1. What does a typical wedding day look like when you are shooting?
Communication before the wedding is everything. I help set up timelines and make suggestions. It’s important to me to know what a couple’s priorities are for their wedding, timelines, people, and venues. I am flexible and always willing to adapt come the wedding day.
Here is a generalization of my approach:
Beginning: Arrive early, take a walk around the venue for new inspirations I may have missed before. Unload and double-check equipment. Find the couple, introduce myself to the wedding party and family discuss the start times. Photograph getting ready details, hugs, oohs, and aahs for about 30-60 minutes. If a first look is occurring, I set up the location, run through the scenario, and allow it to happen unobtrusively. Then we go into wedding party portraits – in which we discussed ahead of the wedding who/how/where this is happening. Family portraits are generally right before the ceremony. Thirty minutes prior to the ceremony, we hide you away from guests, get a drink, bathroom break, and breathe. This time allows me to freshen batteries and get the ceremony plan down.
Ceremony: Discretely capture emotion, details, and ceremony ambiance. In no way do I want guests to see me as a distraction or take away from the ceremony.
The rest of the evening is fairly candid – unless you decide to do all the family and wedding party portraits after the ceremony.
Sunset Portraits: This time is beautiful for light and much different than earlier in the day. I ask for at least ten minutes with the couple to do creative portraits around the venue. This is a nice quiet time to slow down the night now that the stress of the ceremony is over and the party has started.
Dance: Depending on what is important to the couple, I will usually photograph about thirty minutes after the first dances. Sometimes couples want the bouquet and garter toss photographed. In that case, I will work with the DJ to coordinate the time.
2. Do you have backup equipment?
Yes, and backups for my backups. I actually dropped a lens this past Saturday at a wedding. (Clumsy human I am!) I just grabbed a backup from my bag. This is also why I shoot with two cameras throughout the wedding. Also, this is not any concern of my couples’. I am prepared for these things to happen and carry insurance, as well as a membership to Canon Repair Services.
3. How do you backup the images onsite?
I actually have the images backed up 3 times before I even leave the wedding. My camera writes to two separate cards at the same time as I photograph. Plus, I download as I fill a card to a portable hard drive I carry with me at all times. Once I am home, I back up to my in-house network mirror array and then to an off-site cloud storage
4. Do you have back up photographers if you are sick?
I am a member of Twin Cities Professional Photographers, Minnesota Professional Photographers, and Professional Photographers of America. With these memberships, I have a network of photographers at local, state, and national levels that I am able to reach out to at a moment’s notice. I have photographed sick before. My clients don’t know nor has my images been less quality. I have also photographed weddings over extended family Christmases and even my grandma’s funeral. I make a commitment to a couple to be part of their wedding day, regardless of what other circumstances may happen. Most weddings I have the second photographer who would take the lead and we would then find another second photographer.
5. Are the digital files full resolution?
All digital files are full resolution, unwatermarked, and you receive full printing rights. Images are all color corrected to ensure you have the highest quality, true to life, final images. I take great pride in photographing well during the capture and processing of images as sharp, vibrant, and clean. I avoid industry editing trends, which are not as timeless.
6. How long before proofs are ready after the wedding?
Because of all the excitement a wedding day has, I always provide a sneak peek gallery with 20 images of the wedding. The final gallery is posted within 4 weeks of the wedding. Want them sooner? For a rush charge of $400, I can do a one-week delivery on your entire gallery!
7. Do you require a deposit/ how much?
Yes, the retainer fee is $1000 and is required to reserve your date, along with a contract. 50% of the balance is due six months before the wedding and the final balance is due three weeks prior. Retainers and contracts are important to protect clients and vendors.
8. How much time for pre/post pictures if we did/didn’t do the first look?
There are a lot of factors to consider, and this depends on the length of time needed. (Size of the wedding party, small kids in the wedding party, divorces and remarried parents, extended family portraits, ceremony and reception in different locations, how many portrait locations…) Generally, I ask for 45 minutes for the wedding party, 45 minutes with the family, and 30 minutes with the couple. This time is allocated whether before or after the ceremony depending if couples are seeing each other before the wedding.
9. Do you prefer couples do a first look?
I let my couples make this decision. I always provide my honest opinion, but I am in the service to provide my clients with beautiful photos of their wedding – not to control what is important to them at their wedding. Here are a few things to consider in doing a first look or not:
- Your hair and makeup are the freshest at the beginning of the day, prior to 200 hugs from guests and emotions and tears of the ceremony.
- A lot of weddings are only about 6 hours long after the ceremony. Do you want to spend time doing photos away from your friends and family that came far and near to spend time with you
- Having a first look can be private or witnessed by your family and wedding party.
- Even after a first look, the anticipation of the ceremony and walking down the aisle with a couple hundred eyes turned towards you also brings an overwhelming emotion.
- The times it works best to not see each other prior to the ceremony would be a ceremony scheduled earlier in the afternoon or if you have two different locations for the ceremony and reception with scheduled time for photos elsewhere. In this last scenario, I would recommend providing transportation for your wedding party so people are not getting lost or making detours to the photo locations.
10. Do you prefer to shoot candidly / or have a shot list?
There is a time for both. I work off a shot list with family and wedding party names. I work hard to get to know most everyone’s names in the wedding party and family. This allows to move through portraits more quickly and provides a way better experience for families. I am able to get more genuine expressions compared to just looking at a stranger with a camera. Candids are how I capture all the key moments throughout the day though. For example, you walking down the aisle, your dad giving you away, the ring exchange, the programs, the flowers, shoes, grand march, toasts, dancing ….. basically all the parts and pieces that make the day come together!
We hope these help answer many of your wedding photography questions! If you have any additional questions or concerns, please reach out to us here! Happy wedding planning!
