Wedding Photography Tips – 10 Ways to get the photos you want

Wedding Photography Tips – 10 ways to make sure you get the photos you want!

Beautiful… Natural… Elegant … Fun… Creative… Formal… Informal…….. make sure you get what you want!

1: Locations

Your venue, aside from the weather, is probably the single most important factor when thinking about what you want your photos to look like. For example, if you pick a venue without any grounds or scenic locations your not going to get photos with beautiful backdrops you always dreamed of. Thats not to say you won’t get beautiful close up photos, just don’t get your hopes up for rolling green fields, or babbling brooks if the venue doesn’t have any in it’s grounds. The long and the short of it is simple… If you want a castle as the backdrop for your photos, then pick a castle for your wedding rather than a Holiday Inn. However, there may be a solution if budget is the problem. We offer a ‘love the dress‘ photoshoot which allows you to put your dress on again and we’ll take you to the location you dreamed of for your photos, but couldn’t quite afford on your wedding day. For more information, click here.

2: Decide who you want in which photo

There is nothing more disappointing than getting your photos back and realising that you’ve missed someone important off the family photo, or there is someone there on the photo who you didn’t want in. We will organise all your group photos for you so that everything happens as fast as possible on the day, but it’s important that in the lead up to the wedding that you tell us who you want in each photo so as to avoid any disappointment at  a later date. The same goes for your bridal party photos… Some couples want parents included as part of the bridal party and others prefer to keep it as bridesmaids, flower girls, groomsmen and ushers. It’s your wedding so the choice is completely up to you, just let us know so we get it right for you guys on the day.

3: Prioritise which photos are most important

This is most important when there is a risk of rain. You need to decide whether it’s most important to have your bride and groom photos first outside leaving your group photos to be done inside in case it rains, or whether you would rather have a more picturesque location for your group photos risking your bride and groom pictures. We always hope that the weather is good, but you should always make plans in case of bad whether so that you get what you want for your wedding day.

4: Relax

It’s easier said than done when you have a photographer following your every move from a distance, but try and relax on your wedding day. If the groomsmen are doing thier job properly they will be working behind the scenes to make sure that everything you have organised is happening as planned, leaving you to enjoy the day and each others company.
Simply… The more you relax the better your photos will look. When were taking the photos, we’ll chat to you from behind the camera as we go along and put you at ease and we encourage you to just chat to each other and take a moment to spend some time together. At this time we’ll snap away from a far obtaining the most natural looking photos so don’t worry about looking at the camera… Just enjoy yourselves!

5: Don’t be afraid to make suggestions

At the end of the day the photos that are taken are a long lasting memory of your wedding day so you must be as involved as possible when deciding which photos you want. If you have any suggestions or ideas of things that you have seen elsewhere, don’t be afraid to tell us! We want you to have some creative input too and always welcome new and bizarre suggestions. If you’ve seen a photo that like from another wedding, even if it’s from another photographer, we’re always happy to look at it and give your something similar. If your happy to just let us do our thing…that’s absolutely fine…we’ll give you something amazing!

6: Pick even number of bridesmaids and groomsmen

We find that for a perfect formal photo of your bridal party, it’s helpful to have an even number of adult bridesmaids and groomsmen/ushers. It means that your photo will look nice and symmetrical on either side of you. That’s not to say however that if you don’t have an equal number, the photo will not look good as there are lots of different set-ups we can do to give you a great photo, it’s just gives you more options for both formal lines of people and more informal groups alike.

7: Strong colours often work better than pastel colours

We always find that the strong vibrant colours such as red, Cadburys purple, emerald green, chocolate brown, blue etc work better on your photos than lighter pastel colours. The deep colours of the girls dresses and guys cravats  provide a very vibrant and striking contrast to the bridal dress which can give some great results, particularly if you like the photos with certain colours picked out and highlighted.
Don’t worry if you have your heart set on lighter shades… They will look fab too, we will just apply a slightly different approach to them when editing. Of course this is down to person preference and everyone has their own likes and dislikes. If you want some ideas or advice on colours, don’t hesitate to ask.

8: Be as open minded to our suggestions as possible!

We’re always trying new ideas as photographers, trying to say as current and innovate as possible and the only way to move forward is to try new things out. Let us experiment on you guys a little… It might feel a bit strange but more often than not results in something a little more light-hearted ad unique for your wedding album to compliment your romantic photos. We always make sure we get the nice romantic photos done first but after that, we’ll try and have a little fun with you if your up for it? Just tell us where to stop! Have a look at our “fun Photography” blog post.

9: Make sure you get what you want rather than what others want for your day

All to often we see couples compromise on their photography because of pressure from others around them. For example, mum might want lots of photos with auntie sue and the family and you guys might not want many individual family. More and more couple are wanting just  a few family photos photos and more photos of the two of them together. It’s always hard to please everyone on the wedding day, but it’s your day and you should do what you want! (easier said than done though I know!).

10: Make sure you have left enough time for photography

Timing is key for your photography. Simply, if there isn’t enough time you won’t get all the photos you want. There is no point in paying a lot of money for decent photographers if your not going to use them so make sure you leave enough time to get everything you want. We advise telling us how many guests you have and what you want from your photography and we’ll advise on timings for you. Too much time isn’t a problem as your guests can just relax and enjoy themselves and you can have a bit of time to yourselves alone together, but too little time can mean that everything is very rushed which won’t make you feel very relaxed at all!
Read our next blog post dedicated to timings… It’ll give you some good ideas and might point out a few things to consider that you may not have thought about.

Next blog post….