How to Get the Best Photography for Your Wedding Day 2

Once you have cho­sen your pho­tog­ra­pher, the plan­ning stage starts. Don’t worry, most of the plan­ning will be done by your pho­tog­ra­pher — You have plenty of other things to sort out as well! But in my expe­ri­ence, a good level of com­mu­ni­ca­tion with your pho­tog­ra­pher before your wed­ding day is the best recipe for some fan­tas­tic wed­ding pho­tog­ra­phy. Pho­tog­ra­phy is very much about per­sonal taste, so if the pho­tog­ra­pher has a good under­stand­ing of what you like and what is impor­tant to you, then they will know what to focus on dur­ing your wed­ding day. To be acquainted in advance will also help you feel relaxed with being pho­tographed. So here fol­lows some advice on how you can work together to get the best shots pos­si­ble when the day comes!

1: Pre-visit to the venue(s)

To pre-visit the venue together with your pho­tog­ra­pher ahead of your day is, in my expe­ri­ence, the per­fect trig­ger for ideas for your pho­tographs. This is the per­fect oppor­tu­nity to brain­storm. It will also give you the photographer’s per­spec­tive on things. You see, your pho­tog­ra­pher looks at things more like a cam­era. It could be that you hap­pen to have over­looked a loca­tion which the pho­tog­ra­pher dis­cov­ers will be absolutely bril­liant for pho­tos. Or per­haps a loca­tion that you want for por­traits at the venue might have some obsta­cles to it from the shooter’s point of view. If your pho­tog­ra­pher gets to see these things in advance, he/she will know how to best do cer­tain shots on your day. This is also a great oppor­tu­nity to find any backup indoor loca­tions for por­traits etc, in case of any crazy weather con­di­tions on your day.

There are so many dif­fer­ent styles of venues — all with dif­fer­ent light avail­abil­ity, fea­tures and space, so see­ing it with your pho­tog­ra­pher can be very help­ful and give great inspi­ra­tion before your day…
TOP TIP! It can be a good idea to save the venue visit until pretty close to your wed­ding. This will allow you to see what the loca­tion will look like in the right sea­son and light. Also, you might not have seen your pho­tog­ra­pher since the pre­vi­ous year when you made the book­ing, so this could be the per­fect time to catch up and go through the itin­er­ary as well. By this time you will most likely have all the details together, know what the tim­ings are and know of any lat­est incred­i­bly impor­tant detail, that your pho­tog­ra­pher should know of.

2: Share your ideas!

If you have come across shots that you absolutely love and you really wish for some­thing sim­i­lar — it could be a cer­tain way that some­thing has been pho­tographed or it could be some amaz­ing wed­ding por­traits that you’ve spot­ted in a mag­a­zine — show these to your pho­tog­ra­pher. Even if the shots are from a beach wed­ding and you are get­ting mar­ried in the cen­tre of a big city.… even though these sce­nar­ios are far apart, the images can still lie as an inspi­ra­tion in the back of your photographer’s mind. The pho­tog­ra­pher might get some new ideas from the shots that you’re showing!

3: Get ready to be pho­tographed! Engage­ment / Pre-wedding portraits

Not used to being pho­tographed? Don’t you worry, most of us aren’t. A pre-wedding shoot could be the per­fect oppor­tu­nity for you to get relaxed in front of the cam­era and with your pho­tog­ra­pher. It might also give you an under­stand­ing for how the pho­tog­ra­pher might direct you for your wed­ding por­traits. And some ideas may very well arise dur­ing the ses­sion, for shots that you would want to have on your day!

Many pho­tog­ra­phers will include the pre-wedding shoot, so if this is the case take advan­tage of it! Or alter­na­tively, it may very well be avail­able as an addition.

Engage­ment shoot = Get used to the cam­era in a fun way — And, at the same time get shots that could be used for wed­ding invi­ta­tions, etc…

4: Tell the pho­tog­ra­pher your secrets!

It is incred­i­bly impor­tant that you let your pho­tog­ra­pher know in advance of any­thing impor­tant that you want pic­tures of and any­thing unusual that might hap­pen, so that your pho­tog­ra­pher can be ready for it. If your bridal party are going to dance through the church doors and down the aisle (We’ve all seen that on Youtube haven’t we?) or if your first dance will start off really slow and roman­tic and sud­denly break in to a rap rou­tine (That we’ve all def­i­nitely seen on Youtube!) — please tell the pho­tog­ra­pher. Of course you want it to be a sur­prise for your guests. But do let the pho­tog­ra­pher in on your secrets. This will give him/her the chance to be in the right place at the right time, with the right lens on, and have the cor­rect set­tings on their cam­era to best cap­ture it.

I hope that this arti­cle has given you some ideas for how to com­mu­ni­cate with your pho­tog­ra­pher and pre­pare your­selves to get the best shots when the day comes. In chap­ter 3 I will talk more about how things might run with your pho­tog­ra­pher on your wed­ding day.

Go back to Part 1 — How to find and choose a wed­ding photographer

Good luck with every­thing for your wed­ding day!

By wed­ding pho­tog­ra­pher Louise Bjorling