7 photos our clients are grateful for
7 photos our clients are grateful for
1. This is by far one of the most complimented album spreads of all of our albums. We hear everyone say, “Ooh, I love that you got a photo of the whole bridal party and have them in the album!” We also hear, “that’s a stunning color of purple!” Getting an individual photo of each member of the bridal party is on our shot list for every wedding. We don’t ask, we just do. It’s something we can set up very quickly and run through each attendant photo in a flash. Complimentary backgrounds as well as similar lighting is important for the flow of the album spread so we do them all at once time to ensure continuity in the photos.
2. A photo of each grandparent set together. When was the last time your grandparents had a professional photo taken of just the two of them? Was is years ago on their wedding day? The grandparents are always pleasantly surprised when I ask them to step in so we can get a photo of them with our on site professional lights that we bring (Go Profoto!). No purses, jacket buttoned, sitting or standing tall and no hand on his belly please 
and we are careful to avoid glare from reading glasses or ask them to remove tinted glasses. One formal photo of the two of them looking forward and one of them looking at each other which always brings about sweet smiles from both of your grandparents. We love the result.
3. An individual photo of the bride with each of her bridesmaids and the groom with each of his guys. We do one silly one and one serious one. It’s fun to see what people come up with for the silly one. Sometimes we have to help them come up with ideas on what to do that is silly and other times we can’t get them to stop being silly which always cracks us up. If we are short on time we make this photo optional but then we try to capture this later during the reception. It won’t be with our beautiful Profoto lights but it’ll still be a nice photo.
4. A photo of the bride with each of her parents separately as well as just the 3 of them then we can add the groom and the siblings. Then we do the same set up with the groom and his family. I love my parents equally and appreciate having photos of them with me separately as well as together so I feel it’s equally as important to our clients.
5. The first look…but you know how I feel about the first look. I think I can speak for all photographers and vendors (especially the catering company) We are constantly thanked for encouraging our clients to see each other first before the ceremony. If you choose to do family photos and bridal party as a group photos as well as photos of just the two of you after the ceremony then the chef gives us a hard stop time because they want to do their best to serve the food to you hot. That makes us rush the most important photos of the day. It also makes your guests wait. You can skip cocktail hour and go right to dinner if you do the photos before the ceremony which can save you thousands of dollars! You can spend some of the money saved on a photo booth which is way more fun than a cocktail weenie on a fancy napkin!
6. The first dance is one of my most favorite times of the wedding. It’s when I can capture intimate, romantic photos of the two of you naturally being together and moving. The tricky part here is to avoid getting photos of your backs since you’re moving and to be aware of the background. We have had to avoid random guests standing in the background (I don’t mind a big group as a background but one random guest is a bit odd especially if they’re taking photos instead of enjoying the moment, fire extinguishers, glowing green exit signs and large DJ speakers to name a few. Usually a close up photo and the precise moment when you are in front of the distracting item is the best time to get a great shot. For this photo we appreciate a sweet song that brings about a romantic mood. We have had couples do their first dance to a hard rock song and the photos turn out less than romantic which is fun and different but doesn’t give us those romantic, natural shots we love and you do too. 
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7. Photos of the rings. We take these photos during dinner usually. This is when the guests are all eating so we have a bit of down time. It’s perfect timing to have fun and be creative with ring photos. It’s play time for us. We love challenging ourselves to get crazy with lighting on these shots. If you’re near us during this time you may hear one of us say, “you rock!” or “yes! that’s a sweet shot!” or high fiving if I have an assistant with me since Brandon has decided high fiving is not cool anymore. Maybe he’s right but I still need something to do with my enthusiasm and a thumbs up just doesn’t have the same impact.
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