You spend months, sometimes years, of your life planning your dream wedding. You’ve scrolled through Pinterest for hours finding the inspiration for your florals, said yes to the dress (or awesome suit!), and tasted tons of wedding cake. Ok, maybe that last part wasn’t such a chore. The point is, you banked a lot of time into making sure your wedding was going to be perfect. And now, you stand in your bridal suite and something has gone awry. You may be thinking, “NOOOO, everything is ruined!”
But we are here to say that with the right photographer by your side, things may not always be what they seem. Here are five ways your photographer helps you keep calm and carry on when your wedding day starts to feel a bit sideways.
We help you craft the perfect timeline and wield it with precision.
During the planning process, we send a few questionnaires out and create a preliminary timeline that we then go through in detail with you. We talk through the parts of the day that may have potential to go awry, and we get a solid game plan in place to avoid those pitfalls. We’ll build in buffer times for things that sometimes run long.
Family formals are a great example of this. If your desire is to knock out all the family portraits ahead of the ceremony, we need to have enough time to capture these memories while being conscious of when guests may begin to arrive. We’ll also share with you our tips for making sure family is on time. Tell them to arrive 15-20 minutes ahead of the scheduled family formals time. That way, if someone is running late, they’re still on time. In most cases, we are finished early and it gives you a valuable chance to freshen up, collect your thoughts, and be fully present for the moment you walk down the aisle to say “I do”. And when Aunt Jane is 10 minutes late, it’s not a problem at all. You can rest easy knowing that the timing of your day is set up in your favor.
Want more insight into the timeline planning process – check out our #1 wedding resource: A 38 page guide to Crafting Your Perfect Wedding Day Timeline!
We’ll run interference for you.
Sometimes there is that one person at your wedding who just won’t leave you be. They don’t mean any harm, they’re just really excited for you, and they don’t realize that they may be distracting you from being present in the moment. We’re happy to step in for you and redirect them. Especially if it’s someone that would be offended if the redirection came from you.
Weddings are notorious for sometimes stirring family drama, so we understand that it’s nice to be able sit back innocently while we ask them to take a seat or tell them we need to borrow you for a while. “Oh, the photographer needs me” is a perfect excuse for pretty much anything on your wedding day.
We have experience in fixing wardrobe malfunctions.
It happens. Sometimes it’s a zipper that gets stuck. Sometimes a seam splits. Sometimes no one knows how to put your veil in or tie a bow tie. But we do. We’ve sewn brides into their dresses, tied many a bowtie on an exasperated groomsman, and pinned more boutonnieres than we can count.
It may seem silly but, when it’s 15 minutes to go time, pinning a boutonniere or dealing with a rogue zipper can prove to be frustrating. But never fear. We can help you get into your attire and on your way. Getting out again though, that’s between you and your new spouse.
We coordinate with all the players of your wedding day leading up to and on your big day to make sure we are all on the same page and present.
Ahead of your wedding, we are actively reaching out to your venue to find out if they have insurance requirements from us so that you don’t have to deal with gathering one more piece of information. We also introduce ourselves to your planner, videographer (if not us, that is) and DJ/bands to say hello and coordinate any logistics necessary.
This is particularly helpful when we get to the wedding reception. Once we arrive at your reception venue, connecting with your coordinator or Maitre D for the evening is one of our top priorities. We always go through the timeline they have and compare notes. We’ll stress the importance of us being around for each of the events. This is something we stress to your band or DJ as well. We never want to be in a position where something begins to happen and we are in the bathroom. And we’ll leave no man behind.
If one of your other professionals is not present during something they should be, we’ll take it upon ourselves to make sure they get there. This way all the memories you want to create and preserve for all time are safe and sound. This is one of the great benefits to hiring our amazing cinema team! We are in direct communication with them through the entire process, and you have all available lenses directed at exactly what they should be, when they should be.
We know the best people in the business.
Because we’ve been around for just shy of a decade and have photographed 300 plus weddings, we have recommendations for just about anything you can think of for your wedding day. Everything from band to hair and makeup to adorable Prosecco carts. We love getting to work with friends and people we know will band together to make your day amazing!
No matter how good we are at all these things, we do one thing better than anything else — create beautiful images! So if you’d like us to focus all our energy and attention on that, we are happy to help you find an amazing wedding planner to suit your day.
