Do You Have a Backup Wedding Photo Location?

It’s always a good idea to be prepared and have a plan B when it comes to the location of your official wedding photos. This is especially true if you have planned to have your wedding photos taken in an outdoor venue.

If possible, have a nearby secondary photo location that you could utilise in case for some reason you cannot use your planned location. For example, your wedding photos might have been scheduled to take place in your favourite. The night before your wedding, it may have rained heavily, making the park grounds muddy and unsuitable for wedding photos. Fortunately for you, you have a second venue in mind and can easily have your photos taken in the new location without a problem.

The Plan B venue should ideally be an undercover location, such as inside old buildings with beautiful interior design, verandas, and hotel foyers. Not so long ago, one bride and groom had their wedding photos taken in an IKEA store as their original location was unsuitable!

Don’t Forget the Wedding Esky!

You know sometimes when planning a wedding it’s the little things that are so easy to overlook. I’m an organising nutter so I like to pay attention to every little detail, and this extends to the wedding champers!

Have you ever noticed how many post wedding ceremony photos include a glass of bubbly? It has a great visual look, and can look especially effective in black and white. Having said that, some consideration needs to be taken when including champagne in your post ceremony wedding photos.

For example. make sure that the champagne is being cooled in an esky during the ceremony. There’s nothing worse than drinking warm champagne. Also have some non-alcoholic beverages for those who do not wish to drink.

Wedding Photography Inspiration

Do you know what ‘look’ you are after for your wedding photos? Are you after a traditional look, something more artistic or an elegant theme? Spend some time before your wedding looking through wedding photographer’s online portfolios. It will help you determine what style of photos you are after.

To avoid confusion and miscommunication, always take your wedding photos with you when discussing photo shoots with your photographer. It doesn’t have to be a sample of wedding photos; it could be magazine images or general photography shots. You are merely after visual images that are inspiration for the style of wedding photographs that you are seeking.

Remember creativity is objective, so it pays to be precise in your communication with your photographer, not only with the style of photographs that you do like, but also communicate with them the style of photographs that you wish to avoid.

Have Fun with Your Wedding Photos

Your wedding photo is likely one that will take up a main focal point in your home. Your actual wedding photo shoot will likely be scheduled between your ceremony and reception and may have time restrictions placed on it.

A fun idea is to plan a second photo shoot for after your wedding day, a photo shoot that reflects both you and your partner and a photo shoot were it wont matter if you get your gown dirty. You might even decide to trash your dress!

Disposable Wedding Cameras

Wedding Disposable cameras

Ditching the professional photographer and giving each of your guests a disposable camera, is becoming an increasingly popular way for the wedding couple to capture their special day. The idea is that you end up with candid shots of your day from the people that know you best, your family and friends.

To ensure you get good coverage, you may like to designate certain cameras specific shots. For example Aunty Betty, Uncle Lou and your friend Jane could cover the wedding dance, whilst Mary Beth and your cousin Tony can cover the speeches. You may want to attach a small note or label on the camera letting your guests know what photographs you are after.

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Check Out the Entire Wedding Photography Range

When looking over a photographer’s folio of work on a wedding, ensure that you see the entire range of photos taken of a couple’s wedding day, not just the ‘money shot.’ The reason being is that anyone is capable of taking one or two good photos, and these photographers will just show you their best shots. To get a clearer idea of their capabilities, you will want to see a diverse range of shots from staged to candid and you will want to see an example of the entire range of photos that you will get.

Skip the Visual Effects

Visually artistic special effects can add up when choosing your photographic packages. Effects such as having your wedding photographs processed in black and white or sepia are relatively simple for a photographer to achieve, but will increase the price.

If you are on a budget, opt for the basic package first. As long as your photographer has produced good quality photographs, you will always have the foundations to add after effects to your photos later on. You can either have this done professionally, or alternatively you can do it yourself. It’s relatively simple for someone with basic computer skills to manipulate images and add effects. All you need to do is scan the image onto your computer and use an image editing software to manipulate changes. There are many free image editing softwares out there that you can use, or you could always download a trial version of one of the more leading brands to achieve the look that you want.

Ask Your Guests For Their Wedding Photos

Chances are many of your wedding guests will bring digital cameras to your wedding. Do you want to see the photographs taken at your wedding from the perspective from all your different guests? If so, let them know. You must make the process of your wedding guests giving you a copy of their digital photographs as easy as possible for them.

One option is to set up an email account for the sole purpose of receiving your wedding photos. Considering, digital photos can take up a lot of space, guests on limited broadband plans may not opt for this approach, and if a lot of photographs were taken. It could be time consuming approach.

You may also consider proving a black cd (or dvd) to each guest and asking them to kindly burn and send them a copy of any wedding photographs taken. If you are moving to a new address after the wedding, ensure that they will have your updated contact details.

You could leave a pile of blank cds at each table and let guests help themselves to the blank media. However, a better approach would be to ask a member of the bridal party to seek out guests who have digital cameras and kindly ask them if they could burn some images onto a blank cd to pass onto the bride and groom

Your chances of getting a burnt cd with wedding photos back to you are greatly increased if you make the process easy. Provide the guest with a self-addressed and stamped cd/dvd mailer box. They are usually less than $1.50 from post office. When providing postage on the cd mailer box, consider where it is coming from and provide adequate postage. Your local post office can help you with this.

Whether you choose to use blank cd’s or dvd’s is a personal choice, however bear in mind that blank dvd’s will hold considerably more data than blank cd’s whilst blank cd’s are cheaper. Opt for a good brand with a reputable reputation and test out one or two of their dvd’s. Bulk dvd’s generally come in packs of 25 or 50 on a spindle, so it would be a good idea to buy some dvd sleeves to protect the surface of the dvd’s. You can find these cases cheaply at a stationery or discount store in packs of 25 or 5o and 100.

Disposable Wedding Cameras

Disposable cameras at weddings are a popular choice amongst couples who can only afford a limited amount of funds for their photography needs.

Whilst it can be an inexpensive choice, if proper precautions are not put into place, it can become a potential disaster.

Following are some tips to consider.

1. Avoid buying ‘cheap’ disposable cameras from unknown brands. You may end up saving a significant amount, but it is too big a gamble on your wedding memories. I have heard horror stories about a bride who bought around 50 disposable cameras from an unknown brand, only to discover that none of them worked properly. They all jammed after the first shot. Fortunately, the bride realised this prior to the wedding and was able to quickly order replacements from a leading brand. However, she was unable to get a refund for the first set of cameras.

2. You don’t need to buy one disposable camera per guest, as this could end up being quite costly if you have a large guest list. You really only need one or two cameras per table.

3. If you are worried about getting ‘drunken’ wedding photos, predetermine which members of your guest list will be given disposable cameras and ask one of your bridesmaids to distribute the cameras at the reception.

It’s a good idea to still have a wedding photographer to take the important wedding photographs. That way you will ensure that you still get the photographs that you want, whilst getting extra coverage from your disposable cameras. You may choose to only hire a photographer for the official photographs after the ceremony. You could opt for a professional wedding photographer, or ask one of the talented members of your guest list to take the photographs. Alternatively, photography students would be willing to do the job, either for a low fee or in exchange of photos for their folios.

Cut the Cost of Your Wedding Photography

To trim the cost of your wedding photography, unless the album is free, don’t get one from the official photographer. Chances are you will get an album for a wedding gift anyway from one of your guests and if you don’t you can find one cheaply from a department store. If the package comes with an album, ask the photographer if they can reduce the fee by eliminating the album from the package

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