Much of your wedding day will be fleeting—the music, the flowers and the cake—but photographs will live on. You owe it, not just to yourself but to your future children and grandchildren to do everything you can to make them wonderful.
Do Your Homework
Start your search well about a year before your wedding date. Ask recent married couples for their wedding photos and browse through review websites and blogs. Look at a highlight of galleries of wedding shots from each photographer to get a basic sense of their style and quality. Ask to see clips from multiple weddings to ascertain their quality.
Think Critically
While reviewing photos, consider the key moments that you want to capture at your wedding. Did this photographer capture any amazing shots which you’d also want? Look for reflective compositions and that people and images are in focus. And make sure that the people look relaxed, not spooked by the camera.
Set Up An Appointment
Looks alone are not sufficient enough to vet a photographer. Once you’ve created a shortlist of the photographers you like and determined that they are within your budget range and available for your date—setup an appointment or video chat meeting. You should be comfortable with the person as they’ll be responsible for showing every move on your wedding day as well as interacting with your guests.
Compare Different Packages
Find out what is included in the standard packages, and other additional costs. Ask about how many hours of shooting will be included. Most packages include at least 8 hours of photography, right from the start of the morning with the bride to the last dance at the wedding. It will be important to pay for extra coverage in case you’ll overrun the time limit, especially if you have a big finale exit planned. Additional time is normally charged at higher rates. Some photographers offer deals on multiple photos or even framed canvas print packages. Be sure to ask them if there are any offers on like 3 for 2 on wedding photographs on canvas or spend so much money and get a free bottle of champagne.
Confirm Your Photographers
Most large photographic studios have more than a single photographer, and depending on the contract, the lead shooter may not be available to shot on your day. Since each professional photographer has their technique, personality and style, you have to make sure that photographer you interviewed will be the one available to work on your wedding day. Also, most top of the range professionals come with a second photographer in their packages. In this way, one can shoot the formal photos while the other captures the cocktail hour. You will also get to see more unique angles of special moments, like cutting the cake or your first kiss as a married couple.
Check for References
Reading online reviews is a great way of ascertaining the level of experience and expertise of a photographer. But once you’re ready to employ one, ask for their portfolio and speak to previous clients. Ask the couple whether the photographer managed to capture key photographs and if they were happy with the shots and overall service. Feel free to ask any questions you may have to the photographer as you cannot get this day back or the special moments that will occur during the day.
Wedding Photography Mistakes for Photographers
Your wedding photos are some of the most important photos you’ll ever take. These memories will be displayed in your home for years and be passed down to your children and grandchildren. Because wedding photos are so special, you need to make sure that your wedding clients are happy with every shot you take. In order to provide them with the best photos as possible, it’s best to avoid a few common wedding photography mistakes. These mistakes can harm you and the client in the end!
- Not finalizing the wedding poses before the big day
When you’re shooting a wedding, it’s best to have a plan for everything. This includes the type of poses they’d like for their photos. Not having the poses finalized can lead to mistakes, awful photos and wasted time as you try to set everyone up. Wedding poses shouldn’t just come up as you feel in the moment and should be agreed ahead of time to avoid disagreement and conflicts. Before the shoot, have several meetings. This way you can go over the types of poses they’d like for their photos. Have a checklist and take it with you to the wedding so that everyone knows what sort of poses will be done.
- Not signing a contract
Never shoot a wedding (or any other gig) without having a signed wedding photography contract. Not having one can end up in lots of problems. The contract should include everything from the duration you’ll be shooting to how many photos they’ll receive. Both parties need to sign it and there should clearly be statements on what will happen if the contract is broken.
- Not having an assistant the day of the wedding
Weddings are a lot of work for a photographer, so you’ll need to have an assistant. If you go alone, you’ll run into problems you won’t be able to solve on your own. It’s best to have an assistant help with the day in case anything happens. Your assistant can not only help you with photos, but also act like a sort of wedding coordinator. A coordinator helps arrange family and friends in photos and makes coordination between the couple and photographer a lot easier.
- Not having enough memory cards
Always show up to a wedding with extra memory cards. The last thing you want to do is run out of memory and not be able to shoot anything. This is unprofessional on your part and devastating for your clients. They paid for your time and services and expect you to capture every moment of their wonderful day.
- Missing their special firsts
Weddings are days of unions and firsts. You don’t want to miss out on any of their firsts since couples want these special moments captured. Firsts include the first kiss, first dance, and more. Make a list of firsts and then make sure you are present at each of them. See if you can get an estimated timeline for when these firsts occur.
- Not knowing the wedding guests
In order to ensure that you capture all the important wedding guests, ask the couple, who’d the like to focus on. This way you’ll make sure to get shots of those they love and want photos of. Ask for photos of who these guests are so that you know to shoot them the day of the wedding.
- Losing your patience
Weddings are long days for everyone involved. As a professional, you should never lose your patience no matter how stressful things get. Keep your cool and be patient with every situation that arises. Just focus on your work and continue shooting.
Few memorable days are there in our life which we always like to cherish and wants to be the best. Wedding is definitely one of them and thus capturing those precious moments in our camera is always a top priority. And moreover, if we can decorate our rooms with the special moments of our wedding photo canvases, there is nothing like it. Wedding photo canvases looks very attractive and beautiful if it can be done with good thought and planning.
We can plan for wedding photo canvases in the following situations:
- The pre-wedding wedding photo canvases:
You are going to stay lifelong with your partner and the bonding between you two can be put into the frame with some candid photographs before wedding. Select some beautiful locations, take help of some professional photographers, plan a perfect wardrobe and go for it. These photographs look very attractive and once you put them in canvas, they will always take you back to the beautiful moments you two had spent together bringing a smile in both of your faces.
- Family Photographs:
We are incomplete without our families. So, putting our family members in frame during our special day is also very important. We can always capture some formal and informal moments during the wedding day or while the preparation was going on, these all will look stunning as we put them into canvas. These moments will never come back, so don’t forget to capture them and have some special canvases made from them.
- Bachelorette Party Fun:
The craziest things you do before your wedding are on the Bachelorette party. The people who are the closest to you will be your crazy partners in that night. So, just capture your crazy moments, your fun filled party and the dear ones. These crazy photographs will be fun to look at when you put them in canvas and hang it on your wall. Don’t miss this or later you may regret.
- Important moments of your wedding:
Pre-wedding, wedding day, honeymoon –one after another important moments are there related to wedding. Think about it, plan for it well in advance, these moments will never come back, so you need to know much before which are the moments you would like to capture. These are the moments that you will cherish for your lifetime.
Let’s discuss some of those moments here:
- Yor propose day:
When you know surely you want to spend your life with your partner, then only you plan for your wedding. It starts with the propose day. Everyone wants to make this day very special, unique and thus it becomes very important to capture that day in your camera. Think about a canvas in your wall which has that wow, that beautiful, happy expression in both of your face at the time of proposing. Don’t you think it should be on your wall just to put that happy, satisfied feeling in your heart every time you look at it.
- Wedding Day:
Wedding day has uncountable moments to capture. Starting from morning to night, all moments are important. Capture the happiness, the nervousness, the tension, the love, the joy, the fun, the enjoyment – everything. Not only you and your partner but also your family, your friends, the venue, the food – everything are important. Capture all and then select some candid ones from those to put into canvas and brighten your wall.
- After wedding:
This is the time for just you two, yes, your honeymoon time. The bonding, the intense love for each other can be beautifully captured in canvas and can brighten your wall. Plan to capture your beautiful moments spent together and then again select the special ones that you would like to look at for the rest of your life for the canvases.
There are other reasons also you would like to put these photographs into canvas. Let us discuss some of those reasons:
- A perfect gift for the couple:
You can put smiles on the face of your favourite couple by gifting them their wedding day photographs put into the canvas. Of course, they have all the wedding photographs with them, but you never know you might be gifting them some special moment that they will love to have with them. We are always hungry for good photographs of ours and we always feel like taking more and more photographs that might be better than what we have taken before. So, everybody feels happy when you gift them some photographs of some special moments from their life.
- A perfect gift for Anniversary:
Surprise your partner with some special moments canvas prints related to your wedding in your anniversary. It can be from pre-wedding, wedding or honeymoon. Your choice will be able to touch the heart of your partner once more and shall bring you more and more close. We all love to look back at our beautiful moments and if it comes from your partner, it will definitely be going to melt your heart.
- A perfect gift option for your parents, relatives and friends:
Every parent wants to see their son or daughter’s wedding photographs again and again. It is one of the most important days in their life too. So, gift your parents a perfect family picture canvas from your wedding day. Let them put that in their wall and be proud and happy every time they look at it.
Same goes for your relatives also. They will also feel very happy if they get a very beautiful, special photo canvas with you from your wedding day.
There will be lots of crazy, funny, happy moments with your friends. So, select the most suitable one for your friend which you know they will like the most. They will be very happy to have such a memorable canvas on their wall.
So, plan in advance, it’s a very special day in your life. Capture every moment of it and hang those precious memories in your wall by printing them on stunning canvas.