Twelve tips for great wedding pictures (Part II)

Yesterday I posted "twelve tips for great wedding pictures" **here** and I promised another 12 tips if I got 12 comments on my blog. Call it blog blackmail if you like (thanks to one of my 2010 brides, Neeta for coming up with this terminology on facebook!) but I now have 20 comments on yesterday's post. Of course if you remove the double posts, my replies and my Mum (love you Mum - that's Mom in English-English) then it's still a respectable 14 comments. So as promised, we'll start back up right now:

13. Remind your bridesmaids (and yourself!) to walk slowly down the aisle, hold the bouquets steady, look up and smile at the guests. Excellent bridesmaid walking speed demonstrated in the next picture from Tracey & Kyle's wedding:

14. The same is true for you (and if you've seen your groom before and already taken pictures you'll probably feeling much more relaxed and "in the moment"), walk slowly, look around and take it all in! And of course don't rush the kiss! Here are some lovely non-rushed kisses from 2007/8/9:

15. Decide in advance if you're planning on doing a receiving line after your ceremony and build in appropriate time. A receiving line can take anywhere from 20 minutes for 50 guests to over 90 minutes for 300 or more guests. If you don't plan on doing this, you MUST have a plan to duck away from the entrance otherwise it will happen regardless! I have frequently seen couples who don't want to do a receiving line hang out to take family pictures at the church. As guests file out they want to congratulate the couple and so an impromptu recieving line will form. An hour later the whole timeline is now shot to pieces.

16. Guests like to know whether they should hang out after the ceremony or if they're free to leave. You may want to ask your officiant or post in your program to announce the "next steps" e.g. "Thank you all for celebrating the marriage of {_______ & _______}, you're now free to make your way back to {_________} and relax before cocktail hour starting at 6pm" This allows your guests to leave without feeling rude.

17. I'm often with couple for 10 hours or more on their wedding day and so a vendor meal is always welcome (just let me know if not and I will duck out for 30 minutes to grab dinner). Often hotels will wait until after all guests have been served and then the vendors (band or DJ, photographer, videographer etc) are fed. However after/during dinner/between courses is often the time for cake cutting, parent dances or toasts and so often you'll pay for vendor meals which are barely touched as we all have to race back. Consider asking your wedding venue coordinator to feed your vendors first.And don't worry, even when eating a quick dinner, the creativity doesn't stop:

18. Cake cutting. Your venue may place the cake table into a dark corner of the room and then you'll be kind of hemmed in with your friends and family surrounding you paparazzi style! And all of the flashes will create weird shadows against the wall. Consider asking your venue coordinator if the cake can be moved to a more open and photogenic location - maybe the middle of the dance floor. Also consider if you're serving cake as one of your dessert options, you may need to cut it in between courses to allow the kitchen to prepare it for serving - make sure your photographer is aware of this!

Here are some stunning cakes in great locations. Let them eat cake!

19. If my clients agree, I like to steal them away for about 10-15 minutes around sunset or even late at night. We'll sneak outside and get some beautiful relaxed portraits and you get a little extra time alone. Let me know if you'd like to do this.

20. If you have a guest signature book with pictures from your engagement session, place it somewhere obvious and have your wedding party write in it first. Sometimes guests are scared be the first one to write! You can also ask your DJ to make an announcement asking people to sign. Ultra fine point acid-free Sharpies are a good choice. Have at least 3 pens, they always go missing.

21. Wear your hearts on your sleeves on your wedding day. don't be afraid to show emotion and affection.

22. Share information with your photographer. I love it when couples tell me about the details that are extremely personal to them - the wooden soldier standing in for a brother serving in Iraq - the jewelry given to the bride by her new parents-in law. Having said that it's equally important to trust your photographer! (This is assuming you have a kick-a** photographer in the first place). Some of the bridal magazines and websites will have articles on "500 must have wedding shots". Believe me, your photographer knows that you want a picture of "the kiss" and "the first dance" without such a list. I can work from a 500 item list but there's a good chance I'll be so busy checking off items that I'll miss unexpected and spontaneous moments - like when during his toast, your Father pulls out the slightly worn and crumpled photo he's carried in his wallet since you were three:

23. Plan your reception with your guests in mind. If people are surprised they'll have more fun. Photobooths, Neil Diamond impersonators, a Riverdance performance - it's all good! The guests at Linda & Tom's wedding at Willowdale Estate were delighted to enjoy mini-sliders and even happier to pick up a box of Italian cookies at the end of the evening. Remember that some of your older guests are likely to leave early so you may not want to wait until too late in the night to cut the cake or do your bouquet toss:

24. And talking of bouquet tosses, I've recently seen a lot of alternatives to the bouquet toss such as all of the married couples dancing then gradually leaving the dance floor until the longest married couple remains and they're given the bouquet. If you plan on doing a traditional bouquet toss, talk to your photographer to figure out a good location. And then don't be shy about faking it once, twice, three times and then throw. The anticipation will build and it allows for extra pictures. And of course if you accidentally hit one of your flower girls with the bouquet you can always ask for a do-over:

So I hope part II was helpful and you didn't mind my comment-demands yesterday! Useful? Questions? Want more?

Twelve tips for great wedding pictures (twelve more tomorrow!)

I recently blogged **here** about planning your wedding day timeline with photography in mind and it got me thinking about a lot of other simple and easy things you can do to get better wedding pictures (other than hiring a kick-a** wedding photographer of course!). Without further ado, here are some of the things I've learned over the years:

1. When choosing your wedding location consider how it will look in photographs. Beautiful high white ceilings/tents are beloved by photographers for bouncing/foofing/reflecting. Dark, brightly colored or wood panelled walls and ceiling can be a little harder to deal with.

When I arrived to photograph a wedding at Belle Mer in Newport, RI I almost wanted to hug the white walls and blow kisses at the high white ceilings - they reflect strobes beautifully for soft flattering light:

2. Consider lighting design and decor. Tiny twinkly lights and/or lots of votive candles will look beautiful in pictures and add to the ambiance. And don't forget to check out my post on uplighting which is a lot more affordable than you might think!


3. When you're planning your timeline, consider scheduling time for an intimate "first look" session for the bride and groom alone followed by wedding party and family pictures to extend the time spent together on your wedding day. Then you can head off to the ceremony feeling calm and relaxed, knowing that all of the pictures are done and you can thoroughly enjoy your wedding! AND you get to enjoy a glass of champagne and all of the fabulous appetizers at cocktail hour - brilliant! I swear I didn't tell Tom to look at his watch, I think he was just so excited to see Linda:


4. And speaking of timeline planning, for an outdoor wedding ceremony try and avoid 11:30am - 3pm. The sun is super high and bright in the sky and unless you want big strobes and flashes going off in your face to overpower the sun, you'll likely have some pretty harsh shadows in the pictures. Beautiful midday wedding but it's tough to deal with the strong shadows that the sun will cast:


5. Choose a wedding dress you feel comfortable in. Can you jump up and down without having to hitch it up? Will you be able to throw your arms up around your new husband's neck for "the kiss" without worrying about a wardrobe malfunction. Strapless dresses can look divine but if you would feel self-conscious going out for dinner in a strapless dress why feel that you have to wear one on your wedding day? Extend the same courtesy to your bridesmaids who will likely come in all shapes and sizes. Your bridesmaids will probably thank you for straps! You can select the colors but let them choose the style (hello www.jcrew.com) this makes for comfortable and happy bridesmaids who can run and jump like this:


6. At your rehearsal/rehearsal dinner remind your wedding party/family of the time and location for group portraits. If family members are on time, family portraits will go much faster! If you have a shot list for your group portraits, give a copy to a member of the wedding party (preferably someone somewhat organized, who knows who the people are) to help round them up

7. If you have everything available, I can get lots of beautiful detail shots while you're getting ready - your dress on a satin hanger, shoes, jewelery, flowers, copy of all of your wedding stationery and the wedding rings (I hate asking you to remove them after you've got married!). Also have one of your bridesmaids do a little sweep of the room where you're getting ready to clear out dress covers and random junk!


8. It's great to get ready in a room with large windows and lots of flattering natural light. You might want to consider this if you're getting ready at home or perhaps ask for a corner room if you're in a hotel - check out more getting ready shots taken in the lovely room below *here*:


9. Take the time estimates for hair and make up and then add at least an hour to them. Hair and make up ALWAYS take longer than you expect and are probably the #1 cause of delays to the timeline. And that can cause you to have to rush photographs and/or miss more of cocktail hour. So plan extra time!

10. Remember to eat on the day of your wedding! This has nothing to do with pictures but a lot of people forget!

11. You might want to consider adding a note to your wedding program to limit guest photography during your ceremony saying something like "It is requested that guests do not use cameras/flash/camera phones during the ceremony" I don't mind at all but you risk your ceremony having a paparazzi-like feel with guests holding out cell phones in the aisle! The little beeps and red pre-flash and flashes can also be distracting when you're trying to say your vows. Plus it's kind of nice to know your guests are listening to the ceremony and not looking at the back of their cameras :)


12. Consider transportation for your photographer. I have my own car but if we'll be starting the getting ready shots and ending at the reception in the same location then I'll sometimes ride in the front of the limo or trolley so that we can make impromptu stops for pictures. Imagine missing a shot of your groomsmen with a random lobster because your photographer is looking for a parking space:


And check back tomorrow for twelve more suggestions including tips for walking down the aisle, cake cutting, if/when to feed your photographer, the best pens for guest book signatures and much more. But...I'm only posting part II if I get at least 5 (update, changing this to 12 as all my lovely blog readers are coming out of hiding) comments. At last count I have 700-900 blog readers each week, so don't be shy! Say hello, add your own tip or leave a suggestion for future blog topics! Just click on "view comments for this post", choose name/url from the drop down box and then type away!