5 Things Your Wedding Photographer Wants You To Know

STORY & PHOTOS BY TONY BENNETT 

AS A FULL-TIME PHOTOGRAPHER, I’VE QUICKLY LEARNED TAKING PHOTOGRAPHS IS THE EASY PART. THE MANY HOURS OF PHOTOGRAPHY TRAINING AND PRACTICE ARE ITEMS THAT CANNOT BE QUANTIFIED. AS A SMALL BUSINESS OWNER, I WANT TO GIVE MY CLIENTS THE BEST EXPERIENCE POSSIBLE. TO ENSURE YOUR WEDDING DAY IS THE JOYOUS EVENT IT SHOULD BE, HERE ARE A FEW ITEMS TO KEEP IN MIND.

MAKE A BUDGET. The only thing you’ll have the day after your wedding are the photos. So remember to prioritize your budget. If you want great photos, you may want to cut the gelato bar and ice sculpture and pay a little more for a photographer with the experience to capture your special day.

TIME. Make sure you make time on your wedding day for photos. As a photographer, I love to get creative and I want to capture that “perfect” image you will cherish for a lifetime. This can best be accomplished by creating a timeline for how the day will flow and trying to stick to it as best you can. If there are certain people that you want to ensure you have your photo taken with, make a list and give it to your photographer at the start of the day. Don’t be afraid to tell your photographer what you want. That’s what we’re here for.

ADAPT. Every wedding is different. There are many aspects that can affect your photographs. Ceremony location, time of day and time of year (think sunset time) can all affect the look and feel of your photos. To capture better photos, your photographer should bring multiple light sources, including battery-powered studio strobes and speedlites, for quick movement between locations. Ask your photographer if he or she has those.

SMILE. This one is simple: Be happy on your wedding day. Nothing will sour your photos more than you stressing out before, during and after your big day than having a frown. This is your big day. Enjoy it.

BE PATIENT IN POST-PRODUCTION. The wedding day may last for 8 to 12 hours (sometimes longer), but that is only part of what it takes to capture a wedding and deliver the final product. Long after the cake is cut and the guests return home is when most of a photographer’s work begins. A good one will immediately gather all the memory cards and download them to various locations. Data loss is a huge problem, ensure your photographer has a plan to take multiple precautions to make sure this doesn’t happen to clients. Also, moving through each of the images will take a number of days. Be patient. Every image we take during a wedding is edited, and this takes time. Then, when the client decides which photos to have printed and which to put in the album, a good photographer will put additional work into perfecting each image. Again, be patient.