Wedding Photo Tips for Brides and Grooms

I’ve recently become super passionate about educating engaged couples.. Brides and grooms need as much help as they can get when it comes to planning their wedding day, and, as much as everyone wants to admit it, they aren’t going to remember every detail of their day. BUT! They don’t have to! Brides and grooms should hire a seasoned professional to photograph their day so all of their details are photographed well and captured for them forever!!

If you are a current or future bride, OR just want to learn how to make wedding day photos turn out AWESOME and make your life, and your photographer’s life so much easier, keep scrolling for some tips I’ve learned through the years!!

Wedding Photo Tips for Brides and Grooms!

(These tips are gonna make everyone’s lives so much easier!)

1 Think about lighting in ALL parts of your wedding day!

Lighting can make or break your wedding day! Try to get ready in a well lit space, like next to a big window to get smooth, natural light, instead of a harsh bathroom light. (Plus it makes getting ready much easier cause your skin tone will be normal.) There are several types of lighting and all of those change your skin tone color!

Lot’s of people dream about getting married inside of a church. That isn’t a bad thing BUT the difficult thing is the lighting. Most churches have a certain color light that is always directed on the stage. Some of the churches I’ve shot in have been pink/purple lighting. (As a photographer, it is probably the most daunting and difficult thing to edit.) The colors of the flowers, skin tone, dresses are all drastically different. We can edit it out and have it turn out pretty normal but there are ways to fix that for your photographer ahead of time. If you are able to, meet with people in the church to change the lighting on stage so it is white and even lighting. You, and your photographer, will be stoked!

If you don’t have a venue inside, and it’s outside instead, well that’s perfect! Think about shadows and the time of day! Late afternoon, evening light is warmer and not as harsh compared to middle of day, early afternoon.

Receptions are always a difficult lighting situation. Photographers are always prepared for rough lighting. We got experience shooting and editing, and come equipped with flash to get all the action! We don’t prefer to use flash cause we don’t want to blind you or your guests! SO! When you think about your reception space, try to add as much extra light as you possible can. Christmas lights can be a cute addition to your decor. Try not to have different light sources. For example, natural light and indoor lighting are different colors in photos. Most indoor lighting is more warm and puts out an orange color. Natural lighting from a window is more cool and puts out a blue or white color. If a window is open AND there is harsh tungsten light overhead, editing will be ROUGH!

2 Put all details away in a box for your photographer to take photos of!

Some of the smallest details of your wedding day become forgotten but are some of the most important! Like the beautiful details of your wedding invitations or what your perfume smelled like! Oddly enough, those details can be saved forever for you! We are able to capture them in a beautiful way for you! During the craziness of the days leading up to the wedding and the day itself, sometimes you lose track of where your wedding jewelry is. BUT if you already have all of those details set aside, you and your photographer will know where they are! 

Some details you can put aside are: DRESS, shoes, extra flowers or your bouquet, rings, jewelry, hair accessories, tie/bows, vows (if you wrote them down), veil, garter, extra wedding invitations, perfume, watches, boutonnieres, cufflinks, etc.

3 Plan fun and beautiful locations for photos

Most of the weddings I have shot, the bride and groom always have way more time throughout the wedding day than they think they do! Which means that you can plan fun locations for your romantics, wedding party and family photos. Some examples could be, in the desert, in front of mountains, in a field, by the beach. INSTEAD of in front of a church, a park, or any location that has lots of distraction or not a lot of dynamic spaces to utilize.

Your photographers are always location scouting and looking for good spaces for photos. If you have to take photos in front of a church with your family or wedding party, that is totally okay! Just try to plan for a unique, outdoor location for your romantics with your honey!

You are gonna have these photos forever, so are your family members, so put some thought and make the time to go to a cool location for photos during your wedding day!

4 Make a list of all of your vendors to give to your photographer

Your vendors need photographs of their work! Most of the vendors you will decide to work with are friends or local businesses that need images of their work in action! That is where you can help! If you make a list of your vendors (cake maker, caterer, florists, dress maker, videographer, hair and makeup designer), your photographer will be able to email them the photos they took during your wedding day! Those photos will be used to get those businesses more customers! YAY!

5 Make a day-of timeline for your vendors

As a bride, all of your vendors need to know what is happening during your wedding day! They need to know where they need to be and when! These timelines include every single location that everyone will be. Like where the guys, and girls are getting ready, where each photo location will be and who needs to be at those locations when! OR where and when your cake designer needs to be! OR where you need the florists to put up your arch for your ceremony.

I always give my brides an empty timeline and example timelines so they can plan their wedding day! It makes sure everyone (family and wedding party included) is on the same page! I also ask my brides to send a list of specific shots, sometimes even a Pinterest board of some poses they have always been dreaming about! I always give my couples prompts of my own but sometimes they have been envisioning this one pose for YEARS! And it’s my job to get it for them! 

These documents I always ask be done the week of their wedding so travel plans work out! Basically to sum it all up, CLEAR AND CONCISE COMMUNICATION is SO important on your wedding day!

These are just a handful of tips that hopefully will help you plan your wedding day or to help implement for your bride and grooms!