ATTN: All folks planning a wedding that’s fun, romantic, and stunningly beautiful!
Here’s your wedding guide!
Getting Ready
~in style~
Light, light, and more light!
Pick a setting that has lots of natural light! Rooms with large windows, shady spots outdoors, and sun rooms provide light that gives you and your people good vibes and is also incredibly flattering for photos!
Be intentional!
The best spots for getting ready are locations that you feel at peace in and that you even feel a connection to! Choose an airbnb, a rental home, or even your home over a church basement or a hotel room!
Show your personality!
Consider the elements you want photographed… and the ones you don’t!
Details are a great way to show your personality! If you can have your rings, special jewelry, invitations, floral arrangements, stylish neckties, etc. ready ahead of time, we can get some really nice photos of them!
On the other hand, try to keep bags, yesterday’s clothes, and clutter in a separate location!
Your First Look
A chance to get the jitters out and enjoy a moment together!
Pros
You’ll get to enjoy a moment together before the ceremony.
You’ll maybe get some happy tears out ahead of time, too, and getting a chance to freshen up!
You can take wedding party and family photos before the ceremony, so you can enjoy cocktail hour!
A little bit of privacy!
You get to choose the location! Outside, in a pretty staircase, some other cool location? Awesome!
You get to take photos together earlier in the day, while everything is all fresh!
Cons
Depending on your timeline, you might have to get up and get ready earlier.
You’ll be in your wedding attire and have makeup on longer.
You might feel strongly about seeing each other for the first time during the ceremony, and that’s A OK!
This is a weird con, but you might feel like you’re “not doing something that you should be doing.” For that reason, we like to refer to a first look during the ceremony as an “aisle reveal.” A small change, but you should feel like you’re still “doing a thing” even if you’re doing an aisle reveal instead of a first look.
In summary:
Honestly, there are more pros than cons in our minds, and for our wedding, we did a first look. But this is YOUR wedding, not ours or anyone else’s! Don’t let anyone try to tell you what you should or shouldn’t do. Do what feels right, whether it’s a first look or an aisle reveal!
Ceremony
Let your ceremony tell us something about you!
Soft, Even Lighting
When we’re outdoors, which is our favorite, the best type of lighting for ceremonies is in the shade. The shade provides soft, even, and flattering light, which makes it easy for us to capture you looking your best! Clouds provide similar soft light, but it’s a lot easier to control the location than the weather!
Meaningful locations
We love this park on Lake Ontario that Hannah and Ryan chose for their ceremony because it was a place that was important to their families. We even got a beautiful canopy of trees to provide that nice, even lighting. The really bright lake in the background was a little tough for photography, so if you can, try to avoid really bright backgrounds or especially giant windows directly behind you if you’re inside, but ultimately, we’d choose this spot that had meaning for our couple over a spot that may have been “easier” to photograph.
Golden Hour
Harsh sunlight that isn’t softened by clouds or shade is less flattering, but when possible, if the sun is behind the altar, that can really help us avoid the unflattering shadows.
However, pushing the ceremony into golden hour (which actually starts a couple of hours before sunset), can also help! At this beautiful barn wedding, we had some harsh light that wasn’t coming from behind the couple, and we were still able to work it because the sunlight got softer and warmer as the day went on.
Most importantly, though, pick a location that tells us who you are!
A final few ceremony tips:
During your rehearsal, encourage your wedding party and anyone else walking down the aisle to practice being happy and enjoying the moment! We can get so nervous walking down the aisle the way we think we’re supposed to, that we wind up looking stressed while we’re doing it! It’s a happy day, so encourage your people to look happy!
Have an unplugged ceremony! Encourage your guests to live in the moment without the distraction of phones! It looks better for photos and will help them better enjoy your special day!
If your ceremony is outside, have a backup plan in case it rains!
Family Photos
Timeless keepsakes that highlight the beauty of some of your most important people
Communicate!
Discuss with your partner and your family who will be in the photos and when you’re planning for them to happen! The most helpful thing is having BOTH a list of the photos you want AND a person who knows the people in the photos so they can help corral your family! Giving us a list of people isn’t quite as helpful as having someone who really knows the people in the photos, so try to have both!
Keep us informed!
We’ll get to know you pretty well, but might not know your family as well, so let us know about any needs your family might have. Maybe Uncle Joey needs a chair for family photos. Maybe Aunt Cheryl practically raised you, and we need some extra photos of the two of you! Maybe there’s a conflict that we should consider. Having this info will help us be sensitive and supportive as we take these photos.
Timing!
Family photos can be taken before or after the ceremony if you’re doing a first look, but should be after the ceremony, during cocktail hour, if you’re doing an aisle reveal. Let us know if you have a location in mind, but if you don’t, we’ll find a beautiful spot that has flattering lighting to make you all look beautiful!
Wedding Party Photos
Let’s keep the energy high and the laughs FLOWING!
Tell us what you’re thinking!
There are so many ways we can do wedding party photos! We can keep things formal, we can have dancing and laughing, we can do individual photos that show off your relationships with each person, a mix, or something else entirely! As long as we’re on the same page, we’ll be sure to have some fun!
Reception
Have some fun with the people you love!
Lighting
Lighting-related tips for your reception:
You can use lighting to infuse even more personality into your reception! String lights, vertically-arranged twinkle lights, a dimly lit chandelier for mood and atmosphere. The possibilities are endless, but think about it ahead of time!
Talk with your DJ or band (or Spotify playlist) about their lights and ask them to avoid colorful lights, especially during first dances. You don’t want a neon green face for your first dance, trust me!
Reception Timeline
Everyone does their reception differently, so just like with the rest of your day, keeping us in the loop is extremely helpful! We’ll be fine if you change your plan and swap the first dance and speeches, but if you have a surprise planned, and getting a picture of your aunt’s once in a lifetime reaction is extremely important, try to make sure we know about it!
Your aunt’s hilarious reaction face
Your Timeline
We can help!
We’ve got a guide to help you with your timeline!
We want to be a resource that you can rely on as you plan your wedding. We’re not here to tell you what to do, just to give a helping hand so that you can get the most out of your wedding day. Our guide has a sample timeline for each wedding photography package we offer, includes information about how long different parts of your day may take to photograph, and can be a great starting point as you think about your day!
Still have more questions?
Don’t hesitate to send us a message or to see if we’ve answered your questions in our FAQ!