I'm so glad you are here to check out some recent work. I'm a Colorado wedding photographer that shoots all around the country. The blog is filled with full wedding and portrait sessions, and includes weddings planning tips and inspiration.
July 2, 2022
If you’ve ever wanted to know the juicy gossip and true confessions of wedding photographer, this post will be right up your alley. I’ve been a professional wedding photographer (currently located in Denver, Colorado) for about 10 years now. I’ve photographed about 300 events and to be frank, have some opinions and hot takes. While every wedding is unique, they are also somewhat all the same in some degree. There are a lot of things that happen at the majority of weddings that I wish I could tell the couple to avoid or simply, just not do. I just read from a source about wedding photography New Orleans, which helps me be more creative and unique in my own thing.
Of course, these opinions are my own, but I won’t lie and say that I haven’t heard other photographers voice the same things! To take a quick break from shoots, one can visit gaming sites such as 벳엔드 주소.
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I feel like this is a very outdated thing, but photographers do NOT want to follow you around the reception room as you go from table to table saying hello to everyone. Here’s why; this is our only down time during the reception. When the guests are eating, so are we. By this point, we have most likely already been on our feet for the last 7 hours. It’s time for our break. There is nothing I dread more when I am mid-meal and the coordinator comes in to the back room to let me know that the wedding couple wants table shots. I have to stop eating, grab my gear, and come back out to the reception room. The couple will go up to a table, say hello to everyone there, (which will take maybe 5-10 mins per table), and then request that everyone gets up for a group photo. The reason I don’t like these photos is because these guests will huddle around a messy table with half-eaten plates on it, and sometimes, one of the guests is at the bar or in the bathroom. We have to track them down to get this photo, and click, its done and we are on to the next table. Then I awkwardly wait on the outskirts of the next table until the couple is done conversing and is ready for another group photo. These photos aren’t very “artistic”, and in my opinion, aren’t that flattering. You aren’t going to want these in your printed wedding album. Anyone with an Iphone can get this shot for you! My advice is to let the photographer rest at this time. Have a friend take these photos. If you are concerned about “not getting all of your guests in your wedding photos”, then make sure you write out group lists for the photographer to grab while on the dance floor or at cocktail hour.
The photographers (along with the coordinators and video team), have literally been on their feet ALL day for you. They are tired, dehydrated, and probably hangry. And their day isn’t over yet! When the reception time comes, we photographers are STARVING. We smell the delicious food the caterers are preparing and our stomachs start to turn. We watch as your guests sit down for a hot meal.
We. Must. Eat. Too.
In most vendors’ contracts, you are actually required to feed your vendors if they work over a certain amount of hours for you. I highly suggest that you always treat your vendors well, but know that they will appreciate you and work EXTRA hard if they are treated respectfully. This means, feed us a hot meal, please! We usually like to have what your guests are having. There is nothing sadder than seeing guests be served some delicious chicken or pasta dish and we get…..a cold cut sandwich? If our bellies our happy, we are happy. And if we are happy….you get great photos!!
I said it. I don’t want your shot list. But hear my out, its not as harsh as it sounds!
I DO ask ALL of my couples to provide me a “Family Formal Shot List“. This list is for the part of the day when we photograph your families. I ask for a very specific list of shots/groupings that you’d like, preferably with names and affiliations. This way we can make this part of the day go FAST, so that you can join your cocktail hour sooner. If the list is not precise, and instead is kind of ‘half put together’, then this part of the day can get messy. I like an exact list with all of the combinations of family members you’d like photographed, with names I can shout out. Trust me, this will help your sanity after the ceremony!
The type of shot list that we photographers do NOT want is a generic ‘wedding day shot list’. I like to tell my couples, that if it is an obvious event of every wedding day, assume it will get photographed. I do not need a list of things like; “bride walking down the aisle”, “all bridesmaids together”, “groom dancing with his mom”, “the altar”. These are what I like to call the obvious wedding day items. Of COURSE I’ll be photographing all of that!
The only time I ask for specific shots lists (other than Family Formals), would be is something is NOT obvious to me, that means a lot to you the couple. Example, a handkerchief that belonged to your grandmother, a cake topper that was gifted from your godparents, a hand made wooden sign that was commissioned from a friend. Things like that! Heirlooms, specialty items, or even certain guests that mean something special to you- those are the shot lists we would like.
Lastly on this topic, please do not send your photographers a list of poses that you’d like! While you might be inspired by a certain pose you’ve seen, you do NOT want to spend your wedding day re-creating a list of Pinterest poses. Most of those poses happened organically, and if you and your photographer are running down a check list of specific poses you want, then there won’t be anytime for anything organic to happen in YOUR photos. Trust your photographer and their posing process. Let them play and explore. Usually during this, you will hit a lot of those “go-to” poses anyway, and you might even get something you didn’t even know that you wanted because it was an ORIGINAL pose that happened naturally!
This is a personal pet-peeve of mine, mostly because I don’t like ‘perfection’ myself. I like photos that look natural, and not staged. When I see a perfectly laid out train, to me it looks like it was set up (which it was), and staged. Of course I think there is a time and a place to fluff a dress! But when we are doing family formals, I really bothers me when a bridesmaid pops into my shot every other 2 minutes to adjust the brides dress. I say, let it fall naturally! Especially during family formals, people will be coming in and out of your shot every minute or so, and your dress will do its own thing. Let it! If it looks bad the way it is sitting, know that I will fix it.
I tell this to couples ALL the time. In fact, I actually PREFER when I shoot at a new venue! Photographing new venues forces me to look at the space with a new eye. I usually work ten times harder at venues I’ve never been to before, because I want to explore all the nooks and crannies of the space. I also want to impress the venue owners, so that they might put me on their venue’s preferred vendor list. Know that even though I haven’t shot at the venue before, I usually still location scout the venue before I get there. So will have still seen it before the wedding day.
When I shoot at the same venue over and over again, things get “easy”. I know where the good light is, I know all the secret spots. I don’t have to try as hard. It gets easy for me. Sometimes this leads to me not trying as hard to get the creative shots. It’s an easy venue and an easy wedding in my books.
Well, actually, we can…..BUT….depending on what it is, we probably won’t. There is nothing we dread more than a self-conscious bridesmaid not-so-sarcastically joking that we can just “photographer her to be thinner”. We do not edit bodies. Ever.
Wedding photography is different than portrait photographing mostly due to the sheer volume of photos we deliver. If we retouched every single guest is every single photo, you wouldn’t be getting your photos back for about a year! Extensive retouching will usually cost more. Of course we will get rid of the “obvious” things that need to be retouched, such as simple wedding day blemishes. But if you do not like the background of your wedding ceremony that you picked out, we will not be putting in new backgrounds for you for every photograph!
This is also a Wedding Photography 101 lesson- get it right in shot! Not in post! If there is a trash can in the background of where you’d like to do bridal party photos, then either move the trash can (if you can), or find a different location. This easy lesson can save you HOURS of editing time.
Generally, the editing I do for wedding photos is with color, exposure, contrast, and cropping. As mentioned before, I can edit out blemishes that aren’t part of your usual complexion. For more extensive retouching, there is an extra cost.
This should be a conversation you and your photographer have PRIOR to your wedding day, preferably in the booking process. Expectations should be made clear from the start how long it takes to edit and deliver your wedding photos. Every photographer is different. (And on that note, every wedding is different too!). Some weddings will take longer to edit than others, and some photographers take longer to edit than other photographers.
If your photographer clearly lets you know that your photos will be ready in one month, please do not bug them on the two week mark with an email or text, “When will my photos be ready?”. On that same note, if the photographer IS running behind on their timeline, they should let you know in advance. Please know that we photographers are human, and things come up! Please give grace, but appropriately so.
It would be unacceptable if a photographer is long over-due on their delivery expectation. In this case, it is totally acceptable to hound them down for your photos. Again, remember that communication is key, as always. Please have these conversations way in advance from the wedding day!
Maybe this is just me, but I prefer to NOT sit with wedding guests! I’m one of those “extroverted introverts”, and after having spent about 7 hours or so working with the couple, their wedding party, family members, and other guests and vendors, I get socially drained. When the dinner reception comes around, I really just want 20 minutes alone in the back room to recharge. The last thing I want to do is eat at a table with a bunch of strangers making small talk. (No offense to your guests- I’m sure they are lovely). I want to eat a hot meal in peace, maybe put my feet up, text my husband, and re-group before I get back out there on the dance floor with you. This is also a nice time for the other wedding vendors to mingle and get to know each other and network.
While I know most couples mean well with trying to sit me with their guests, this is me kindly declining!!
There is nothing worse than working so hard on an event, getting to know you and your family and friends, get excited about your photos, deliver them, and then…..crickets.
How did we do!? Did you love the photos? I see you posting them on social media. Your friends seem to love them! But….do you!?
Please give us your honest feedback. We LOVE hearing how our photos have moved you. We are after all artists who crave praise on our work.
Any kind words that you have, we would also love if you shared with the world. Reviews and referrals are one of the top ways we vendors get more work. Please spread the love!!
After the wedding day has come and gone, it is now time to relive that moment via social media. Please, please please please, give credit to your photographer (as well as all your other wedding vendors). Legally you should always credit any photographer when posting their work on your social media, but this is also out of respect. Social media is a powerful tool, especially for for referrals. If your friends see your beautiful wedding photos, and are thinking “wow, when I get married I’d love my photos to look like that…”, they can see who took it and reach out. I’ve had a lot of referrals from friends of past clients. It is so fun to see them at their friends wedding the following year! Please spread the love to your vendors and credit us all on your social media platforms.
While it is not required, we vendors always appreciate a tip. If you see that we are going above and beyond on your wedding day, nothing makes our night more than receiving a tip. It shows that you respect us and are grateful for all the hard work we put in to making your day stress free and beautiful. Wedding photographers usually see tips of $150-400 depending on length of the wedding.
If you thought these saucy hot takes were helpful for planning your wedding, know that I have much more inside tips and tricks to share. Along with my confessions of a wedding photographer feature, you might enjoy visiting my Wedding Planning Tips blog posts for more posts similar to this one.
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