Wedding Planning Ideas

After you have booked the facility it is time to get down to the serious business of finding the right wedding photographer for your wedding celebration. This can be tricky because 1) you need to find a wedding photographer whose style agrees with your taste; 2) you need a wedding photographer whose body of work is up to your standards; and 3) you need a wedding photographer whose personality clicks with both of you.

This last trait is quite possibly the most important of the three, although you don’t want to sacrifice any of them if you can help it, in choosing a wedding photographer. Why? Because it is the wedding photographer’s job to set everyone, and you especially, at ease so that the wedding pictures you get reflect the people you love and not some sick caricature of them. And this is best achieved by using a wedding photographer that you feel at ease with. True, there is no guarantee that everyone will feel at ease with the wedding photographer that you choose which is why it is so important for you to choose one that at least you will be comfortable with.

Before we move on, however, be aware that some of the bigger photography studios have a small number of representatives for you to meet with and sell you their wedding photography packages. The problem is that once your wedding party is booked they will give the assignment to someone else, even a freelance wedding photographer that you have never met before. Protect yourself by either using an individual wedding photographer, or a wedding photography company that will guarantee the particular individual that will photograph your wedding. If you can’t get a written guarantee that the individual that you have become so comfortable with will actually be the one providing your wedding photography, keep looking.

Likewise, be sure when choosing your wedding photographer that you see several entire weddings worth of wedding photography that he (or she) personally shot. Anyone can shoot hundreds of pictures and have a few that have turned out great, especially in particularly photogenic situations like weddings tend to be. It takes a real skilled individual though to turn out an entire wedding worth of great wedding photography. Isn’t that exactly what you are hoping to get when you hire your wedding photographer?

Finally, regardless of how sharp and how much of a people person the wedding photographer is there is no way that they are going to know who your great uncle Charlie is or where to look for him if he disappears. So save your wedding photographer (and yourself) time and grief by choosing someone within your wedding party (someone with a strong personality) who knows everyone involved to be the wedding photographer’s contact person.

Remember, any given wedding photographer is only one person (or, in some cases, one team). This means that they can only be in one place at a time. Since most weddings happen on Saturdays they are most busy on Saturdays, meaning that they will often charge a higher price to do a Saturday wedding than they would a Friday or Sunday wedding. It also means that the wedding photographer may well be coming from another wedding before yours, or be heading to another wedding after yours, if you do have a Saturday wedding so your cooperation with the wedding photographer will go a long way toward getting great wedding photography.

Jeanette Shinn is the founder, operator, and edible design artist behind Layer By Layer, http://www.frostingonthecake.com, a special order bakery serving weddings and other special occasion needs of the Portland, Oregon metropolitan area. Jeanette is also the co-owner of Your Wedding Cake and Favors http://www.wedding-cakes-portal.com a website dedicated to helping brides realize their wedding day dreams with advice and resources for the entire wedding experience.

Wedding photography is the one discipline in the wedding industry that does not produce a product that you can enjoy on your special day. Instead, the money that you spend on wedding photography is an investment in capturing the joy of your wedding day for you to look back on for years to come. The trick is to coordinate everything so that your wedding photographer is able to actually capture everything that you want recorded.

Start by sitting down as a couple before you book anything and deciding specifically what you want wedding pictures to record. Coordinating and compromising your expectations may turn out to be challenging enough. If it is, imagine how challenging the wedding photographer would find it during the craziness of the actual wedding day when most everyone is dressed so that the wedding photographer can’t tell the difference between Aunt Betty and Betty Johnson that lives down the street (Chances are you will want a picture of Aunt Betty in some form where Mrs. Johnson might be a lesser priority). If deciding what the two of you want from your wedding photography is not a challenge, count your blessings and move ahead.

Once you have decided what posed pictures you want, take the time to speak with a couple wedding photographers and find out how much time and what kind of schedule a good wedding photographer will need to actually capture the pictures you want. This seems obvious, but often weddings are planned in such a way that the wedding photographer is put in the awkward position of having to try to keep up with what is going on, which could leave you with less than the best in wedding photography.

Chances are the wedding photographer will want to know how important it is to you that the groom does not see the bride before the wedding on your wedding day. If it is not important, there is probably a good chance you can arrange for all of the wedding party to show up at the church (or wherever the wedding ceremony is held) early to get most, if not all, of the posed wedding photography taken care of. Even if you do not want the bride and groom to see each other until she walks down the aisle, it might be possible to schedule your wedding so that most of the posed wedding photography are taken care of and only those pictures that include both the bride and the groom are left until after the wedding ceremony.

If not, however, you might need to consider a schedule that includes a considerable gap of time between the ceremony and the reception (In some parts of North America this is very common, while in other parts it is quite uncommon) to make sure your wedding photography turns out to be the photographs that you will treasure (and make sure that Uncle Floyd doesn’t disappear on you).

After, and only after, you have determined what schedule will be required for the photographer to give you the wedding photography that you are paying for should you actually go out and book your wedding location.

Jeanette Shinn is the founder, operator, and edible design artist behind Layer By Layer, http://www.frostingonthecake.com, a special order bakery serving weddings and other special occasion needs of the Portland, Oregon metropolitan area. Jeanette is also the co-owner of Your Wedding Cake and Favors http://www.wedding-cakes-portal.com a website dedicated to helping brides realize their wedding day dreams with advice and resources for the entire wedding experience.

Digital cameras offer the amateur photographer a great opportunity in wedding photography. The quality of photos made possible by digital photography is astounding. Though it is a good idea to leave the professional photos to the hired wedding photographer, you can still make the best of your opportunity. After all, when are all your friends and relatives going to again be all dressed up and gathered in one place?

Some Tips:

· Consider your background before snapping your photos. Sometimes amateur photographers focus completely on the subject without taking a look at the negative space behind and around the subject. Is there a lot of clutter? Is there too much activity and distraction that will be included in your picture if you snap and shoot now? Try to find a place where your subjects have calm, unobtrusive backgrounds.

· Be aware of glare from eyeglasses. The glare from eyeglasses can cause a big bright spot in your photo and make your subject unrecognizable, but there is no need to have anyone remove their glasses. All that is needed is just an adjustment. Have the person tilt their head down and then to the side, adjusting until the glare is gone.

· A great time to take your photos is at the reception. The cutting of the wedding cake, the throwing of the wedding bouquet, and uncle Billy cutting a rug are all great moments for taking pictures.

· Make sure that you know the quality of your digital camera flash. There may be range limitations for capturing your subject in dim lighting.

Look for colorful wedding accents to include in your photos. Arrange guest by the sanctuary before leaving for the reception. Include colorful flowers in your photos. Digital cameras produce great, colorful photos so take advantage of the festive wedding décor!

Anne Clarke writes numerous articles for websites on gardening, parenting, fashion, and home decor. Her background includes teaching, gardening, and art. For more of her articles on photography, please visit Digital Cameras and Accessories.