(Quick note here – officially 2009 is my last year of shooting weddings. I might do one now and then, if someone asks really nice! The purpose of this blog is to help share some of what I learned. Hopefully it helps you out!)
I sometimes forget that not everyone knows what to expect for their wedding!
I’ve been shooting weddings for about 10 years now, and I have to remind myself that just because something is obvious to me, doesn’t mean that You, my customer, knows what’s going on!
So, lets see if we can get off to a good start, shall, we?
Lets start off with some easy stuff…
I shoot all weddings with digital cameras. If you’re the kind of person who wants to know all the specs and model numbers and names of the widgets, please to email me, and I’d be happy to type up a list of my current gear. With that said, though, things change fast. It seems like once or twice a year I’m buying something new, selling something on Ebay, or I just got rained on and had to replace something that wasn’t as waterproof as we thought it would be!
Something else to keep in mind, some of the buzz words are less important than you think they might be. Knowing how to get the most out of gear is often more useful than having the newest and greatest toys!
In the photo world, and especially in the digital photo world, there is always someone with a bigger and better camera. I shoot with all Canon at the moment, have been shooting with Canon Digital SLR cameras for 6 years or so now, and have used their digital video cameras since my first wedding back around 2000. So I’m comfortable with them, I have a good range of accessories. Nikon makes wonderful cameras, and there are other quality names out there as well. Would I trade? probably not, because I know how to get the most out of my camera, and I don’t have to stop and think about something when I see a great shot!
Another thing I’d like to say, there are some of the greatest shots on my websites that were taken with either my old Canon 30D, which was a 3 megapixel camera, or my Digital Rebel, which was a 6 MP camera. The perfect sunset didn’t care what my camera was right? It did care that I knew how to go out of auto and into manual exposure though!
Prices, experience, work flow, and camera gear
If you’re been planning your wedding for more than a day, you’re probably getting an idea that weddings can be kind of expensive. Yeah, sorry about that!
There is always a wide range of options, prices, and packages. Vendors all have their own ways of doing things. I’ve chosen to do things in a Fun, Inexpensive, and pretty Quick way. There are photographers who take very VERY nice pictures, but they’re slow, they’re painstakenly detailed. They’ll fluff the dress 4 or 5 times. They’ll prune the bushes behind the group photo. Really. I have seen photographers stop everything, so they could go move a dead branch. I’m sure it looked better. But by the end of the day we’re all just ready for cake and dancing right?
So I make it a point to get through pictures as quickly as we possibly can. We’ll still get the great shots, I’ll make sure you look your best, and I’ll really watch for distracting things in the backgrounds. No one wants a school bus or porta potty in their wedding pictures right?
I got a unique training when I started shooting weddings. My first 3 years I only shot video. I really thought I knew a lot when I started. Hmmm, not so much! Anyway, as a video guy, I got to stand there and record a wide range of photographers shooting wedding photos. Some photographers wouldn’t even let me video tape the photo sessions, which I guess is fine. But the ones I did get to watch, I soon realized had a pretty unique style. They’d all get most of the same shots, but how they got there was fun to watch! I started to notice that some of the best photograhers, based on the wedding party’s attitude, were the quickest.
That’s when I figured out that most people really don’t like doing the formal portrait part of weddings. Sure it seems fun for a while, but a formal session can last an hour or two pretty easily. Or 3 hours even!
By having a plan, and getting everyone’s attention early on, we can get through the pictures really quick, and have time to relax, freshen up, and chill before we get to either the ceremony or the reception.
Brings up a good point. If it was up to me, I’d do all formals before the ceremony. Feel free to ask me about this, I have a lot of good reasons why. But hey, its your wedding, you’ll do it how ever you want right? 
If you are starting to realize you might need some help, lets talk ok? I’ve seen things that I could probably share with you, so we both get through the wedding smiling!
“My” Perfect Wedding
Sometimes I get lucky, or through a lot of practice, things work out well. Take your pick!
What seems to work best, is if we do Formal pictures Before the Ceremony. Bride and Groom will see each other. I know, not traditional. But much easier on everyone. And trust me, if you’re thinking of being all emotional and all that fun wedding stuff, walking down the aisle to the wedding march, it won’t be a problem at all.
So, what we do is have Bride and Groom see each other, we set up a fun shot, then we leave you two alone for a few minutes, so you can just have your moment right? We do the Bride photos first, just her by her self, then a couple quick Groom pics, then Bride and Groom together. I’d say that could take 30 minutes. Pay attention to times ok? Next we bring in the Wedding Party (not the kids or parents yet, just the Groomsmen, Best Man, Bridesmaids, Maid of Honor). Wedding Party pics can get done in less than half an hour if everyone is ready, and we all pay attention. At the end of that set we bring in the Flower girls, Ring bearers, and do a quick set there. Kids get tired quickly, so lets keep them on “set” as short a time as possible.
Then Parents and extended families come in. This means we’re done with the rest of the Wedding Party, so they can go help decorate or what ever, or just take a break. Think of it this way, they’re there for you, but they really don’t want to sit through 4 hours of formals right? So cut them some slack!
We do Grandparents just before the Ceremony, and all the aunts and uncles etc. OR we pick them up right after the Ceremony. Odds are there will be a few people who aren’t ready, so we’ll plan on some quick clean up after the Ceremony.
If all goes well, we have an hour to sit down and relax, before the Ceremony. Nice right? Try to leave at least 2 hours for formals, before the ceremony. Then add in an extra hour. And we really want to have the bride hidden before the guests show up. And some of them will show up an hour early. I don’t know why, but there will be 6 people there, sitting in the front row, ready to go. Then we’ll have to move them because the parents get the front row!
“My” not so Perfect Wedding
Here’s some things that will mess up the timing. Starting with Least Favorite!
“Traditional” has us taking all pictures between the Ceremony and the Reception. If we do this at the Church, we have to deal with all the guests who won’t just leave right after the ceremony. They’ll want to stand around and talk, even if its just among them selves. Sure I get that, some of them haven’t seen each other since the last wedding. Fine. But its tough to get right into pictures if we have 200 people in the way.
Also, the more people who are “helping” the slower things will go!
As a professional photographer, I realize there will be at least 3 blue haired ladies who want to take pictures of every single set up we do. Honestly, I don’t mind. Sometimes they have a good idea even! But if we have to work around each other, it will slow things down considerably. Also adding to the situation, the more people that are there, the louder it gets. I’m not a big fan of yellling at people. And I don’t know everyone. So if we’re trying to do a shot with the bride, groom, and uncle Tom, and its really loud, its tough to get Tom’s attention right?
Ok, that’s “traditional”. Here’s something that is slightly traditional, but its actually not really an improvement.
Someone came up with the idea of taking pictures Before the Ceremony, but of still not having the Bride and Groom see each other. Seems genius right? Except…
Say we start with the Bride and Brides maids. Ok. Then we can do Bride with All brides maids, then add in flower girl. Then Bride with Each bridesmaid. Then we might do Bride with all the groomsmen. If the guys are there and ready. Then Bride with her parents. And grandparents. Ok, then the Bride leaves, and the Groom gets there. Groom with all the groomsmen. Groom with each groomsmen. Groom with all the bridesmaids. Groom and his parents… grandparents.
Gee, we should be mostly done right? Not even close.
Because now, after the ceremony we still have to set up all the shots only this time the Bride and Groom are in each of them! So, now we’ve had all of our wedding party there through practically 3 full sets of pictures, including parents, grandparents, and the kids.
Oh, and now it sounds like I’m wining right? Sure, I’m paid to be there, its ok! But you just KNOW there will be one or two people who are not there on time. Or we’ll run late getting the Bride’s dress on. Sure, we know somethings going to happen right? So we’re all ready to go, then we say, well, lets get these pictures done while we are waiting. So more often than not, the whole list gets scrambled.
List… oh right, we really should make an actual LIST of what pictures we want to take. Bonus points if you supply someone to actually hold the list, and have a pen, and they can help line up people. Because let me tell you! After we get started, and you start going through the combinations, its so easy to forget if we got this exact picture or not.
And I know, I’ve never been a Bride myself, but I work with Brides all the time. They’re stressed, they’ve probably not slept well the last week. They haven’t eaten a normal meal in 3 days, so their blood sugar is somewhere around ZERO. And EVERYONE is trying to hug her, or kiss her, or offer some “advice” or ask her where she would like something. I’ve seen normally intelegent people turned into drooling zombies by weddings… and they weren’t all my assistants!
So, Brides… work with me here. At least 2 or 3 weeks before your wedding, contact me. Lets work on making your Shot List of all the pictures you really want. You will not remember them all. I don’t know your people. I have no idea who Aunt Bess is. I’ve started a really nice template for you, which I’ll be more than happy to email you. Its a Starting point!
And why do we want someone to help with the list? Simple really. I don’t know your people. If you have a friend who is not in most of the pictures, they can be a huge help to all of us by holding the list, and crossing them off as we go. Plus, odds are they know at least half of your people. So they can look around and see that we have all the groomsmen there and ready. They might be able to help pin on coursages. They’ll be able to help keep people “herded” into little groups so we don’t lose people. You would just not believe how fast people wander off and you never see them again. I once lost 3 bridesmaids who all went to go find someone else.
Recap!
Pictures BEFORE the ceremony, simpler because we control that block of time. We can ask people to be there at a certain time, and they might be there even. We don’t have to deal with all the guests. We can get pics done, take a break, and be happy shining people for the Ceremony.
Oh, and here’s one other thing most people don’t notice… took me a few years to catch this myself actually! If we have the Ceremony, then 2 hours of pictures, then we finally get to the Reception… think about your guests. What have they been doing in that 2 hours? If they went straight to the reception, they’ve been bored waiting for you most likely. Maybe there were some drinks and snacks for them. That would be nice right? But by the time we get there from pictures, we’re just getting there, but they’re internal clock has been running for 2 or 3 hours now. Even if we kick up the music and get the party rolling, its too late.
Most of the times, if we do photos between Ceremony and Reception, and the Reception was scheduled to run to midnight, its a ghost town by 10 pm. I wish I’d thought to do a graph or something over the last 10 years. But you’ll just see people dropping out way too early, and I think its because of that 2 hour photo shoot between the Ceremony and Reception.
Ok, I’ve gone on and on about that. Its your wedding. I’ll support you in what ever way I can. Really!
Questions? Email me! Or call… no, really just email me :)
Thanks for reading… and remember, weddings are fun, so you better smile
Carlin
