At Argyll Wedding Photography our aim is to provide our clients with the best service possible, so in this post I will show you how a photographer plans for your wedding day.
Table of Contents:
Initial Questionnaire
It all starts from the first contact. From here we check our availability. If we are free then excellent, we will email our clients our initial questionnaire.
This is vital for us as this allows us to put an initial plan into motion.
Our plan is critical for us so that we know what we are doing and when. We may be a bit OCD but we do like to have everything running just nicely.
Communication
This is why we will communicate with your other vendors on the day. We have experienced this in the past where a hairdresser or make-up artist has overran their time and this has a big knock on effect on the photographs.
Time Keeping
I remember a time a hairdresser took on an extra client at a bridal prep which made the bride 30 mins late, this then meant I couldn’t get photos of her and the bridesmaids as I had to leave for the ceremony.
These small things have big impacts further along the line and whilst the hairdresser thought she was still on time as the bride was not late, she did not consider the effect her poor time keeping had on me, and ultimately the wedding album.
So, yes we will touch base with the others and explain to them the times that we need so they have done their bit on time and we get the images we need.
Venue
We will also keep in touch with the venue manager to make sure there are no restrictions on where we can go, if we are allowed to use flash as believe it or not some venue’s don’t allow it.
If the wedding is at a venue that we haven’t photographed at before we will arrange a visit to view it and also scour social media and the internet for photos and videos.
As was the case at Ardkinglas House when we first photographed a wedding there.
We use these photos and videos to see what the venue has to offer in terms of photographic opportunities.
Some venues have dedicated area’s for wedding shoots, most don’t so it’s important to know this when planning the Bride and Groom shoot.
The Lead Up
We are constantly looking at the weather forecast, especially the last few days before the wedding. This will have a big impact on the images.
Also, if it’s raining I have had brides refuse to go outside. So a plan B is vital and knowing your venue becomes crucial at this point, especially if time is tight so we will have this planned for.
A few days leading up to the wedding we will start to look at our gear. We will make sure all batteries are charged, that memory cards are formatted, ensure all lenses are clean and make sure everything works as it should.
The night before we pack everything away making sure it is stored where it should be so that on the day we know where to get it at any moment and as quickly as possible.
We will also have hard drive space setup for your wedding photos and this will be setup in a filing system that we use so each section of the day has it’s own folder and a backup hard drive will be ready to make that all important backup as well as a USB stick for your digital copies of the wedding album.
As you can gather planning is a must for us, and as i said earlier the initial questionnaire is so important for our planning.
Bride and Groom Shoot
If after we receive the questionnaire and initial talks with our clients we realise that the Bride and Groom want to travel a bit of distance for their private shoot then we need to plan for this also, and this can put a bit of pressure on other vendors.
Not many wedding coordinators like it when their couples go off site without them!
Wedding Planner/Coordinator
However, we will have covered this with them beforehand and they may come with us also, but they usually remain at the reception venue to ensure meals are being prepared, music is being setup etc.
If you plan to use a wedding planner and/or coordinator, which I encourage you to do, this makes the planning go so much smoother and easier. You really should consider one.
Evening Planning
Even after the Bride and Groom shoot it doesn’t stop. We will have a plan in place for the first dance, cutting the cake, the speeches and the reception
This will mainly entail how we are going to light the venue.
DJ’s and bands these days like to use fancy spot lights or uplighting, which for photographers can cause all sorts of hassle.
Again, we reach out to the DJ or band beforehand to find out what lighting they will use. We may ask them to keep them off for a certain amount of time during the first dance.
This allows us time to get images without bright spotlights on the couples faces or lens flare.
If you book with us at Argyll Wedding Photography, depending on what package you chose we may be heading out for an evening shoot, so this is also more planning.
After Wedding Planning
And even after the wedding the planning continues. We then need to upload all of the images that we captured to our main computer hard drive and then back them up to an external hard drive.
Then we start the process of editing the images, which usually takes us around 4 to 5 days.
We first go through all the images and rate them. Any that don’t make the grade get deleted.
We repeat this process. Then from here we start to allocate the files to their appropriate folders and then begin the lengthy process of image editing.
Once this is complete we then make copies of those edited files that are for the web so it makes it easier for us to upload to you online album.
Then, we make another backup.
The Album
A link to the final album is emailed to the happy couple and they get to choose the images for their final printed album (depending on the package that was bought).
We then go online to our wedding album suppliers website and start to create the printed version of the album. When complete, a link is sent to the couple to make sure they are happy and when they are it gets sent to print.
The album gets sent straight out to our couple from our album supplier.
And that is pretty much how a Wedding Photographer plans for your wedding. So as you can see it is not an easy feat.
There may be times during a wedding you are looking at the photographer and they look relaxed and not doing much but trust me, that is not the case.
Conclusion
So now you know what is involved from a Wedding Photographer point, and not all Photographers process will be the same, at Argyll Wedding Photography this is how we do it.
If you are looking to book a Wedding Photographer in Argyll or anywhere throughout Scotland then Contact Us for more information.
And before I go, check out this good video by The Monochrome Memoirs, in particular about keeping the Bridal Prep area clean and tidy, that really does help a lot as does speaking to your other vendors on the day about how important your photos are to you.
Credit: Some images from https://pixabay.com/