Ask questions! Your potential wedding photographer should make you feel at ease and be able to answer any question without hesitation. If you are relaxed and at ease with your photographer, your experience and end results will be better.

Two questions to ask: Is your potential photographer insured? How much wedding experience do they have?

Family photos after the ceremony will take up the most time on your wedding day. Creating a list beforehand will help family portraits go faster and smoother. I recommend starting with the largest group and then removing people. Write out each person’s first name in the group, and even their relation to you, so that we can call out each name and have them come into or out of the photo. If you start with the largest groups that include grandparents, and any small children they may be released to cocktail hour soonest. A family list is especially important when there are blended families, step-families, and family members who are no longer with us.

It will look something like this:

B+G and Both Families: David, Donna, Sue, Brad, Brenda, Molly
B+G and Bride’s Family: David, Donna, Sue
B+G and Bride’s Parents: David, Donna
B+G and both Parents: David, Donna, Brad, Brenda
B+G and Groom’s Family: Brad, Brenda, Molly
B+G and Groom’s Parents: Brad, Brenda

A first look is a planned photo where the bride sees someone or a group of people for the first time and the wedding photographer catches the reactions. These can be done with bridesmaids, grandparents, your father, your partner, or even your dog!

More and more people are doing a first look with their partner before the ceremony. This is especially good in the winter months, or when having a sunset ceremony, where the light fades fast. After talking with many couples who have chosen to have a first look, the general reply is that having a first look doesn’t diminish the feelings they got when they first saw each other down the aisle.

Having a first look is a great way to calm any pre-ceremony jitters, and have a few moments away from all the commotion of the day to really see and talk to each other.

It’s also a great way to get a larger selection of romantic portraits of just the two of you. If you like this idea, but still want to keep the tradition of not seeing each other before the ceremony, we have also arranged “First-Touch” photos where you can still talk to each other, hold hands, or exchange letters without seeing each other. These also make great photos and lasting memories.

Gallery completion depends on many factors like how many hours the wedding was, and how busy the season. An average 8-hour wedding is typically delivered between 4-8 weeks after the wedding date.

Your wedding photographer should have enough experience to know which traditional wedding shots to get. What we do need to know is if there are any special traditions, people, or sentimental items that might need to be pointed out. I encourage using the internet to collect inspiration for photos that you really want to try to get, but I do not suggest having an entire “Pinterest list” of shots that you want your photographer to recreate. Why?

You should hire your photographer because you like THEIR work, and you trust them to do what they are professionals at doing. Your photographer has spent years crafting their skills. Trust your photographer.

Trying to recreate a photo can be difficult on so many levels and can eat up all the time that you’ve booked with your photographer. Many of the photos that you see online are from stylized shoots. They had enough time to set up professional lighting and craft the shot. Your wedding photographer will be thinking on their feet and using the location and the lighting that they are given to create the most beautiful portraits for you. Trust their direction.

Wedding photographers want to tell YOUR story, they want to connect with you organically, they want to capture your love for each other and for your friends and family. Copying someone else’s photo is like trying to fit you into a mold. Your photographer will know the best poses for your body type. Pick one or two photos that you really want to try, or that really speak to you, and send those to your photographer – not an entire list.

The most important list is a list is your timeline and a list of family groupings that you want photos to be taken with after the ceremony.