1. create a wedding mood board
CREATE A MOOD BOARD IN ORDER TO DELIVER PERSONALIZED PHOTOGRAPHY AND VIDEOGRAPHY, IT IS IMPORTANT FOR YOUR PHOTOGRAPHERS AND VIDEOGRAPHERS TO UNDERSTAND YOUR VISION.
2. Hire photographer & videographer together
Hiring Photography and Videography from the same company : This is often the better choice for many reasons including: First, they share incentives and accountability. Second, there is better communication, workflow & positioning during the wedding day. Also there is a common vision for how the wedding should be documented. For the couple, there are fewer contracts & administrational document, since the Photography and Videography are combined. Last the Wedding Photography and Videography usually has a package discount.
2. Hire photographer & videographer together
3. Schedule Enough Time For Each Part Of Your Wedding Day : Hair and Make up, Getting Ready looks. The first Look. Ceremony. Posed formals with Family and Wedding Party. Bride and Groom Photography. DINNER and the reception event, and anything else that is important or unique to your day.
4. Minimize Your locations : I recommend minimizing the number of photo shoot locations. You don’t want to spend more time traveling, than actually taking pictures. Trust in the creative abilities of your photographer and communicate prior to the wedding day based off the Mood board you created and venue.
5. Hire Quality Vendors : I suggest hiring quality vendors in order to avoid the stress that may carry over into your wedding photos. With so many options it may be difficult to determine the right one for you. Before hiring anyone, do your research, and follow your instincts.
6. Plan Enough Time for Hair & Make-up. First, you want to give your talented Hair and Make up artist / artists the time they need. Enjoy the process, instead of rush through. Second, how you Look and Feel is important to both enjoying the Wedding, and Wedding Photography.
7. Include Toss Items: Getting Ready with Brides Maids, Group photos, First dance or Your grand entrance and exit. Adding confetti, flower petals, paper planes, rice, etc can create laughter smiles and excitements resulting great images and memories.
8. Create time for the Couples session to be during the best lighting of the day. 30-45 minutes before sunset (Golden Hour). The Mr. and Mrs. photos are best captured with the days best light.
9. Plan for the Best and then let the worry go. Vendors can arrive late, guests can show up late, flowers and cake can look different than you wanted and those are some of the simpler things I have witnessed over 20+ years of photographing weddings. Plan for the best, Say I DO, and Kiss! That is what matters. The mishaps make for stories and are memorable.
10. Lighting is the most important ingredient in photography. Outdoors, where is the sun, where is the shade, what time of day is it. Indoors, is there window lighting, limiting or dominating the room. Reception halls how much light is turned up or turned down. Color gels look great at reception, but also take over how the photos themselves turn out.
11. Plan in advance for delays! If you can build extra 15 minutes up to 30 min between The Getting ready’s and Ceremony / Ceremony and Posed formals / Posed formals and the Reception. It will : 1. help alleviate stress. 2 Make the day and memories of the day more enjoyable. 3. When things do not go according to plan, the buffer should keep things on time.