All posts in Wedding Advice

I usually start photographing at least 1-2 hours or more before the ceremony to capture the preparations before the ceremony. This is a great time to take detail photos, capture wedding participants interacting, and to photograph the bride & groom getting ready. Your comfort/privacy level with a photographer taking getting ready photographs is most important, but I would recommend giving your photographer access to this part of the day. You will definitely value these photographs. As a case in point, I’ll offer a quick story about an April wedding I photographed. When I arrived at the inn to take photos of the bride (Suzanne) getting ready, she and her bridesmaids were a bit hesitant to let me in the room to photograph, which is completely understandable. I went outside to take photos of the inn, but that didn’t take much time and I knew Suzanne would really value having the getting ready process covered. So I went back into the inn and told Suzanne it would be great to start covering the preparations whenever she was comfortable. At that point she was comfortable, I started photographing, and captured some great moments/details. I’ll let a recent note from Suzanne best illustrate this:

“I have to thank you for pushing us to let you in as I was getting ready. I got a little shy there at the beginning and you made a point to really get into the room and start taking pictures from the get-go and I can’t thank you enough. The pictures of me getting ready are so fun for me and bring back so many memories and great feelings. Thanks for that, you knew better than I did at that point.”…..Suzanne

Now, don’t get the wrong idea! I’m not trying to physically push myself into rooms when people aren’t ready, but I’ll communicate with a bride/groom and suggest it would be good to start photographing.

There is an article in the June issue of the online magazine, WedPix, that I thought was a worthwhile read:

RECEPTION TENTS: A CREATIVE PALETTE

Knowing the sunset time can be an important part of your wedding day, it can help with ceremony, reception, and photography planning. Fortunately, there is a good online tool for checking the Sun and Moon data for a certain day at a specific location. Head to the website of the US Naval Observatory Astronomy Applications Department:

http://aa.usno.navy.mil/data/docs/RS_OneDay.html

Did you know that on 06/12/2007 in Jackson, New Hampshire the sunrise is 5:01am and the sunset is 8:28pm?

After photographing dozens of weddings over the past few years, I feel like I’ve gained some insight on how a wedding couple can best work with their photographer. I’ve been working on a list of tips, suggestions, and advice that I provide to couples I’m working with. Please contact me if you have anything you’d like to add to this list, whether it’s photography related or just general wedding advice. Thanks.