Your wedding photography guide & questionnaire.
Thank you for taking the time to complete this. I know there’s a lot of things to fill out before a wedding day so I’ve kept my part as short as possible!
I’ve included some suggestions below about each part of the day. These are all tips, not rules - it’s most important that your wedding is about you and what you both want from your day, not just what works best for photos. If in doubt, prioritise what feels comfortable for both of you.
1. preparation
Pick a clean space with lots of natural light. If possible, delegate someone in the wedding party to do a de-clutter before photographs. I recommend about 1-1.5 hours for each partner, depending on your timeline.
I recommend both hair & make up to be complete by the time I arrive, because they often have a lot of gear to pack up, and also setup in the spot with the best light (which we would also ideally use for photos).
2. ceremony
As a guide, most ceremonies are approximately 30 minutes long. Traditional ceremonies with extra formalities (such as a mass) can be up to 1 hour.
Upon finishing the ceremony, I recommend setting aside some time (5-10 minutes) to be hugged and congratulated without any scheduled formalities. It’s such a wonderful part of the day and allows for lots of beautiful, candid moments.
I recommend setting aside 20 minutes for family photos after congratulations. If you’d like a big group photo with everyone, make sure to include this in the family and group photo list. If you have more than about 12 groups to get through, allow extra time.
Delegate one guest for each side of the family who can have a copy of the list of photos, and can help identify and gather everyone during this time.
3. portraits
I recommend portraits between ceremony and reception, and as close to sunset as possible.
As a guide, I recommend between 15-30 minutes for portraits.
I don’t recommend any portraits before the ceremony. Please flag with me if you are considering pre-ceremony portraits. I can help you decide if it’s something that will suit your plans for the day.
If you’d like to see each other before the ceremony, a first look is a wonderful way of doing that.
If you’d like some photos with your wedding party, one popular option is to do this together with family photos if you’d like to have more time enjoying cocktail hour. That way, we can just use portrait time for the two of you.
A great trick for portraits is to do it during the time where guests move to the reception and are busy finding their seats. This means you basically don’t miss out on any time with your friends and family, but get some beautiful soft afternoon light for your portraits.
If portrait time doesn’t line up with sunset (common in summer!), I recommend also setting aside 5-10 minutes to duck out during reception (you can tick this option box in the questionnaire to let me know).
4. reception
During summer / daylight savings, I recommend including a 5-10 minute window for us to ‘duck out’ for some sunset portraits (as mentioned above).
This is a great option to get the most incredible photos on the day - the light will be soft and it also gives you a moment to breathe and be together. I will often be conscious of this and give you some time to yourselves during this wonderful part of the day.
I recommend coverage for full day weddings conclude approximately 30 minutes - 1 hour after your first dance. This gives me time to capture some great dance floor moments before I finish up, but also lets you enjoy the last moments with just your friends & family.
Anything more than an hour of dance floor generally isn’t worth it - you will get more value out of me arriving earlier in the day instead.