10 Tips to Make Your Wedding Day Photographs Amazing!

You've dreamed about it, you've planned it down to the very last detail and now your wedding day is finally here! You've hired a photographer that you love capture and preserve every last one of those details, and you want your wedding photos to be amazing, right?


If you hired a professional photographer, they're going to know exactly what to do to give you beautiful images that you are going to love for a lifetime. But with a little input and planning from the bride, you can help your wedding day photos run smoothly and be absolutely amazing!


Here are my top 10 tips to make your wedding photographs amazing:


  1. TIMING -- When scheduling your wedding day photography, it is best to schedule your photographer to arrive during the last 25-30 minutes of the bride's hair/makeup being completed. The photographer will arrive and begin with your details, and capture the last finishing touches of your makeup being done. Most brides really don't want a lot of images of them without makeup or of them with their hair in curlers, so capturing those last final few minutes is really all your photographer needs. Also, if hair and makeup run late, you have not used up your photographer's time budget waiting on you to be finished.
  2. Speaking of details -- When your photographer arrives, they will begin by photographing your details. You can help this go smoothly by being prepared and having all your details gathered in one place. Have your dress unwrapped and hanging on a nice hanger. If you want to include your bridesmaids dresses make sure to have them have theirs unwrapped and hanging as well. Have all details such as your shoes, garter, jewelry, handkerchiefs, bridesmaids gifts, invitations, and any other sentimental details. Bonus tip: Having them all together in one spot unpacked will help ensure nothing is overlooked.
  3. Light is essential -- Keep in mind that good photography is about good lighting. As a matter of fact, the word photography literally means "to draw with light". Choosing a get ready location that has lots window light may not be within your control, but if you have a choice, more light is always better. If getting ready at home, try to have the get ready activities occur in an open room with lots of natural window light. Of course, a professional photographer will be able to light any situation, but good natural light is always disirable.
  4. Control clutter -- Try to keep the area where the bride will be putting on their dress free of clutter. Your images will ultimately be cleaner and much more appealing if clutter in the get ready room is kept in check. If all activity is happening in one room, a good idea for a bridesmaid's gift would be a large accessory bag so they can stow them away when the room needs to be cleared out for photos.
  5. Timeline -- Pay attention to your timeline or appoint someone, such as your maid of honor, to keep an eye on the time. Photographers work very close with their clients to make sure they have enough time scheduled to accomplish all photographs that they want. However, if the timeline starts to astray, adjustments and choices have to be made about what to eliminate and photography suffers. Be sure to allow adequate time to put on your dress and plan for an extra 15 minutes to lace up a corset back. After the dress is on, we like to take photographs of the bride being helped on with her garter, shoes, and jewelry and then take a few of the bride alone. This accounts for 20 additional minutes after the dress is on. You can estimate the total amount of time you should book your photographer.
  6. First look -- For the absolute best photos of the bride and groom together on their wedding day, schedule a first look. This allows the photographer to capture the groom's reaction to seeing the bride for the first time, then allow the bride and groom to be photographed together in a little mini-session before the wedding or to photograph the whole wedding party together before the ceremony. If the bride and groom choose not to do the first look and to see each other for the first time walking down the aisle, the only time for the bride and groom photos alone is between the wedding and the reception. This can certainly be accomplished but it is often rushed and cuts into the reception timeline. Another advantage to having a first look is that the family formal portraits can be scheduled before the wedding. This allows everyone to go directly from the wedding to the reception. Another good alternative if the couple decides not to do the first look is to schedule a post wedding bridal wedding session, which tend to be very relaxed because the pressure of the wedding day is off and there is time to get some fun and really creative shots!
  7. Formal portraits -- Getting your wedding day party and/or family together to take formal portraits is, as I like to say, akin to cat-herding. Once people begin enjoying the reception, they simply do not want to come stand for a formal portrait. I find that the most efficient way to handle these is to take them immediately after the ceremony, and to take the photos in the place where the ceremony took place. For example, if the ceremony is in a church, we ask that the couple turn back around after the recessional and go to the altar where we will photograph the couple, the bridal party, and the extended family. The couple can help move along smoothly by providing the photographer with a list of formal family shots they would like a head of time and to appoint someone who knows the people on the list to be the "wrangler". Plan about 5 minutes for each setup. Then about 1-1.5 minutes per each different family grouping. There for bridal party and 10 family formals = 5 + (10x1.5) = 20 minutes. Make sure that everyone who is included on the list knows they are supposed to be photographed directly after the ceremony.
  8. Transitions -- Coming from the ceremony to the reception allow for a few minutes of lighting setup time especially if were transitioning from outdoors to indoors or one location to another. A great way to handle this is for the bride and groom to go into a back entrance for bustling when arriving to the reception, during which time the photographer can be setting up their lighting and be ready to capture the big entrance.
  9. Surprise your guest not your photographer -- If you have something special planned like choregraphed dances, special toast, customs or ceremonies, be sure to loop in your photographer with your plans. While the element of surprise can be a lot of fun for your guest, your photographer wants to make sure they don't miss a thing for you.
  10. Try to relax and have fun -- I want nothing more for you than for you to have a wonderful day and to capture the day as it unfolds. Know that we will adjust, and as I like to say "pivot" no matter what happens... even if it means dancing in the rain with you.