bad experience with a photographer that has overstepped the mark and I totally understand that, or whatever their reasons may be, ask them if it’s ok for me to take photos for YOU, because at the end of the day we are there FOR YOU! It has happened on more than one occasion unfortunately where I have not been allowed to take any photographs in the church, especially during the ceremony or I’ve been restricted as to where I can stand and move, so please try and make sure you get them on your side. Reassure them that, I promise I’ll behave, I’m not one of those intrusive photographers won’t affect the ceremony but a little freedom as to where I can go, goes a long way to getting you some great photos. I promise them, I’m a delight!
Slowly Does It…
If you are walking down the aisle behind your Bridesmaids, make sure you leave a BIG gap between them and you! It’ll really help me to get the best shots of your grand entrance, ENJOY YOUR BIG MOMENT!. Also it’s worth asking the Bridesmaids to leave a good gap between each of them as they walk down the aisle so I can get a nice shot of them too for the wedding album. Believe me, I know it’s tempting to try and get to your seat when all eyes are on them but take a nice slow walk, each with their head held high, smile and enjoy it, it’ll be worth it for those wow aisle shots rather than a rush to sit down.
The Official (Part II)
Sometimes the vicar or priest likes to walk down the aisle first, so if your vicar is planning on walking you down the aisle, again hang back a bit and make sure you leave a nice gap or I won’t be able to get clear photos of you as they’ll most likely be blocking me from getting a good shot of you.
Unplugging
What do they mean by having an “Unplugged Wedding Ceremony”. Well firstly I strongly recommend you having one! All it is basically, is just asking your guests to not take any photographs or videos during the wedding ceremony and they just enjoy the moment with you, From the moment the music starts through to you walking back up the aisle as newlyweds, put away the cameras, phones, tablets and iPads. None of the guests are going to get a better photo of you walking up the aisle than your photographer will, well not unless there’s half a dozen guests stepping out into the aisle to get a photo on their phone. Also during the ceremony though, it’s going to look much better in your wedding album as you're saying your vows if you can actually see your guests and not them all hiding behind a screen. BE IN THE MOMENT
Besides it’ll just look better in general in the wedding photos too.
“You gotta put your past behind ya!” Timon
So the signing the register, this is in a bit of a funny stage at the moment. Recently the way the register was signed has changed and these days it’s just your signature on a piece of A4 paper and there isn’t a traditional register as such anymore. The registrars though seem to be going through a period of adjustment at the minute and some don’t appear sure how to approach it or don’t quite want to let go of the tradition altogether, as it was part of the whole pomp of them conducting the ceremony and many will still insist on or try to do a staged shot of the signing afterwards. Times change and things move on so from my point of view and with the permission of who is conducting the ceremony, I will photograph this as you sign, from the near the back, so they don’t need to worry about the data protection side of things, you’ll get natural photos and I won’t do a posed one afterwards, I can’t see the point in faking a photo of something that doesn’t happen so just let them know during your meeting before the ceremony and hopefully in time this becomes the norm. But of course, it goes without saying that if you’d really like to do that still I’ll be happy to take one for you.
Confetti
If you’re planning on having a confetti shot, have think how you might like this to work, I like it to be as natural as possible and prefer not to set one up, Speak to the official or the wedding coordinator on the day, some would prefer you to do the confetti photo in a certain location, usually so there isn’t as much of a clean up to do afterwards and doesn’t look as untidy, churches for example generally like them done at the church gate rather than in the church grounds. Make sure there’s enough to share around, the more confetti there is the better it looks in the photos and a definite full page spread for the album Confetti canons are becoming more and more popular as they so effective and on the dance floor after/during your first dance it looks absolutely great and they’re relatively cheap off Amazon and eBay.
The Portraits
Not going to lie, this part of the day can be pretty daunting for the newlyweds I really don’t like having my photo taken so you’ve got my sympathy. The best way to approach it is just be yourselves, if you’re a cute, touchy feely pair same goes as before-ignore me, I won’t be in your face a all, in fact I’m often found hiding in bushes somewhere taking your photo so when you forget I’m around you’ll soon relax into it. I won’t be saying “stand this way” or “move your hand here” do what feels natural to you both and likewise, if you’re not a PDA couple, same deal, be yourselves, take the p*** out of each other, however you are it’ll really show in the photos.
Cake Cutting
Cutting the cake is usually done just before the dance, have fun, do whatever you want, get the dj to do a countdown, go for it, cut it up and feed a piece to each other whatever you want to do but if you’re planning on a food fight, give me a warning beforehand.
Basically what im saying is don’t worry about standing there and posing for me.
One last reminder to forget about me, please trust that I am 100% committed at all times to getting you the best photos I can, as real moments happen.
Before The Wedding…
As the big day approaches, I’ll email you a questionnaire to fill in around a month before the day for you to fill in, it helps me gather all the relevant information about the weddings, what’s happening when, who the relevant suppliers and vendors are and to get a list of any group photos you might want (10 best,12 at a push) I’ll set you your online gallery ready to upload all your photographs to, I’ll make up a QR code linking directly to your secure password protected gallery and print it off along with some instructions on how guests can register to view them, once you’ve seen them first of course.. I’ll aim to leave one on each table and they can be passed around so all of your guests get the opportunity to register and then 48 hours after you’ve first viewed them they’ll all get an email telling them the gallery has gone live and they can now view them, it’s great because it means you won’t be inundated with messages asking for the link and password and all your guests will get to relive an amazing day.
and After…
As soon as i get home after your wedding, I’ll download all of your photos to the office computer, and make two separate backups of them all on different hard drives. So there’ll be 3 separate hard drives with them all on as well as the 2 memory cards from each camera, so 5 copies in total, one offsite, so if something goes wrong then I’ll have backup copies to call on if need be. After they’re all backed up and depending where I’m up to with editing the weddings before yours (it can take longer during busier periods especially during the peak wedding season) I’ll usually make a start on editing them the following week and aim to get them back to you as soon as I can, I don’t like to have you waiting too long but equally don’t want to rush through the edits just to get them back to you.
Once the edits are finished, as well as making 2 separate copies of the edits, one on each hard drive, I’ll also upload them to your online secure gallery and I’ll have another 2 copies sent into the cloud, so if you ever lost your copy (again, make your own backup too just in case) you’ll be able to get them back again. When they’re uploaded to your gallery you’ll then get an email with the link to your gallery and when you first view it, you will receive a unique password and I highly recommend you change it to something easy to remember. From your gallery you’ll be able allowing you to hide photos from public view, save selections, and more.
It’s only right that you see your photographs first and unless you need a bit more time to look through the photos, 48 hours after all the guests that registered on the wedding day and any that have done since will then receive their email inviting them to view all the photos too, they’ll be able to order prints, digital downloads and coming soon a range of wall art and framed prints.live can be busy so if you do want a little longer, send me an email and I’ll hold the guest emails for you.
Sample Client Gallery
If you have ordered a wedding album in your package, you can choose your favourites to go in their straight from your gallery by clicking on the little heart icon for each one. Depending on the album you’ve chosen start by picking either 30 or 50 photographs, I’ll be able to see your choices and will begin working on the design. When I’ve put the proof together I’ll upload it to your gallery and you’ll be able to see if you’re happy with you choices, if there’s any changes you want to make.
If you’re happy with the design and have picked the photo for the front cover, the material and the colour I’ll then send the order off to the manufacturer, Graphistudio in Italy. Turnaround is usually quite quick, around 4-6 weeks, occasionally up to 8 weeks when it’s s busy time of year.
Your wedding gallery will stay online for at least one month after the date of this email so please make sure you download your photographs and choose your favourites ones for your wedding album if you've included one in your package.
One thing to note tho, if your gallery has expired there may be a charge to set up your gallery and upload the photos again.
I've recently moved over to new client gallery software, (I’ll do a blog about that next time) so I’m currently finding my feet with how it all works and working through any teething problems so for now, any existing galleries will be up for longer than they usually would be once you’ve downloaded them and picked the favourites for your album.
Wedding Album Design. Ashfield House