Tip #1 – Ditch The “Wedding Checklist”
If you’ve hired a seasoned professional photographer who’s style you love, let them do what they do best. I cannot tell you how many times I’ve been hired by couples who LOVED my style of coverage (which is primarily photojournalism), who then handed my a multi page “wedding checklist” of shots to be taken.
Absolutely do a checklist if you have very specific group photos in mind, or very special people or things at your wedding that you MUST have a specific way.
But, part of what you fell in love with about the style of your photographer isn’t the end result (which is the capture). It’s experience, anticipation, understanding of light, stealth, speed, creativity, people skills, and a slew of other qualities that a wedding checklist list defeats.
With an extensive wedding checklist, you’re asking your photographer to paint by numbers rather than give you an original work of art.
Trust your photographer to be creative. That’s what we do (if we’re any good).
Tip #2 – Have an “UNPLUGGED Ceremony”
THIS should be on your wedding checklist.
Having an UNPLUGGED Wedding Ceremony is one of the greatest gifts you can give to EACH OTHER on your wedding day. They are AMAZING!
Make signs, put it on your invitations, have your celebrant announce it before the ceremony begins, have your ushers politely remind your guests. No cameras, no camera phones, no ipads, nothing electronic in anyone’s hands.
My wife and I did this for our wedding, and it was probably the most profoundly wonderful parts of the whole day. Being able to look out at everyone there to witness your ceremony and see nothing but the faces of the people that mean most to you. Nothing in the way. Just human eye contact. Their rapt attention, extremely cool, a memory that we’ll always smile about.
From the perspective of your photographer, that’s a “target rich environment”. Shots of family and friends’ expressions, tears, laughter, emotions, and joy in the periphery of the ceremony are priceless to couples I’ve worked with.
BIG plus. Nobody is going to ruin a shot by being in the way of a moment that will never happen again.
Trust your photographer to “get the shot”. There is no excuse for a professional not to if there isn’t someone or something in the way.
Contact Me Now by clicking here if you’d like more information about my wedding photography services in Virginia Beach, Hampton, Norfolk, Chesapeake, Sandbridge, Portsmouth, Newport News, Hampton Roads, Williamsburg, Richmond, and the Outer Banks. If you’re not in the local area, no problem, I travel often to shoot weddings.
