Photography

Wedding photograph of bride relaxing

Photographing The Wedding

Just about anyone wants to hire a photographer to capture their life-changing event of marriage in beautiful pictures for keepsake purposes. Most couples seek out a professional photographer to make sure they receive the highest quality photographs to remember their beautiful day with. Weddings provide some of the largest profit jobs available to photographers in this day and age.

Most weddings should include a contracted agreement between the couple being married and the photographer hired to capture the moments. This contract should include disclaimers for the sole purpose of relieving the photographer of grievances caused by poor lighting, failed equipment or any other events not readily under the photographer’s control.

You’ll want to be in contact with the bride, groom, and parents of the couple before the wedding is scheduled to commence. This allows the photographer to give proper price quotes on portfolio options; number of prints and hours of service the customer will be paying for. Make sure to ask the bride, groom and the parents of the couple for any special photographic request at the time of the first scheduled meeting to put all events of the wedding day into perspective.

The best time for taking photographs at a wedding happens to be before the actual ceremony. Often times, the close family and friends will be taking pictures during the ceremony and you’ll want to make sure you have copies of photographs to sell, which aren’t in competition with ones picked up by family members. Make sure the place conducting the ceremony allows the use of photography during the wedding.

Arrive to the place of the wedding well ahead of time to get a feel of the most optimal places to position yourself for taking pictures. Running through the day’s scenario a few times through routine and in your head will better prepare you against any surprises during the ceremony. You’ll want to make sure you get a professional commentary for future work prospects, as the wedding industry relies heavily on word of mouth for photographers. Here are some additional wedding photography tips.

You can concept some of the most commonly requested and photographed events of the wedding day, below:

Pre-Ceremony ~

The Bride

Bride request of getting ready.
The arrangement of flowers including the bouquet.
The jewelry the bride will be wearing or is wearing.
Bride requests of wedding shoes to be artistically shot in a photograph.
The bride and her father.
The bride and her mother.
The bride accompanied by both mother and father.
The bride along side her attendants.
The bride and her family members of choice.
The bride along side her grandmother and grandfather.
Capture photographs of the flowering girls.

The Groom

The groom and his best man.
Groom with his mother and father.
Groom with his grandmother and grandfather.
Groom and his Ushers.
Groom and minister or wedding celebrant.

The Bride and Groom

Take request in this department.

Just Before The Ceremony Commences ~

Bride’s mother and usher upon entrance to the wedding floor.
Groom’s mother and usher upon entrance to the wedding floor.
Grooms father upon entrance to the wedding floor.
Bride and her father in preparation.
Additional requests.

At The Point of Nuptials ~

Groom, best man and other attendants.
Bride’s attendance in parade.
Coming of the bride and her parent down the aisle.
Arrival of the bride and parent at altar.
Altar capture of bride and groom (only if permissible)
Bride and groom commencing the kiss.
The signing of each individual to the wedding certificate.
Bride and groom coming back from the altar down the aisle.
Additional requests.

Post-nuptials ~

Altar with bride and groom.
Altar with only bride.
Bride with groom and priest or person whom wed the couple.
Attendants with bride and groom.
Bride’s family and wedded couple.
Groom’s family and wedded couple.
Photograph of the bride and groom’s rings.
Kiss between the bride and groom.
Female attendants.
Male attendants.
Ushers
Additional requests.

Reception ~

The place holding the reception.
Personnel as they enter the reception area.
Various guests.
Seated guests in company of others.
Photograph the wedding cake.
Table décor pre-use.
Speech by the attendants or bride and groom.
Cutting of the cake.
Feeding each other, (bride and groom)
The first wedded dance, (bride and groom)
The parents on the dance floor. (bride’s and groom’s)
Various guests on the dance floor.
Throwing of the bouquet.
Garter removal from the bride by the groom.
Throwing of the garter by the groom.
The bride and groom waving goodbye to their attendants and other guests.
Exit of the bride and groom.
Capture the “just married” sign.
Leaving in car (bride and groom)
Additional requests.

If you’re keen to specialize in wedding photography, then like every other successful wedding photographer, you’ll need to invest in yourself, follow proven steps and read. There’s more to this than having a list of potential poses. That’s why the professional wedding photographers rarely run out of work, they’re in demand! You should be aiming for the same – plan to place yourself in a position of being in demand! That said, check these few articles for some extra tips and make sure you see the two guides I’ve made available below them. If you can’t get both guides, at least get one to start!

• wedding photography poses

• contemporary wedding photography

• beach wedding photography

• 9 wedding photography tips

Wedding Photography Must Have List – If you are thinking of doing wedding photography properly, you need to know about preparing invoices correctly, wedding poses or posing the bridal party and couple. Then there are things you must know like; extended time agreements, the photographers contract, skilled thank-you letters (you want more business later from this – right?), and a tactful photographer’s deposit reminder. It would be wise to have a better and more detailed wedding photography checklist than this helpful though basic list above. A wedding photography website is also a must and there are templates specifically for that purpose available. Here’s one of the few places we know of that can help with all the above - at least it gives an idea of what you should be looking for if you would like to get started as a wedding photographer.

Indoor Wedding Photography