Wedding photography Tips & Ideas
Having many years of experience in the wedding industry, I want to share my observations and experiences, as well as some ideas and thoughts with newlyweds.
Most of the time, newlyweds have no idea what to do or what important nuances to consider in preparing for a wedding.
Not all vendors are willing to openly help, advise, find the right solutions, and clients lose trust and get the idea that everyone only wants to make money on them (I often hear from my clients these statements).
And it’s sad.
But trust me, you can’t do without professionals on your wedding day either!
Brides sometimes make too many commitments and try to control and resolve all issues on the wedding day, as a result there is no energy, fatigue, and stress, is this celebration not for you?
If you do not have a coordinator for the wedding, at a minimum try to distribute responsibilities among family and friends, for example you can entrust the DJ to do some announcements.
However, I always recommend hiring a professional coordinator.
My opinion is that the task of all vendors at the wedding is to make this celebration fun, beautiful, as stress free as possible, most importantly enjoyable.
If you have a big celebration of more than 150 guests, you definitely need a professional planner, very active, friendly, flexible and always dives into all the details of your wedding, able to give you good advice and tips.
A very important point, choose the venue or place where your wedding will take place, there are so many great venues in central Florida, so I think you will always find something that is right for you.
Some venues and other vendors offer services and packages, all included. However, keep in mind that these are profitable for the venue and may seem to solves many of your problems, but you should consider often you are gambling with luck. You possibly will be shown a great portfolio of a videographer, photographer, decorator, but the vendor who will come to your wedding might not have anything to do with the portfolio you saw. Large companies buy vendors, who then pay a tidy sum to each vendor, for example a vendor may get 30% a maximum 50% for his work, so do not expect the vendor to be creative, professional, responsible, attentive to detail, and work hard to provide the best customer service.
I recommend considering individual Vendors who value their name and word. Those that work hard and put in the hours to achieve great results.
I have worked with many vendors and I am happy to provide some here, working with a friendly and professional team is very enjoyable and beneficial to all.
Timing is a very important factor in the wedding day!
Therefore, it is extremely important to make a very accurate time list!
Be especially sure to take into account the time of the hair and makeup artist, the time must be specific! Precision is important, because if not you will move the timeline of the whole wedding forward by an hour or more. This creates issues like rushing, having your guest waiting, and creates unnecessary stress.
Also distribute the order of who will be the first to do makeup and hair. I highly recommend the Bride NOT do her hair and makeup last!
Preferably, be done by the time the videographer and photographer arrive. At a minimum almost complete, then the vendors can get straight to work taking some pictures of the process. This allows time and the opportunity to work with the bride, taking great pictures before the bride gets dressed, fun photos with her bridesmaids and family.
I highly recommend doing a test makeup and possibly hair style, before the wedding.
And on the day of the wedding, use only a steady and high quality makeup foundation and a steady bb foundation!!!
So that the foundation will not get on the groom’s face (this is especially important when you have different skin color!) The same applies to lipstick. Thus, also consider the groom choose a dark suit that will not stain from your foundation,
False eyelashes are very popular now, but if you have never worn them, then be sure to test the false eyelashes before the wedding, then you will see if they are right for you! (if your eyes are too sensitive. then it will make you uncomfortable and you will have to take them off)
It can get very hot in Florida and so I recommend having makeup wipes, wet lip gloss, a small portable fan, comfortable shoes for walking during the party.
One thing that happens often and is unfortunate, clients book very nice, expensive venues, but don’t get a chance to enjoy the beauty of the place and take beautiful pictures, all because there is no time.
Allocate time correctly. Remember, your photos are all that remains with you after the Wedding! What is the point of paying for expensive venues and not being able to enjoy the beauty and get great photos?
Always schedule spare time.
For example, you planned the Wedding Ceremony at sunset in a beautiful place near a lake or in a park.
Which I agree with because this is very romantic and the photos will come out magical!
However, please consider that sunset is a time limited window. You will have at best 30 minutes. And if the ceremony is delayed for some reason, you miss this window a miss the opportunity for beautiful pictures, because the background does not have any additional light, the photos will in turn come out dark and will not look romantic and magical.
Always choose vendors who are friendly, interested in cooperating, who are happy to share advice and ideas.
Vendor experience is an important factor. An expert vendor has experiences and can take action in an unusual and unexpected situation. They will confident and can provide solutions to any encountered problem. You don’t want confusion or lack of experience on one your wedding day, do you?
Certainly, it is possible to experiment if you have a small family wedding, then the vendor can be family/friend recommended and it’s possible they do a great job. However, asses the risk and determine if you are willing to settle with lower quality pictures.
Take this consideration when choosing vendors for your guest meals, photos, and decorations.
Remember this is your party and the memories of this important day will be with you for life.
When would I recommend hiring 2 photographers for your wedding.
1.If your wedding has more than 150 guests, this is a good idea.
The main photographer will be busy with you and your family, the 2nd photographer will be interacting with all the guests and will take extra fun portraits with the invites, in my experience this is pleasing and surprising to my clients when they get to see the moments they missed.
2. When the preparation of the groom with his family and friends is in another location from the bride then a second photographer will have a great opportunity to take portraits of the groom and his family, before they go to the wedding ceremony.
3. If it is important for you to capture as many portraits of your guests as possible, and because most often the attention of the main photographer is focused on you, and there are over 150 guests at your wedding, the photographer simply will not have the physical ability to be everywhere.
I hope this information was useful in helping you make the right decisions. I wish you a happy wedding!