Last week, i attended a webinar put on by Style Me Pretty and Pure Photo. Although it was geared toward brides, i wanted to attend just to see what they had to say, and if i could educate my own brides any better than i already do. They did have some great ideas, and snapped some screen shots to share with you guys. This webinar was all about educating brides on how to get the most for your money. There are so many things that photographers WISH you knew, but either dont want to sound pushy or demanding, or sometimes just dont have enough time to sit down and talk about all of this- which is no real good reason at all, is it?! So, lets start out right now by going over what you REALLY need to know before hiring a photographer and before your big day.

Looking for a photographer and their Style:

its funny to have to actually say this, but make sure that the style of your wedding photographer fits the feel of your wedding day, and the style of you as a couple. Often, finding a photographer is such an overwhelming task, that brides just want to find a decent one, and are more concerned with checking that item off their wedding to-do list than actually finding the perfect fit. if you dont want staged photographs, you need to find a true photojournalistic photographer. if you want some edgy magazine style photographs, you need to find someone who specializes in that. Now, there are photographers (like myself) who do a little of both.  all of this comes back to great communication between client and photographer, and understanding what kind of style fits you best.

if you dont know, dont be afraid to cut out pictures from magazines or wedding blogs that you just adore, and share them with your photographer.  Of course, photos can never be fully replicated (nor would you want to do that, it ruins the spontineity and individuality of your day) but it does give the photographer a great idea of what style you gravitate towards.  inspiration boards are key (read: collage of pictures)- check out Style Me Pretty’s inspiration board maker right here. If you dont know why you should make an inspiration board, I think they say it perfectly :

By now you must know that Inspiration Boards are an essential wedding planning tool. They’re the perfect way to hone your vision and create a chic, cohesive style that you can share with your family and wedding vendors. Plus they’re a super fun way to explore a million different looks for your big day. No matter your style, chances are, that between creating your own boards and exploring all the designs right here, you’ll find the perfect wedding inspiration to suit your own unique style.

I know that if i was planning a wedding and i told my fiance all about the peach and champagne color palette with the bunting banner and mason jar candlelights he would have no idea really what i was talking about. i dont think most men would.  but if i showed him an inspiration board  he’d be like “oh yeah, i totally see what you’re going for”- it makes everything clearer.  if you make multiple inspiration boards, you can show them to your fiance and see which one he’s gravitating toward as well.  and lets face it, it’s always better when the groom is on board and feels included.

Also, during your initial consultation meeting with your photographer, make sure you have any pertinent people who are in the decision making process present.  if your parents are footing the bill for photography, it is important that they come to the meeting.  they (most likely) have a different idea of what wedding photography is about (it’s much different since their wedding!) and we dont want any surprised parents on the wedding day. I definitely want to be clear on expectations on both our parts.

Get the photographer you want, products can come later:

well, i wouldn’t exactly agree with the “no one orders the album within a year” part (my clients do!) but yes, you can not undo bad photography. so much better to get the photographer you really want, with no products, and less hours, than a wedding photographer that’s only pretty good with an album, 12 hours of coverage, 2nd shooter, etc. etc. etc.  We know we will never be the cheapest photographer out there, but that is because we value giving you quality products. We will also never be the photographer who gets you images 2 weeks after your wedding, because again, we value our products, and take our time on each image to make it exactly right.  you’re investing a lot of money and trust into us, after-all, and we want to live up to our own, and your, expectations.

Wedding Photography Packages breakdown:

Hours of Coverage:  you’re going to want to figure out a rough idea of a timeline before deciding on hours of coverage.  we’re going to talk about timelines in a minute, but for simplicity we’ll just say right now that if you decide to do a first-look, you’re timeline will be streamlined, and therefore you can cut out a good chunk of money for hours of coverage. Make SURE you discuss your timeline with your photographer, and coordinate your wedding planner’s timeline with your photographer’s. you may not have realized that sunset is at 5 pm, and your ceremony ends at 4:45, leaving you just 15 minutes for formal photos (not enough time!) and zero minutes for intimate photographs of you and your husband.

2 photographers: If you are on a budget, this is the first thing i tell brides to cut out of their wedding package.  two photographers is great if you have a difficult timeline (formal photos at the same time something else is going on at the cocktail hour you’d like photographed specifically, if you want a photobooth at the reception while still wanting to capture guests dancing on the dance floor, etc) or if there are large distances to be traveled (bride and groom getting ready at the same time in very different locations across town, 15 or more minutes of travel time between ceremony and reception locations, etc), or if you have a huge wedding party or guest list.  but if you’re wedding is pretty cut and dry, one photographer should be just fine to capture the story of your day.

Engagement sessions:  this is NOT just to announce your engagement or to order save the dates.  this is a practice run.  this is to get to know me as a photographer, to get to know you as a couple, and to learn how to be relaxed and candid in front of a camera.  rarely are we photographed without looking at the camera and saying ‘cheese’ in real life, and you dont want to be practicing looking natural (but feeling very awkward) on your wedding day.  it is also a big confidence booster, to take those engagement photos where you may feel a little uncomfortable (most people haven’t been photographed since they were a senior in high school) and then see amazing shots come out of that.  it will give you confidence to know that your wedding photographs are in good hands.  Also, if you end up hating your engagement photos, it gives you a big heads up to look at other wedding photographers ASAP before it is too late.  The difference between couples who have had an engagement session to those who haven’t is incredibly evident in their final portfolio.  so much so, that i’ve stopped charging for engagement sessions and have added them into most of my packages for free.  It was worth it to me to see my couples be comfortable in front of the camera.

High Resolution images: For many brides this is a make or break deal.  I see it slightly differently, and i’m going to give you my 100% honest opinion: it shouldn’t be a make or break deal.  as a matter of fact, only a few of my packages actually include the high-res images.  here’s why i dont think owning the high-res images should have so much weight: 1) if you’re worried about having your wedding images safe and secure, we have you covered.  we have so many external hard drives, virtual storage, etc. etc. etc., that it would literally take the collapse of the entire internet  and a natural disaster to destroy your wedding images.  2) you have just invested at least 3,500.00 for a photographer. i am not naive enough to think that is a small amount of money; it is a large investment.  do you really want to go print your images at Walgreens?  By doing that, you will have just turned that amazing shot into a run of the mill wedding  photographer’s  image.  it would be like just getting a 3,500.00 manicure, and then going home and painting over it- in a very very bad way.  3) we keep our printing prices low so that you WILL be able to afford to print images with us after your wedding.  we want you to have physical prints in your hands of your day, be it an album, canvas wraps, or traditional prints.  4) We already encourage you to share all your images on facebook or other social media, and you dont need the high-resolution images to do that.  Low resolution is what is best for sharing online, and you already get those FOR FREE!  (i love free things, dont you?)  5) we keep your gallery up forever, so that you dont have to pay a re-posting fee.  if you want to order prints in 6 months, in 2 years, in 10 years, you can go do it instantly.  it will actually take you less time to do that than to go find your disk of high resolution images, take it to a drug store, print it, pick up the prints…. you get the idea.  it is SUPER EASY.   so, instead of getting the high-res images, i’d save my money for something else that you cant get anywhere else…. like…..

Albums.  i will say that we have more options for covers, styles, and quality than any other photographer that i know of.  I have exclusive contracts with the best professional album companies in the world.  in the world. the best. it’s something we’re very proud of, and it feels really great to be able to show these amazing works of art to our clients. but, if you are looking at other photographers you NEED to look out for these things:

layout design:  are there distracting design elements (like swooshes, curlie cues, etc)?  are some images crooked (think like you’re thumb-tacking an image to a board)? are there images in an oval shape? are there images in ANY other type of shape (diamond, star, etc)?  are there images laying over top another image? is there any text or words? these are things that may seem “cool” or “trendy” or “unique” right now, but they will not stand the test of time later. they will look dated, and in ten years from now you will laugh about the design instead of remember the moments and appreciate the photography.  Design should be clean, clear, concise. The Image should take priority, not the design.  the design should only enhance the images, not be the dominating factor.  This is not a high-school yearbook, this is a fine art album that your grandchildren, and their grandchildren will look through.

traditional vs. modern:  we have both styles of binding.  the library pages that are traditionally bound (they refer to it as magazine-style above in the screen shot), and the lay-flat album  (they refer to it as board-book above ) which can host a large panoramic image spread across both pages. one is not better than the other, it is merely your personal taste.  make sure the photographer carries what you prefer.

credit: an album credit in our packages means you get a certain amount of money towards the purchase of any album you would like.  we want you to have an album, but realize that sometimes it’s just not in the budget when you’re trying to afford everything wedding related.  we’ll wait patiently for you like i said, we’d rather have you hire us, and wait with products, than not be able to afford to have the photographer you really want.

sides vs number of images: our albums are 20 pages in our basic album. you can always order more pages if you’d like! and, we never put a limit on number of images you can put in the album, within reason.  one must understand that the more images you give to me while saying you’d like to stay in a certain number of pages the more degraded the design quality will be.  it would be crazy to try and fit 10 images on one page.  we stick with anywhere from 1 to 4.  so, if you want a lot of images included, purchase more sides (pages).  if you want to keep it low-budget, narrow your images down to what you really really need to have.

Pro vs. consumer albums:  professional albums are expensive.  for you, AND for us.  some basic albums cost us anywhere around 800.00 JUST to purchase them.  that doesn’t take into account any customizations, additional pages, printing of images, design time, ordering time, album ordering consultation meeting time, shipping, etc.  i promise you, photographers out there aren’t buying their albums at 50.00 and making 1,500.00 off of them.  in reality, our profit margins for creating albums is miniscule.  but, this is the grand culmination of the efforts we’ve put in, and we like to see it come all together in print.  the reason these albums are so much more expensive than the consumer ones you can purchase yourself is because these album companies have book artisans that hand create each album individually. they have gone to school for book making- it is an art, not just a job.  it is their field, their profession, their artisanal craft. these albums are archival, meaning they wont degrade your photographs.  photography, by nature, is unstable, and will always degrade.  these albums will make that shelf life a lot longer.  not to mention they are the most beautiful products i’ve ever seen. Professional album companies work exclusively with professional photographers, and often times a photographer will have to be selected to even carry their product. if you are buying a wedding album for less than 500.00… something is not right.  it is either not a professional album, not of good quality, not archival, or something.   You can expect to pay at least 1,000 for a well made, well designed album.

Timeline:

They’ve said it perfectly.  When i say budget in an extra hour for hair and make-up, i really really do mean it.  what is the worst that can happen? you get an extra hour with your girls?  you get an extra hour to soak up your wedding day? you get an extra hour with your photographer?

and here’s the big one:

First Look

I know this is kind of a controversial one.  I am actually a convert. i wanted to see my husband for the first time as i walked down the aisle, but now, we are both all for seeing each other before the ceremony.  We will ALWAYS work with brides who want to stay traditional.  but we just want you to know what the benefits are for seeing each other before the ceremony  as well.  As they said above, it gives you the chance to get out the jitters, and to actually have a moment to talk- for your husband to actually tell you how beautiful you look.  Brides who’ve done a first look say that they feel like they are going through this day together rather than apart and meeting at the aisle. They also all agree that seeing each other before the ceremony didn’t actually detract from the emotion as they were walking down the aisle. there is no other moment like that one, as you are walking down the aisle to meet your husband, as you are hearing the music, as all the friends and family members are gathered there, standing up watching you walk down the aisle to meet your love.  it will not matter if you saw each other before that moment or not, at that time, that moment is all that exists.

in a condensed version here are the benefits:

1) you spend more time with each other on your wedding day than apart

2) the nervous jitters are out, and it turns into excitement

3) he’ll be able to actually tell you how he’s feeling, how beautiful you look, how excited he is. sometimes, those things do not have the chance to be said until the reception, otherwise.

4) you’ll be free after the ceremony to enjoy your cocktail hour with your friends and family. again, adding to the feeling of togetherness on one of the most important days of your life.

5) your timeline can be streamlined incredibly. without seeing each other before hand you will be  trying to hurry through formals after the ceremony, then hoping to have at least an hour of the two of you alone together for pictures (which, lets be honest, family formals ALWAYS run late, more on that in a minute) while you’re missing out on the cocktail hour, and so is your photographer because she’s trying to photograph you, and then hurrying in for the grand entrance, and you’ve got all this pressure on you to get in there on time because guests are hungry…. Are you going to feel good taking photos if there is time pressure on you?  seeing each other before hand and getting intimate shots of the both of you before the ceremony ensures we will have ample natural lighting for you (especially if you have your ceremony late in the day), and after your ceremony things can flow easily, for both you AND the photographer.  I am able to work easily without a second shooter, and still be able to get those amazing photos of the reception area before guests walk through and deconstruct the scene and table settings.

6) stress is lessened.  need i say more?  isn’t less stress a good thing on your wedding day?

The Shot List:

Oh that last one is a biggie!  yes, please, have someone (a bridesmaid, a master or mistress of ceremonies, a favorite aunt, a wedding coordinator, a personal attendant… anyone who knows who is who) to call out names and make sure that people are present, ready, and waiting to jump into the shot.  if you are having any more than 8 formal photos of family members, with anymore than 8 people in each photo, this is absolutely a necessity.  if you are not doing a first meet, and plan on having photos of just the two of you after these formals, i can not stress enough the importance of making this streamlined as much as possible.

it is so important.

have i mentioned how important it is?

things to help:

• talk to important family members to be photographed well before the wedding or the rehearsal dinner.  Tell your Aunt Sally that you love her a lot, and really would like her to be included in the formal photos after the ceremony, and that they will be taking place immediately after the ceremony, so please, do not run back out to the car quickly, or run up to the bar for a quick glass of wine, or to the restroom.
• repeat this information to all family members at the rehearsal dinner.  if extended family members were not at the rehearsal dinner, designate another family member to make sure to get in contact with them that day to relay the information.
• Have your officiant make a small anouncement after you have exited for all immediate family members to stay at the altar for formal photographs.
• and, of course, have someone designated to help round up stragglers.  because i dont know who is who, i wont be able to tell you if we’ve already photographed your great aunt sally or not, or if i saw her leave the ceremony area, or if i could please go run and find her.

I’ll Also take Spa Treatments…

ok, so, you definitely dont have to get me a spa treatment.  but, i have had brides forget to feed us dinner.  when i was pregnant.  after shooting for 12 hours a day.  it was a rough evening to say the least.  I always keep an energy bar with me and a protein drink in the car for worst case scenarios, but you really do want your photographer to have the energy it takes to be creatively thinking for 12+ hours during your day lugging 20+ lbs of equipment on their shoulders.  you dont want to see them fizzle out at the end, and food and water have a big role in that.  Also, appreciation goes such a long way.  if we know YOU want us there, then WE want to be there.  and we also want to do a stellar bang up job on your wedding so you can be even happier.  we’re only human, and if we’re working with a bridezilla, sometimes it’s hard to be excited about the things she’s excited about and it shows through in the photography.  we want to create the best possible relationships with our clients.  we want to know and remember your wedding date years from now.  we really do care about what we do.

Looking your best

All of these are great tips! i especially want to point out the nervous laughter thing.  When i am feeling out a couple, if i notice they are feeling a bit awkward, i may actually put them in a more awkward pose than they already are, KNOWING that they are going to burst out in laughter.  that is specifically what i’m going for, the real laugh.   so dont try and play it cool…. feel on the outside how you are really feeling on the inside.  if you are trying to stifle in a laugh, dont.  just let it go.

also remember that you are on camera all day long.  not just during formals.  so if you really hate how you look when your nose is scrunched up, try and not do that.  i never want someone to be who they are not, and i always prefer brides to not really notice that i am there, but in the same way a celebrity is aware that at any time someone could be photographing them, you can apply that same principle to your wedding day.

Getting your wedding Published:

although what is generally most important to you, the bride, are photographs of the two of you, that’s not what publishers are looking for. rarely are any photographs of family members or friends included if it doesnt have anything specifically to do with decor or details.  other brides want inspiration for their own weddings, and are hoping to get some ideas from you.  what i will say is this: cohesive, cohesive, cohesive.  if you can tie in all details of your wedding together in a cohesive manner, it will make all the difference.  Also, different wedding publishers have styles that they specifically look for.  Style me Pretty, for instance, generally features out door, shabby chic weddings. Martha Stewart generally features weddings with impecable (somewhat formal and traditional) tastes.  there are blogs and publications out there for DIY brides, for budget brides, for hippie brides, for rockstar brides, you name it.   submit your wedding to publications that are looking for your style, and you’ll have a lot more success.

Little things make a BIG DIFFERENCE!

clean up that room: that amazing shot of you putting on your wedding dress is not going to look so amazing with that cooler full of beer behind you.  or all the plastic garment bags strewn on the bed.  or all of your suitcases open with clothes strewn about.  take the time to tidy up, or better yet, get ready in another room other than the one you are staying in.

dont forget a nice hanger for your dress.  a dress shot is always an image i take at a wedding, and it is always less amazing when it’s on a white plastic hanger.  check out these wire hangers, or these funky ones, or all these ideas!  Those are totally out of the box ideas, but  just a traditional wooden hanger will do nicely.

Dont forget your letterpress (anything paper printed material like your invites, save the dates, menu cards, etc) so we can photograph them as well! when submitting to be published, editors are going to want to see how you invited your guests, if it was cohesive with the style of wedding, and if there were any unique attributes to them.  it can sometimes be a make or break deal for getting your wedding published.

bring a hand mirror to see the back of your hair! it also makes for some pretty amazing photographic shots.  you’ll also want a full length mirror to see yourself fully dressed.

schedule in some time to do a mini boudoir session in your lingerie before putting on your wedding dress.

scissors and a sewing kit are  commonly searched for items while getting ready.  everyone will want to cut off their hanger straps, and it’s pretty hard to do with a nail clippers!

PHEW! alright that was a lot of information. Are you guys exhausted? i am!