(3 Months to 4 Months before the Wedding)You want beautiful photography of your wedding. It's the biggest day of your life and it's a must to have a beautiful photo album as a keepsake from your very special day. A few months before the wedding you should have a one on one session with your photographer. You want to review with the photographer, the photos that can be taken to go along with the wedding package you ordered, are you limited on what photos that can be taken or do you have an unlimited package.
As you meet, you want to educate the photographer with the family tree structure on both the bride's and groom's sides of the family. You want the photographer to know the names of the people he/she will be looking for as he readies the photo shoot and what is the structure and how many members of the bridal party.
The important thing is for the photographer to gain an understanding of all who should be in each photo. Are there divorced or widowed parents involved in the wedding? Where should the photos of the bridal party be taken? Should the photos be in front of the church, or be taken at a park, city landmark, in front of the lake, or the green in the town center? Who should be in the photo, are there flower girls or ring bearers that should be included in the photo shoot too?
You need to go through the checklist in detail, how many pictures and what pictures will make up the day's shoot? Is the photographer taking pictures in all the locations, the bride's family's house, the ceremony location, a bridal party destination location, and the wedding reception? What photograph's should be taken at the wedding reception? How many reception tables are there? Should the photographer be taking photographs of each table, or each table with the bride and groom.
It is important to get a good photo shoot, from the biggest day of your life. Hopefully you have chosen a wedding photographer that is an authorative and take charge person, but in a nice way. You want to understand how the photographer runs his photo shoot. What does the photographer want from you during his/her session?
When you get photographs taken, the wedding photographer wants to get the best pictures he/she can, but as he/she is taking photos other relatives want to take photos too, sometimes in the shoot you end up with photo subjects looking off in different directions and this disrupts the great picture that the photographer is trying to attain. Some photographers request that no other photos are taken besides his/hers when they are taking photos.
Wedding guests get upset if they don't get a good photo. The goal is to get a win/win situation. Try to get the photographer to agree to allow him/her take their photo first and then the wedding guests be allowed to take theirs. The bride and groom or someone who represents them needs to get the word out, not to take photographs the same time as the wedding photographer.
Also you need to discuss if there are any entire group photos at the wedding reception. Should there be a group photo with just the bride's side and one with the groom's side, and should there be one with the entire guest list and where is there a good photo spot at the reception hall to get this photo taken. Does this photo need to be taken while the sun is still out, before the reception gets really going?
Also what are the contingency plans should there be inclement weather for an outdoor shoot? Is there a good backup location that is indoors for the shoot? What about moving the photo shoot a day or two earlier or a day or two after the wedding or sometime after the honeymoon? Make sure you discuss what should the contingency plans be long before the time of the wedding!
Make sure you review the photography checklist with the wedding photographer or with whoever is taking the wedding photos. You should also review the photographs after they are taken and arrange with the photographer which photographs are to go into the photo album, who prepares the photo album you or the studio and what other photographs will be made available to family members and wedding guests and how your guests can obtain the photos. Are any large photos to be created, what about wallet size?
The Photography Checklist for Wedding Photographers
At the Bride's Parents Home
Mother/Maid of Honor adjusting veil
Bride putting on garter with bridesmaid looking on
Bride in bedroon mirror getting ready
Corsage being pinned on mother
Corsage being pinned on father
Portrait of mother and bride
Portrait of father and bride
Brothers and/or sisters with the bride
Group shot of whole family one last time
Bride with all bridesmaids
Bride with each bridesmaid
Bride leaving house with parents and bridemaids
Father helping bride into car
Shot of bride in back of car from the front seat looking back
At the Ceremony Site or Church Prior to Service
Groom waiting
Groom and best man
Groom, best man and page boys
Best man adjusting groom's tie
Groom with father
Groom with mother
Groom and best man waiting at front of church
Guests arriving at church
Bride arriving in car
Bride exiting car with father helping
Bride kissing father on the cheek
Bride with mother and father looking on
Bride and bridesmaid's group shot in church garden or vestibule
During the Ceremony Site or Church Service
Bridal party coming down the aisle
Bridemaids, flower girls coming down the aisle
Father giving the bride away
From the rear of church looking down the aisle at couple
Soloists
Readers
Musicians
Above from organ area or balconies
Ring Ceremony
Kissing
Exchanging of vows
After the Service Inside the Ceremony Site or Church
Bride signing the register
Groom signing the register
Bride and Groom signing the register
Best man signing the register
Maid of honor signing the register
Bride and groom coming back down the aisle as husband and wife
After the Service Outside the Ceremony Site or Church
Groom kissing bride full length
Groom kissing bride 3/4ths length
Groom kissing bride close up head shot
Bride and groom looking at ring
Bride and groom with rings and bouquet/flowers
Bride and groom with officiant
Bride and groom with wedding party
Bride with bridesmaid's and flowers
Groom with best man and groomsmen
Bride and groom with bridesmaids
Bride and groom with groomsmen
Bride and groom at church door
Bride and groom leaving church
Bridal party outside of church
Bride and groom with bride's parents
Bride and groom with groom's parents
Bride and groom with bride's immediate family
Bride and groom with groom's immediate family
Bride with her mother
Bride with her father
Bride with both parents
Groom with his mother
Groom with his father
Groom with both parents
Bride and Groom with both sets of parents
Couple getting into limousine
Shot of couple from front seat or sunroof
Shot of couple leaving in limo with church in background
Special Shots
Action shots with entire wedding party in pretty location (jumping for joy etc.)
Couple sitting with dress train spread out
Couple on bridge looking at water/looking at sunset
Couple talking next to tree
Couple walking on beach
Couple in ruins of unique building, etc.
At the Wedding Reception
Reception facility decorated but empty before reception begins
Closeup photo of seating chart
Photo of the wedding cake
Bride and groom arriving at the reception
Couple greeting guests in receiving line
Photo of bride and groom with bridal party table
Close up of best man/father offering a toast
Photo of bride's father speech
Photo of groom's speech
Photo of best man's speech
Photo of bride and groom's first dance together
Photo of bride and father dancing
Photo of groom and mother dancing
Photo of couple cutting the wedding cake
Photo of bride feeding the groom the wedding cake
Photo of groom feeding the bride the wedding cake
Photo of bride throwing the bouquet to single ladies
Photo of bride throwing the garter to single men
Photo of single man catching garter put garter on single lady who caught bouquet
Photo of bride and groom with grandparent's on bride's side
Photo of bride and groom with grandparent's on groom's side
Photo of musician's performing/(or dj)
Photo of wedding gifts on table
Group photo of everyone at the wedding
Bride and groom with everyone on the bride's side
Bride and groom with everyone on the groom's side
Bride and groom with each and every reception table
Bride and groom leaving the reception
Shot of "just married" decorated car with bride and groom
Shot of car leaving reception
Candid shots at the reception
Make sure you get great photo's from your wedding, create a beautiful wedding album for a special keepsake for the biggest day of your life! See you on the other side!
No comments:
Post a Comment