You’ve hired a professional photographer for your Wedding Day and we got you covered ensuring we’ll capture every moment and every detail! However, there are a few things you can do to help us out. After photographing many, many weddings… I’ve started putting together a list of things that I’ve run into A LOT that can make or break your photography, and we can only shoot to the best of our ability with the equipment we have in the situations we are in. I have a long list of tips I can share, but here are just a few that you can help us with photographing your Wedding day:

Bridal and Groom Prep
This is one of my bigger tips and it’s a really easy one; tidy the rooms that you are getting ready in! I can’t stress this one enough. I’ve gone into homes and hotel rooms and made beds, picked up garbage, thrown things in the closet to clear the clutter – all because I care! I’m personally a neat freak, this is a fact, however it will save me the time if you do this beforehand, and I can take full advantage of this small period of time and shoot!
Another quick tip: I ask my brides to have all their details ready for me when I arrive. Have a box full of your jewelry, your shoes, an invitation with an envelope and any other bits and pieces you have so that when I arrive, everything is good to go and we can get things started right away. BONUS if your dress is hung 😉

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Evenly lit Ceremony space
This one could be a hard one to control, but when planning where you’ll be saying your ‘I do’s’ – check the lighting up there at the alter and even across the room where your guests will be seated. And if you’re getting married outside, check the time of day and where the sun will be. Some churches will only have a spotlight on YOU, leaving your bridal party/guests in the dark! Which leaves me frantically changing my settings and exposing for both. Another quick tip: Make sure all your linens/chair covers/table covers are all steamed! Nothing looks worse than having a beautiful tablescape of all your hard work on a table cover that isn’t ironed. Steam! Steam! Steam!

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Your first dance
I have lighting equipment to give your photos that extra WOW factor during the reception, and lighting up the first dance is one of my favourite parts. But I’ve come to realize that a lot of my couples want that first dance to be dark. I’ll set everything up and I’ll snag the perfect spot.. but while I’m waiting for things to get started.. all of a sudden the lights dim down until they’re completely off! I don’t blame you, it gives off this incredibly romantic and moody feel and that candlelight is gorgeous, but what you don’t know is that we can’t focus in the dark! Our camera’s can’t find you when all the lights are off, let alone while you’re moving around. I always ask for lights to be dimmed, but not completely off. After all, your guests want to see you and I want to be able to focus on you in order to capture those moments. What you can do is talk to the venue or DJ beforehand and ensure lights are on during the first dance! Please have the lights on! I beg you. Another quick tip: Ask your DJ to save the party lights and disco ball for later! As fun as they are, they aren’t always appropriate for a slow first dance and can throw my lighting way off.

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I hope these few tips were helpful for all you future brides in the process of planning your Wedding! These tiny little things go a long way on my end!

Cheers 🙂