|
How to Plan Your Wedding Day (with Professional Wedding Photography in Mind)
Planning a Wedding can be a daunting task. The key word for your Wedding Planning is TIME.
Give yourself enough time
Allow time for:
-
Hair and make-up - If you are just getting hair and make-up done for yourself, figure about 2 hours of your day. If you are getting hair and make-up done for you AND your attendants, consider hiring two make-up/stylists for each set of 3 people, or schedule even more time. Getting properly made up is an important component to getting great wedding photographs. Think about the commercial photographs in your favorite fashion magazines -- the models always have been attended to by a make-up artist and hair stylist, even for the "natural" looks.
-
Guests' (or even Wedding Party members) travel time - Weddings usually occur in areas that may be unfamiliar to you and your guests. Take into account weather conditions, weekend travelers, holidays, sporting events and what-not and it is easy to see why spacing out events that occur in separate locations is a good idea.
-
Artistic photography in picturesque locations - Realize that going to separate locations for Wedding party photographs can take a good chunk of time. Add in the travel time incurred and you can understand again the importance of scheduling enough time to get the shots that you desire.
The Value of the Professional Wedding Photographer
The fact that you are here means that you value the services of a professional wedding photographer at your wedding. It may be true that a friend, or even your favorite uncle, has the latest and greatest digital SLR, and no doubt can take great photographs, but compared to the professional wedding photographer, you realize that the professional has:
You also realize that good photographs has less to do with the gear and more to do with
-
lighting - from working with the harsh sun during noon-time weddings, to dealing with dim, candlelit reception halls to outdoor venues with tea-lights
-
composition - foreground, background, rule of thirds, negative space, movement, etc.
-
timing - flow of events, intuiting emotional moments, being observant and ready to capture those peak, fleeting moments that tell the stories within the story
You know that while anyone can pick up a pen and write, not everyone becomes a Shakespeare or Hemingway
In addition, and more importantly, you understand that the professional wedding photographer has the experience of having attended many weddings before yours. Based on this experience, the professional photographer is able to:
-
quickly become attuned to the flow of the wedding day
-
anticipate events and memorable moments
-
adapt quickly to changing lighting conditions and shooting locations
-
be ready to capture the important moments as they occur
Understanding how Professional Wedding Photography is integrated into your Wedding Day
Good photography is not something that occurs by chance. Instead, the professional photographer will put a lot of thought and planning into his or her efforts to get good formal photographs. Then, there is also nothing like being quick on his or her feet to recognize and capture great candid moments as they occur.
With the exception when formals portraits are taken, the aim of the professional wedding photographer these days is to stay out of the way, to be "unobtrusive". It is a good idea to understand how the events of your day will mesh with your photographer's efforts.
By reading this and the subsequent pages, you should get a general idea on how you might plan your wedding day with professional photography in mind.
Your Wedding Day
Your Wedding Day can be viewed as a series of smaller, more manageable time periods, each of which affords a great opportunity for the taking of artistic photographs by your professional photographer.
Generally speaking, they are:
- Getting Ready - Bride getting hair, make-up done, putting on dress
- Formals - portrait of the Bride, Bridal Party, and/or Groom, Groomsmen (can also be done after Ceremony)
- The Ceremony - (normally) no flash photography; available light only
- Formals - portraits of the Wedding Party with family members and groups (can also be done BEFORE Ceremony)
- Additonal Wedding Day Rituals - which can occur before the Ceremony as well
- The Reception
- Your Wedding Day with Dave Wong Photography
Again, you can have the professional photographer capture any and all of these events.
|
