A wedding report consists of three parts: before, on the day of the wedding and after the wedding. Let’s look at them one by one and how to make the most of each one.
Before the Wedding
Planning and Preparation: These are the main keys. The wedding day is the most important, of course, but good preparation will help you to be more or less successful on the big day.
Equipment: Prepare your equipment with battery and spare cards. Get a bright lens, and as far as possible with a wide-angle and a normal lens (type 50-80 mm) that you can use to control any situation. The external flash, especially for interiors or if the wedding is at night, is essential.
Location: visit the place of the ceremony and celebration to know the decor with which you count and if you can take photos, better. If it is in a church, try to go to mass someday to practice with the same conditions of light. Talk to the priest, do not wait until the day arrives and start to put obstacles where you can put or not. Also, look for a place they like for the photo shoot between the ceremony and the celebration. It could be the streets of the city, a park, a modernist building or fun facades; the choice will be according to your tastes. Visit the chosen place beforehand to check the lighting conditions you will encounter.
Don’t forget the light: check what time the sun will set. This is very important to know how much time you have between the ceremony and the invitation to do the photoshoot outside. If you can take photos without flash, only with natural light, you will get fantastic results.
Look for an assistant and an “accomplice”: although they may seem confused, they will have very different roles. The helper, as the name suggests, will help you with the equipment, the flash and even, if it is also someone who is passionate about photography, you can cover a few moments to get different angles or perspectives, or even have another view of the ceremony and sure to enrich the final result.
Hiring Wedding photographers may be necessary to gather the guests. The bride and groom will want to take pictures with all the family and friends, so if you don’t want to be running after everyone as well as dragging the camera, readjusting it and everything that goes with it and ending with a stress of a heart attack, ask someone from your family or friends to help you with this task.
The Great Day
The definitive moment has arrived, this is where you play it, the important moment and when you have to have all your senses alert so as not to miss any detail and do your best. Maybe you won’t get perfect photos in terms of technique, but the fact of knowing the bride and groom, that they know you, will help them to be more comfortable and relaxed and to know what to tell. That’s why hire a wedding photographer, to tell a story, to capture the most emotional moments, the looks, the moments of complicity, the details. In short, the soul of the event.
Below you can follow these tips to fulfill your work to 100%.
- Check that your team is ready and with the guidelines of white balance, focus type, ISO, measurement, and other adjustments.
- Lighting is very important if you don’t know how to play with the correct lighting and exposure, shoot in priority opening mode, if you don’t know much about this either, don’t risk missing the best moments and shoot automatically.
- Ask the groom to get ready before you go to the two houses (if distances allow) and capture the preparations of both. If this is not possible, focus on the bride. In the houses try to eliminate everything that distracts in the backgrounds, that there are no environments that spoil your photo.
- During the ceremony to avoid disturbing the priest or the bride and groom, remember that they are the protagonists. Even if it’s not easy, move like a professional and try to go unnoticed.
- Don’t be careless, no moment will be repeated to get a second chance.
- Photograph every detail, when assembling the album will be of great help, in addition to being also a nice souvenir: hairstyle of the bride, flowers, rings, details of the table, etc.
- Don’t oppress, look for spontaneous moments and flee from forced poses.
- Use your creativity, take snapshots in different ways.
- Look for different angles and perspectives.
- Take advantage of the elements you have at your fingertips: furniture mirrors or even uses architectural elements to frame.
- Use some details that gives originality to the moment or some photographs.
- Look for emotional moments; tell a story, its history. Become the best photographer and capture those moments of complicity between the bride and groom or between the guests. Try to photograph the essence of the wedding.
- If you want to take a picture of the kiss, the faces won’t look good, try shooting them by touching your nose.
- Beware of overexposing the wedding dress, if you overexpose it will be easier for you to illuminate the face from your RAW file than to recover the details of the dress.
- Always focus on the eyes. If she is in profile, focus on the nearest eye.
- Shoot in a blast.
- Make a complete picture of the ceremony site from the back.
- Try to get a picture of all the guests, it will be an arduous task, but if you get it, besides being fun, it will be an incredible memory for all the guests.
- During the invitation, you will also have to be aware of photographing the important moments: cutting the cake, the dance of the bride and groom, as well as touring the tables to capture all the guests. If you use the external flash bounced off the ceiling you will get better results.
After the Wedding
Some couples decide to have some photographs taken after they return from their honeymoon, already rested and without hardship. This is an opportunity to do a photoshoot in a special environment where the couple feels comfortable, without limits of time or distance, taking advantage of natural light and choosing the best backgrounds. In this session, some couples choose to get into the sea in wedding dresses, soaked in mud, and so on with anything they can think of. For this session, you can hire wedding a photographer or tell a friend to take the shots.
