There’s no shortage of time and energy that goes into planning your dream wedding! Making sure that you capture all of those amazing elements on your big day is super important.
There are many things that go into a wedding photoshoot, and most of these elements will be taken care of by your professional wedding photographers. However, there are still some great things you can do to enhance your wedding shoot and make sure your Vancouver wedding photography services go off without a hitch!
We’ve got the top 10 wedding day tips from experienced wedding photographers themselves to make sure that you’re extra prepared to capture all of the best memories from your wedding.
Tip 1: Create a Mood Board
When planning your wedding photography, it’s important that the photographers you choose understand who you are and what types of visuals you’re looking for.
A great way to help your photographers understand your aesthetic is to create a mood board for your wedding photoshoot. A mood board is basically a collage of images that you like or want to mirror.
There are endless photos on Pinterest that you can use for your mood board, and that way, your photographers will already have an idea of what type of images you’re looking to get from your wedding shoot.
You could also create one that shows photos that you don’t like so that your photographers know what type of things they should avoid.
Tip 2: Plan Enough Time for Hair and Makeup
One of the biggest snags for wedding photography is when hair and makeup runs long, which can set back the schedule for the whole day.
If the schedule gets off-track, sometimes photoshoot times have to be minimized and you can lose out on valuable shots this way.
Make sure you hire quality hair and makeup artists that can stick to the assigned schedule. Also, make sure you have enough hair and makeup artists if you’re doing styling for your bridesmaids as well.
Sticking to the schedule can make sure that your photographers have enough shoot time and can also incorporate candid wedding photography of you and your family, wedding party, as well as guests.
Tip 3: Do a First Look
One of the most popular requests for Vancouver wedding photography services is a first look shoot.
What’s a first look?
This is the intimate moment that the bride and groom see each other for the first time. While sometimes this happens when the bride is walking down the aisle, this can be incredibly nerve-wracking and takes away that personal moment that you could have with your partner.
Having a first look wedding shoot is such a magnificent way to capture this intimate, one-of-a-kind moment between you and your partner. Not only that, it will help calm any last-minute jitters and can take off some of the pressure.
The first look is truly one of the most memorable parts of a wedding photoshoot and you won’t regret having captured this special moment.
Tip 4: Hire Your Videographer and Photographer from the Same Company
Both elements are important for successful wedding documentation, but it’s better to hire your videography from the same company as your wedding photography services for a variety of reasons:
- Better communication and workflow
- Better understanding of how one another works
- Shared artistic vision and conceptualizing
- Package deals
Because the videographer and photographer will have experience working together, there will be an ease to the work and they will typically have similar shared artistic values and vision. This will help to create cohesion between your wedding photography and videography.
Tip 5: Give Your Wedding Party Members Matching Gifts
It’s a common practice for the bride and groom to give bridesmaids and groomsmen a small gift package for being a part of the wedding.
One thing that can add a cute personal touch to your wedding photos is giving your wedding party members matching gifts. For bridesmaids, this can include matching robes or PJs for getting ready. For groomsmen, this can also include things such as robes, cufflinks, or cups for beverages.
Incorporating these elements can help to create photos that look clean and add a personal element to your wedding photos. Especially for bridesmaids, having matching robes or PJs can make sure that you look your best even before getting into your dresses for the big day and create a lot of opportunity for capturing canding, behind-the-scenes moments.
Tip 6: Include Party Favors
Give your guests things to interact with. If you give them these little treats, they can all have a personal touch that will appear in your photos. This is especially true for the ceremony.
If you give your guests something to release, such as flower petals, confetti, bubble blowers, or even sparklers for your exit, this will create beautiful, unique wedding photography and add variety to your photos.
Tip 7: Don’t Forget an Individual Session
It’s great to include all of your guests and party members in your wedding photography, but you have to schedule time away for the bride and groom as well!
Think about a special location at the venue that you can sneak away to with your partner so that you can have your special moment together. This is a must-have part of your wedding photoshoot. Make sure it’s a part of your wedding day schedule.
Tip 8: Walk Down the Aisle Slowly and Don’t Look Down
It’s hard to remember when there are so many emotions running through everyone, but it’s important to keep in mind that virtually everything is being photographed or recorded, especially the aisle walk!
An important part of Vancouver wedding photography is capturing all of the emotion and candid expressions as the groom, party members, and bride walk down the aisle.
In your rehearsal, make sure that you advise everyone to walk slowly down the aisle so that the photographer can capture everyone clearly.
Also, if everyone is looking down, it is very hard to capture good photos. Make sure people know where to look and where the wedding photographers will be throughout the ceremony.
Tip 9: Minimize Location Changes
Having a successful wedding shoot that stays on schedule depends on how many locations are involved. Remember, every time you have a change of location, the photographer and videographers have to pack up and then reset when they get to the new location.
Minimizing the number of locations on your wedding day can help to keep things running smoothly and without any big scheduling issues.
Trust your photographers to find exciting ways to shoot a minimum number of locations. Wedding photographers are flexible and good Vancouver wedding photography services know how to work the location, no matter how many.
Tip 10: Candid Wedding Photography
While there are some moments, like the aisle walk, that you have to remember to look up and stay available to cameras, don’t worry about it the whole night.
If you really want beautiful candid wedding photography incorporated into your wedding photoshoot, just be yourself and try to act as normally as possible. Don’t worry about the cameras– your photographers know how to get what they need. Enjoy your big day!
