How to avoid horrible wedding photos!

I might be a little over simplifying here, ok?

I've been doing wedding video for a few years now, and also wedding photography for most of that time, so I've seen a few things worth knowing.

One issue that comes up now and then is the Bride and Groom show up at the wedding with no idea about what they expect for the pictures. Sometimes they have no idea what to expect for the whole wedding, for that matter!

I've also been at some weddings where the Bride knows exactly what she wants. Some people would consider her to be very bossy or demanding, but I actually prefer an Assertive Bride. Why? Well, its usually pretty easy to figure out what she really wants! Nothing worse, in my opinion than getting a call 3 or 4 weeks after the wedding, and having the bride upset because we didn't get a specific shot.

This brings me to what I feel is the most important factor in getting great wedding photos. Take some time a week or month before the wedding, and make a Shot List! Put on your thinking cap, and be very detailed. Write down exactly every shot. Not "family pictures", but rather "Bride with Grandfather", "Groom with Uncle Tom", etc.

Odds are, the photographer does not know who Uncle Tom is, so here is the second secret ingrediant to having an awesome portrait experience at your wedding. Every family has at least one aunt who likes to boss people around. Lets put her to work for us! Give her the shot list, with a pen and a clip board. As we take each shot, she can check it off. Plus she probably has a voice of authority, and at least half the people are used to her giving orders! She can be lining up the people who will be next, finding the missing flower girl, etc.

It never fails, after 200 or 300 pictures, the Bride or someone who is "helping" will ask, did we get this or that shot. By this time, we have taken every possible variation, we think, but its hard to remember if we really did get the bride with a specific person. Sure, with digital cameras we could probably go look, but that slows things down.

I personally really do try to make photos go as quickly as humanly possible. I'm pretty sure that if most people had an option of having their picture taken, or hitting the buffet table, we would just skip pictures completely!

You also should look at some magazines, or your friends wedding photos, and find some poses you like. This is Your wedding. Your photos should have some of your personality in them. Otherwise, your photographer will end up just posing you how he feels like it! You could also spend some time before hand checking out the location, maybe you'll find something that is off the beaten path.

So, when you are making the Shot List, after you have the first version wrote out, go back and put them in order. For example, that big Wedding Dress isn't so easy to walk around in, so lets try to keep all the shots with the Bride in together, as much as possible. If Grandma has trouble standing, we'll get all the pictures with her at the same time, so she can sit down.

Here is a hint I learned a while back, feel free to use it:
Bride and Groom first. Schedule this at least half an hour before every one else shows up, if possible. In fact, everyone should know what time pictures start. So you have, for example, Bride and Groom at 10 am, then Wedding Party at 10:30, then Parents at 11:00. Grandparents and extended family can be last, so they don't have to sit around too long waiting. When people wait around too long, they start to get bored or tired. It shows in the pictures. Plus they start talking or wander off, and its then hard to find them, or its noisy and distracting to the people who are still getting their picture taken.

Here is another point I feel I should make. I understand the tradition of the Bride and Groom not seeing each other until the actual ceremony. I think its very sentimentle and sweet.

I also think it causes some big problems, so here is something to think about. By not seeing each other until the actual ceremony, we can't take photos before the ceremony. Now I realize we can take some photos before, but that just means that everyone has to do almost the exact same shots twice, or even three times! Once with the Groom, Once with the Bride, and Once with the Bride and Groom, After the ceremony.

This also means that you have at least an hour between the Ceremony and the Reception, where the guests have to wait, while you are getting the pictures done. I've seen a lot of times where guests get bored and leave quite early into the reception, because the whole event seems to have dragged on to that point. By doing pictures before the Ceremony, we can go directly from the Ceremony into the Reception, and kind of keep the flow.

Or think of it from another point of view, you have maybe 20 people who have to show up an hour earlier to the church or wherever you have the photos at, vs. 300 people waiting at the reception, watching the ice sculpture melting!

Oh, wow, I'm on a roll now, I just thought of something else! Ask anyone who has been married in the last few years, who will remember the day more clearly. Every thing takes longer than you think it will. Getting hair and make up done takes longer. Someone will get lost. Things will not be ready when you need them. There will be at least one good cry in there somewhere. Weddings cause time to just fly by, if you're the Bride... I think an honest Groom will say weddings kind of drag on for ever, but that's a different issue!

So, when you're making your schedule for the day, put in an extra hour before the ceremony. More if you can! I've made this suggestion to some of the Brides I've worked with lately, and its really worked out well. Get done the photos early, and you can sit down and take a break before the Ceremony. If things run a bit late, no big deal, you are just going into that cushion you scheduled in. It sure is nice to have a few minutes to just sit and relax before the wedding starts! Plus that is a great time for the photographer to swap out batteries before the Ceremony starts! I sometimes even bring the laptop along and we can look at the photos we just took while we're eating a snack.

Life is good!
Stay Tooned, I'll write more soon :)
Carlin

PS Drop me an email, and let me know what you think of this, ok?