Tips for making sure our wedding is picture perfect?
You can't control everything on your day, but here are some tips from our experience to keep in mind.
Natural Light
When booking a ceremony venue or your "getting ready" accomodation, keep in mind natural light! Think windows with lots of natural light from more than just one direction. Relying on down lights or artificial lights is not flattering and can cause unsightly shadows and off skin tones. The makeup artist will always appreciate natural light too.
Clutter
Try to keep mess and clutter away in a seperate room. I know that seems impossible on a crazy day like your wedding, but the photos will come out a lot more cleaner and more pleasing to the eye. Nothing worse than a nice wide shot with sleepover bags in the corner and someones undies hanging over the chair.
Accomodation
This isn't always an option for some, but if you really want your photos to look great, and even just enjoy the process more of when you are getting ready, consider hiring an Air BnB that you love. They generally are styled nicely, are tidy/clutter free, are more spacious, and have more character than a hotel room. A bonus is that you can make a little holiday out of it. Hotel rooms are known in the industry for being too squishy, feeling very clinical, and for not having great lighting conditions, which can leave the photographers, videographers and make up artists all fighting for prime lighting position.
Outdoor Ceremony
If having an outdoor ceremony, make sure you check out what the lighting will look like for your specific date and time. The sun is COMPLETELY different at 3pm January than it is 3pm July. If you are stuck with full sun or patchy light, we suggest to be slightly backlit (having the sun somewhere behind you) if you can. It’s more flattering than having the sun full blazing on you which means squinty eyes in all your photos! Also make sure you always have a rainy weather back up plan. Weather can be so unpredictable at times so it’s better to be prepared than super disappointed on the day.
Golden Hour
The golden hour is that last hour of light between sunset and dusk. And it’s the best time for those romantic/soft/glowing portraits. The golden hour can be anywhere between 5pm - 7pm (earlier in winter and later in summer). The sun will also set more quickly if you have high trees or mountains around, as oppose to an open field area. Another tip for those getting married during those pesky Daylight Savings months, is to talk to your wedding coordinator about moving the reception or ceremony to suit the sun or at-least allowing for time during reception to pop out for some sunset photos. Some venues or couples forget this and end up only having time for their portraits while it's still super bright outside and missing out on those glowy photos we all love.
Unplugged Ceremony
An unplugged ceremony is where guests put away their phones and cameras, and enjoy the moment in real time and not through their cameras or phones. This means they can be present and be there to witness and celebrate your day. This also means we won't have grandma holding up her new iPad in the middle of the aisle in all the shots. It's a great way for guests to take some time away from all the gadgets and gizmos and just be in the moment and engage in your beautiful day. You are hiring us to photograph it anyway so Grandma can relax and enjoy the day knowing that she will have beautiful photos to add to her new iPad in due time.
Time Planning
We really like to help our couples plan their day from the getting ready to the reception . Your venue may have a coordinator to help you with ceremony onwards, but more often than not, they don’t take into consideration of best lighting times, or allowing enough time for travelling time for your portraits. That’s why we are here to help. We can come up with a timeline to use in conjunction with your venues one, to help get the most out of your day and really enjoy each moment.
Family Photos
Our best advice for this is to keep it small and simple. Just immediate family and super important people is probably the best way to go (if you can). It takes a lot more time and effort than you might realise to round up excited family members (especially when there's food and drinks floating around). We do ask for a designated person (that is not yourself) to help round up family in the toilet and what not, which does help things to run smoother. But 9/10 times after family photos, we have an exhausted newly-wed couple that can't wait to get out of there... So keep the list as short, sweet and simple as you can. Remember you have the rest of the night to grab us and take photos with friends and extended cousins... when you are more relaxed.
Keep it Personal
At the end of the day, your wedding day is about the two of you and celebrating that! It's hard not to get caught up in the the details, traditions and expectations of it all. Our biggest tip? Question EVERYTHING. Ask yourselves, "does this element mean anything to us", and if your answer is "probably not" or "if we had it our way then we wouldn't do that"… then don't do it! This is a celebration of YOUR commitment. So in other words, leave the family politics aside and forget about pleasing everyone else. Have that banquet dinner on your back verandah, choose that dress that makes you feel alive, have that gelato cart as dessert instead of traditional cake, jump in that pool at the end of the night after too many cocktails. This is a celebration of YOU, not a celebration of peoples opinions or expectations.
Your Portraits
To really get the most out of your portraits, make sure you allow time and space to enjoy to process. This is the time where you can step away from all your guests and just enjoy each others company as a married couple. It’s a really special time. Don't worry about how you should look or feel. Just be present and in the moment with your new partner for life. YOU JUST GOT MARRIED!
With this in mind, we want to capture what makes you, YOU. If that means, catching a helicopter to stand on top of a mountain, or letting off smoke bombs in some abandoned warehouse, or frolicking barefoot along the beach and grassy fields…. then let's do it! We want to capture what makes your relationship unique.
Stylists, Florists and Coordinators
Sometimes spending the money is worth it. Let people do the hard work for you! Styling companies have a lot of inventory to work with, and will do all the setting up and packing down (something no one will willingly volunteer to help you with for DIY weddings). Florists and stylists really know how to deck out a space and create a magical atmosphere. At the end of the day, it is your wedding and you want to enjoy it without the lack of sleep leading up to it. So spend that little bit on services that can help off load the stress from your shoulders (or from obliged bridesmaids) and let them work their magic, so that you can actually ENJOY the magic.