Wedding Photography Guide: 7 Easy Tips for an Unforgettable Wedding

Be it your flower service, your make-up expert or – and this is where we come in – your wedding photographer, it is essential that you tell the professionals exactly what you want and discuss your options with them. Of course, your wedding will be very unique and it will be the day of your lifetime, but our photographers have been to quite a number of weddings already and might be able to help you achieve your wedding photography goals more easily. Your vision of your very special wedding day will always be more attainable if you explain it to your experts.

Let us give you an example: You may desire a full set of photographs of you getting ready, your makeup being done and your friends helping you get that beautiful wedding dress on. At the same time, you might want to also have the preparations of the groom to be captured in a lovely series of pictures. This can be easily done, but since both the bride and the groom will be getting ready at the same time, you might consider planning out your preparations, so that your photographer gets the chance to move between the newlyweds-to-be. Another option might be booking two wedding photographers for this stage of the day. This, by the way, brings us to our second tip.

Planning out your wedding day is a vital part of successful wedding photography. When you have an exact schedule of when everything will be happening, you may start thinking about fitting in your portrait photo session. Or, maybe, it might be a good idea to go the other way round?

Any good photographer will tell you that it is very important to arrange your professional photoshoot either in the morning or in the late afternoon, preferably before sunset, when the light is most favorable. Seeing that your wedding will most probably take the whole day, and you will be getting prepared in the morning, it seems to be a good idea to schedule your wedding photoshoot for the late afternoon or evening.

Having said that, there are a lot of ways to go about this – you could get a photographer for the whole day, which is great for having a really breathtaking series of photographs of you getting ready, of everyone arriving and of the groom being slightly nervous, as well as the ceremony itself and the photoshoot later; or you may consider booking a wedding photographer just for the ceremony, the group photos and the photoshoot, which would mean losing the preparations and therefore some of the day’s atmosphere, but would be a great budget option; or, eventually, you may even want to book two photographers in order to get everything beautifully captured.

The possibilities are countless, really, so once again, communicating with your personal photographer is key here. It goes without saying that if you plan a longer wedding for multiple days, booking your photographer a good bit in advance goes a long way.

You don’t have to be a fan of the latest mystery novel to feel the thrill and romance of your own, private and secret wedding at the place of your dreams. Just you, your beloved partner and the incredible atmosphere of a destination, that can easily be located thousands and thousands of miles away from your everyday reality.

For an elopement wedding, it is key to get someone local, who really knows not only how to organize a wedding photoshoot, but more importantly, where. Your local wedding photographer should be able to create a friendly, relaxed atmosphere in order to make you feel at home even in the remotest parts of the planet. Therefore, our tip would definitely be: “Plan global, go local!“

Another useful tip for choosing a photographer for your wedding photography would be to make sure that they provide you with a full set of full-resolution photographs. This is key should you decide to enlarge some of them for posters, photo books, etc. It goes without saying that our professional photographers in Localgrapher always provide this service in the offered package so that you do not have to pay extra for every single additional photograph as may be the case with some other photographers.

No matter, whether your wedding is going to take place on another continent, or in your back garden, you are going to walk a lot. Especially the bride should bear this in mind and bring along a pair of comfortable shoes to slip into when walking to your next shooting location. Also, the groom, especially if he decided to get those shiny new wedding shoes, may enjoy a more comfortable pair before the wedding photo shoot. The comfy shoes will not make it to the photos, but you will be much happier not having walked a mile in your lovely, but slightly painful, new wedding shoes.

Another classic wedding day issue is the never-ending trouble of eating. Of course, we know that your lovely white wedding dress and that brand new groom’s shirt cannot be stained before the shoot, but trust us, a wedding photo shoot on a completely empty stomach is way more troublesome than a photo session after you have eaten a tiny bit. Sure, it does not have to be much, but try to eat at least something tiny to keep yourself as calm and relaxed as possible.

We are sure that a full and heavy wedding gown is extremely romantic and lovely to look at, and so is a three-piece suit with an elegant top hat. But keep in mind the weather conditions you will be in. If you are getting married in England on a lovely autumn day, these might be the ideal outfits for your wedding. If you plan a wedding on the coast of India, however, you may look a bit too sweaty and tired, if you plan your photo shoot just before that romantic sunset you dreamt of.

A really useful little tip for a wedding in hot weather would for the bride be to bring along a spare invisible bra. The silicone gets gradually less sticky as you sweat and the last thing you want is to be tackling the issue of bra just before or even during the photoshoot. The groom can always bring along a fresh shirt, should you decide to make a couple of smart casual photos. As we have said before – the better you feel during the shoot, the better the wedding photography in general.

Anyone who has ever seen our YouTube channel will tell you that a well-made video can capture the atmosphere of an event really exceptionally well. Especially for a wedding, hiring a professional videographer might be highly advisable, as there will be a lot of details you may not even be aware of and you will find out only much later when you watch your wedding videos with your family and friends.

A good videographer will also be able to capture the moments when you are gone for your wedding photoshoot. This way, you will not have to worry that you will actually miss any of your family and friends’ fun. We believe that a good wedding video is so much more than just a plain film of your ceremony. It’s a tiny little glimpse into the day’s atmosphere, it’s the moment when the best man fell into the nearby lake, it’s the first kiss, it’s a part of your life’s story. We are not saying that you have to have a videographer at your wedding, but it may make your big day just that tiny bit more special.