What is the one thing that you are going to have after your wedding day that will bring back all those special memories of one of the best days of your life? Your wedding photographs of course! It therefore makes total sense to me to incorporate a bit of forward planning and preparation when it comes to your wedding photography. A little bit of forethought pre wedding will pay dividends on the big day itself, allowing your wedding photographer the best possible chance to knock your wedding photographs out of the park! Here are my top tips that you can use to get amazing wedding photographs!
1) Bridal/Groom Prep Tips
Give careful consideration as to who you are going to invite to join you as you get ready for your wedding. You should consider this from an atmosphere/personalities point of view i.e. if you think you may be fairly nervous pre ceremony you may not want huge numbers there as this may exacerbate this. If a particular person being around you amplifies your nerves or brings any tension they should not be invited. You should also consider this from a logistics point of view for your wedding photographer. Photographers need a little bit of space to work in - if you are doing prep in a 12 bedroom mansion this won’t be an issue however you are going to make it very difficult for your photographer to capture clean, clutter free images if there are 15 souls crammed in to a small hotel room.
If your bridal prep is at a location in which you have a selection of different rooms at your disposal put some thought in to what room is best for the bulk of photographs (especially your make up) to take place. The single most important technical element of a photograph is light. If your prep is in a dark room you are making life difficult for your wedding photographer. In a single hotel room the obvious choice is near the window. If you’re getting ready in a house then conservatories/sunrooms are perfect. Second to that would be a room with a velux window and third choice is near a window on the side of your house that gets the morning sun.
For any bridal prep location make sure it is reasonably tidy. Royalty won’t be visiting for most people on their wedding day but it’s fairly obvious that an overly messy background will mean your images won’t be as clean and clutter free as you may have wished.
Get your wedding dress/shoes/jewellery etc out of their bags/boxes the night before the wedding, with labels off and stored somewhere safely. I can tell you from experience that getting a wedding dress out of it’s bag and all labels removed can be quite fiddly! It can take a good 10 minutes or so to do as you are obviously treating it with the utmost care. Removing labels etc will also mean your photographer will likely be using up other peoples time too as (if they are anything like me) they won’t be going anywhere near your wedding dress with scissors without quadruple checking they aren’t about to make a catastrophic error!
Pre plan a solid timeline of events for the day. Speak with your hairdresser and make up artist to get a clear idea of the amount of time they need for each person. Make sure these timings are generous - the time will go in a jack flash!
A sun room is the perfect place for the majority of your bridal prep photographs
2) Pre Ceremony
Grooms - don’t arrive too early, don’t arrive too late! Arriving 30-35 minutes before your ceremony is the perfect timing for me!
One of life’s great mysteries for me coming up here - it is truly remarkable that say for example if the wedding is at 1pm how many guests will often be found standing outside the ceremony venue at 12.59pm all chewing the fact without a care in the world! And when no one takes the lead to manage the situation how quickly it can descend in to chaos when the bride arrives. I pride myself on being the photographer that lets almost anything go but in situations like this I’ll step in to attempt to avoid calamity and kindly remind the groomsmen to get their heads back in the game, ideally though get the groomsmen/ushers well briefed on their responsibilities to manage the situation.
Brides - don’t arrive too late and don’t arrive too early! I’m not sure which is worse! Potentially arriving too early for me - it just causes a bit of unnecessary confusion and inevitably you’re going to have to head off and drive round in circles until the ceremony time rolls round. Similarly don’t let your groom stew for too long! Also if you are getting married in the likes of Belfast City Hall, if you arrive 20 minutes late your wedding isn’t going to happen! Plan for traffic, especially if it’s a city centre location at 3pm on a bank holiday or if it’s close to Christmas.
Marks’ groomsmen made sure all guests were seated with plenty of time to spare
3) The Ceremony
Any photographer worth their salt will give the bride and bridesmaids a 10-second reminder of this immediately before the ceremony. Just. Walk. Normally. I’ve seen it all. Bridesmaids taking 5 minutes to walk 10 metres. Bridesmaid taking 0.9 seconds to run 10 metres. Heads looking at feet. Heads look at ceiling. Bridesmaids stepping forward using one foot only with the other foot constantly playing catch up is a favourite. Just walk normally, chin up, eyes forward, big smiles. The only other thing is don’t send the whole bridal party down the aisle in one go. Your photographer will want clean images of each person/persons that walk in. If you come down the aisle in one group all on top of each other clean images of each individual will be impossible to capture.
Liaise with your celebrant pre wedding to get a clear understanding of what is allowed photography wise and what is not. If there are any particularly serious restrictions make sure your photographer is made aware well in advance. I always check in and speak with celebrants pre ceremony myself to build a rapport and get a clear understanding of the rules but if there are serious restrictions (i.e. not being allowed in the ceremony room) I need to know pre wedding day so I can plan accordingly.
Adequate spacing between bridesmaids gives your photographer the best opportunity to capture clean, fresh images
4) Post Ceremony
This is a brilliant time to get family photos done. This is a perfect time to get a entire wedding mega group shot done! At this point in the day everyone is together - other factors come in to it (suitable space inside and outside ceremony venue/weather forecast/amount of natural light left later in the day/personal preferences of bride/groom) however if it’s feasible I advise get all group photos done now.
Post ceremony plan of attack - make sure you have suitable amounts of time allowed for between ceremony and dinner. If you are getting married at 12pm and dinner scheduled for 5pm then you’ve all the time in the world to mill about outside your ceremony venue chatting to everyone. If you’re get married in December at 2.30pm and your call for dinner is at 5pm 30 miles away then you need to get both you and your guests to the reception venue ASAP. When line ups/mass shaking hands/mass hugs are allowed again post Covid 19 (sometime in 2025 - sorry for the joke but if I didn’t laugh I’d cry) it’s worth noting that line ups can take up serious amounts of time, anything up to an hour if it’s a very big wedding so bare this in mind when working your timings out.
Get those group shots done ASAP post ceremony - you won’t regret it!
5) The Reception/Evening Celebrations
Liaise closely with your photographer regarding plans for any outstanding bridal portraits/family and/or group photos. This will again depend on timings for being called to dinner, amount of natural light left available and the weather. If you are getting married in late June you’ve got plenty of back up time to play with in the evening if the evening forecast is looking good. For winter weddings all portraits and group photos will definitely need done by dinner time.
Booking your photographer to first dance will give you the chance for epic photographs in the evening sun if you are getting married in the summer.
Let your photographer know in advance if you’d like to do a sparkler/smoke bomb shot, you can then set about planning the perfect time to get it done! Also if you’ve any surprises lined up like singing waiters let them know too!
Proper planning gives you the opportunity to shoot some stunning bridal portraits
6) And Finally - Book a Pre Wedding Engagement Shoot
This one is worthy of a blog post all by itself - check out the link below to find out why this one is an absolute gimme!
Thank you for taking the time to read through my blog post! If you’d like to view some more images from my portfolio or wish to read a little bit more about me & the services I offer please use the link below alternatively drop me a message via the following link and I’ll get back to you ASAP: Contact Me
