Wedding Planning & Tips

It is our goal to make your wedding dreams come true

You can help us accomplish that! We are providing the following information to help you make important decisions about the schedule of photography on your wedding day. It is vital that both you and your photographer understand the goals for the day in order for us to provide the most complete photography and video coverage possible. Please make every effort to consider these points and discuss the
relevant issues with your wedding party and immediate families.

WHAT WE WILL EXPECT FROM YOU

Primarily, you are responsible for ensuring that all of the members of your family and
wedding party know the schedule of photography, and are available at the appropriate
time. It is a good idea to appoint someone who is familiar with the wedding party members and families to do the footwork when it becomes necessary to locate a stray person, rather than have the bride or groom go to look for them. It is one of our primary goals to create all of the necessary photography for you as quickly as possible, and allow you to spend time with your families and guests. Absent wedding party or family members may force us to complete photography at a later time in your day.

WHAT YOU CAN EXPECT FROM US

Our highly experienced photographer and videographer teams will be on time, have
professional equipment and be ready to capture all the great events of your wedding day. A typical wedding package includes up to 8-10 hours of time with you. You have choices to make including when to start your photography coverage. With 10 hours available to you, you should first decide when you will be finished with your team: then you will know when to start photography. Beginning at 1 PM will allow your team to stay with you until 11 PM. You can choose an earlier or later start time, or choose to pay for additional time.

There are a number of variations regarding the locations that may be included on a wedding day.
1) Bride at her home, Groom at the church before the ceremony followed by the ceremony and formal photos afterward. An outdoor location before the reception, followed by the reception. If photography at the groom’s home is desired, we recommend adding a 2nd photographer to your contract.
2) When both sides of the wedding party start at the church with ‘getting ready”, formal photos of each side not seeing each other before ceremony, or all formals taken before the ceremony, including a ‘First Look’ of the bride to the groom. Following the ceremony, an outdoor location and reception.
3) Another variation might include the wedding party starting at a hotel, with only preparation photos there and formals at the church before the ceremony. The brides and groom sides can be separate (not see each other), or we can stage a ‘reveal’ and complete all formal photography before the ceremony. An outdoor location and the reception would follow.

Photo’s at Brides Home

If you elect to have our team at your home before the ceremony, we expect that you will have finished or nearly finished hair and makeup preparations, and we will set up situations to portray those preparations. We usually take time to photograph your dress and accessories: shoes, rings, flowers, etc. Please make your team aware of very special items such as family heirloom handkerchiefs or special decorations on a bouquet. Family members present usually include parents, and any siblings available, along with the members of your bridal party. We will expect to include all of these individuals in your photos.

Photo’s at Ceremony

We will attempt to photograph all the events of your ceremony. We are familiar with many kinds of ceremonies and rituals and we photograph your ceremony with respect and tact. We will check with your clergy regarding any rules that the church expects us to follow. Exactly what kind of coverage we can provide depends on restrictions placed by your clergy, or ambient light levels in the church. The more liberal our access to the ceremony is, and the better the quality of light available, the more we can do. In some cases it may be necessary to reenact some portion of your ceremony to obtain close-up shots or other details. Expect this to add time needed for photography after the ceremony. Restrictions on our movement placed by clergy can limit our ability to capture candid moments during the ceremony. After the ceremony we will photograph group formal portraits, usually within 1/2 hour. Plan to start with the family photos and save the wedding party for last: having photos with the parents first allows them to leave right afterward, giving them the time they need for attending to your guests and finishing arrangements at the reception hall. In all cases, our photographers are required to follow rules set down by the clergy regarding time limits or where they are allowed to be during a ceremony

Outdoor Locations

Weather permitting, we are happy to use outdoor locations to create special portraits for you. If you wish to have photography in locations in downtown Metro City locations, please consult with your photographer for the arrangements beforehand. Due to parking difficulties, it is usually necessary for your photographer to accompany you in the limo, and afterwards be returned to his vehicle before going to the reception. Usually outdoor sessions focus on the bride and groom, but we will also include your wedding party in some images. We can sometimes recommend convenient locations for photography if you are not familiar with the area. If you wish to use the national parks or the Botanical Gardens, and other parks, be aware that they charge a fee for use of their grounds. Getting a permit for a location administered by the Park District or the locations website must be done beforehand, and you must have your permit with you when you arrive at the location.

Reception Coverage

Our goal is to cover all of the usual events of the evening, including introductions, toasts, cake cutting, formal dances, etc. Please let us know ahead of time if you will be having any special events based on ethnic traditions, or anything else such as recognizing a guest or family anniversary or birthday. We will coordinate our schedule with your entertainment provider, and the reception hall. The reception is often the best time for group photos with family and friends that were not made at the church. Parents can take the opportunity to have photos made with their family members or arrange for group photos with the bride and groom. We recommend taking such group photos during the cocktail hour when people are looking their best. Each family is responsible for getting these groups together, the photographer does not know who is who outside of the wedding party and parents. Your photographer will try to make these portraits in an appropriate location in the reception hall. Please understand that our portable backgrounds are usually only suitable for portraits of 3-5 people, at the most, and larger groups will be “off the background” at the sides. The only way to avoid this is to move the group to a suitable location. We will not “digitally extend” backgrounds to accommodate large groups without fur-ther charge to you. If you have over 200 or so guests, you should consider adding a second photographer to your package: this extra photographer will be tasked with covering candid events and reception activities while the primary photographer will concentrate on fam-ily portraits, groups, and portraits for guests.