Today is something a little different on the blog and it is a post I have been planning for quite a while. As I am now in the build up to the coming wedding season I thought it would be helpful to give you some handy wedding tips and shed a little light into how to get simple, yet stunning wedding photographs on your special day.

For me, being a documentary wedding photographer, a lot of my coverage on a wedding day is candid/reportage photography capturing the fleeting moments throughout the day that make it unique. This is largely why couples book me to photograph their wedding however I always recommend spending about 25-30 minutes for myself and the Bride and Groom to walk around the grounds at their wedding venue to get some photographs of them alone together. This is usually during the reception drinks or occasionally (and especially on a gorgeous Summers evening) during sunset. It is a wonderful time for you to enjoy a little ‘time alone’ on the day and allow me to record it. I am not a photographer who says ‘say cheese’ or ‘just drop the bouquet an inch to the left, no too much, no not enough’, that is not my style. What I do is allow you to be alone talking and strolling around the grounds and just well, enjoying yourselves. I also pick a couple of spots within the grounds which offer the best backdrop and the most flattering light. The wedding day can go very quickly and as the Bride and Groom you are generally pulled from guest to guest for the majority of the day. This is a wonderful time to just take half an hour for yourselves and a time that I know all of my couples cherish when they look back on their wedding day. I also occasionally ask one of your Bridal party to come along as well so you have a friendly face to make you feel more at ease and that you can interact with during our time together.

Please find below my 5 top tips for achieving stunning wedding photographs that portray you both as a couple perfectly.

 1. Interact with one another

This is the easy bit 😉 You have just shared one of the biggest, if not the biggest, moments of your life together and I am sure you will have lots to talk about. The emotions you felt, what you thought as you saw each other for the first time down the aisle, how tightly your father held your hand as he gave his blessing for you to be married. All of these things will help to produce stunning photographs, emotional photographs that are what I look for as a wedding photographer and makes my style so unique.

2. Be yourselves

The best photographs come as a result of you being exactly who you are and interacting as you would do normally in everyday life. Emotions will be much higher on your wedding day and will result in beautiful photographs without the need for much, if any direction. Occasionally there is the need to ask you to look in a certain direction or change the way you are standing but this is mostly because I am looking for a certain look or the light would work better by changing the direction.

3. Re-apply your lipstick

This seems simple and easy to remember but with so much going on during the wedding day it is all too easy to forget. I always ask Bride’s if they would like to re-apply any makeup before we go or would like to take any lipstick with us. Don’t worry Groom’s you shouldn’t need this tip 😉

4. Have an engagement or pre-wedding photo shoot before the wedding day

This is part of all of the collections I offer as some couples are more comfortable with a camera being around them than others. It is a great chance to get to know your photographer and the way they photograph as well as familiarise yourself with having photographs taken.

5. Trust your photographer

They know exactly what they want to achieve and the better ones will have pre-visualised exactly the type of shots they want and where they will happen before the wedding day takes place. They will be able to see moments happening before they do and anticipate when the best moment is to take the perfect shot. They will also know where the best light for your photographs will be at the given time on the wedding day and make the most of it to give the best impact in the photographs. In knowing all of this it speeds up the amount of time allocated for your wedding photographs without losing the quality and means that you can spend more time socialising with your guests.

I have added a small sample of photographs below from the many weddings I have photographed from this time on the wedding day and I hope this sheds a little light into the results achieved from the handy wedding tips above.

If you are looking for a photographer for your wedding day I would love to hear from you. Please feel free to check on my availability for your wedding date by contacting me through my contact page.