Weddings are one of the most important events of people’s lives. It’s truly a special day filled with joy, family, and sometimes frustration. After all, weddings are big events to put on. Not just because of the sentimental value, because of all the work. It’s a lot of work for us as a company and we’re only one part of the team involved in creating a successful wedding. Between choosing your wedding venue, to picking out other vendors, and all of the other things that need to be done, a lot of work and responsibility often falls on the bride. Here
There’s a lot to do leading up to the wedding day and a lot happens on the wedding day. With so much riding on wedding day itself, it’s easy to overlook some small, but very important, things. Luckily, I’m going to share my top 3 tips for brides on their wedding day! For this post’s sake, we’re just going to focus on my area of experience and expertise. Otherwise, my top tips for brides might be something like “choose the right person to marry.” And that’s a conversation for a different blog. Here’s our top 3 tips for brides:
Top 3 Tips For Brides
- Look At The Camera While Walking Down The Aisle
- Speak Up During The Vows
- Schedule Enough Time With The Photographer and Videographer
Tip #1: Look At The Camera While Walking Down The Aisle
This seems like an obvious one, but you’d be surprised how many brides fail to do so. When a bride is walking down the aisle, it’s a huge moment for her so it’s understandable how looking at the photographer can skip her mind. Often times, brides look down while walking down the aisle because they’re trying to avoid making a disaster with their huge, beautiful dress they just put on.
Besides worrying about their dress, brides have many other things that take their attention away from the photographer when walking down the aisle. Unfortunately, this can lead to pictures of the bride walking down the aisle looking everywhere but the camera. We all know that if you want a photo of you looking at the camera when walking down the aisle, you have to look at the camera!
Nevertheless, the nature of weddings can make this one simple step slip brides’ minds. And then the moment is over, and lost, forever. Though this tip is mainly for the purpose of photography and you’ll only need to look at the camera for a second to get the photo, if you’re having a wedding video made you may want to consider these things too.
Tip #2: Speak Up During The Vows
Giving your vows can be an intense process because it’s such a meaningful part of any wedding and you’ll have both sides of your family all watching at the same time. I’ve noticed, for whatever reason, the brides often project their voice much less than the groom. It’s nice to hear the bride’s vows too, as everyone is there to witness that special moment.
While speaking up during the vows is a fairly good tip in general, it’s especially important if you’re having a wedding video made. That’s because the groom typically gets a wireless lavalier mic on him and the bride doesn’t get a mic. (What bride would want a black microphone cable and transmitter to go with her white dress?) That means the groom’s voice is going to be more dominant because he’s closer to the mic. And if he speaks louder there will be an even bigger difference between the audio levels of each of their voices.
Usually the officiant (or whoever is marrying the two) is the loudest, followed by the groom, and then the bride. So if the bride uses the softest voice and isn’t close to the mic, it can be hard to get good audio during arguably the most important time to be getting the best audio. Recording audio shouldn’t be the main thing on your mind when you’re giving your vows, but it’s definitely something to think about and plan ahead of time if you want the most out of your wedding video. You don’t have to scream in the mic or do anything unnatural. Just be conscious of it and be sure not to whisper.
Tip #3: Schedule Enough Time With The Photographer and Videographer
Unless you’re on an extremely tight budget, I highly recommend booking your photographer and videographer for more time than the minimum needed. A lot of people just book their photographer and videographer for 5 hours, which only covers the ceremony and reception. While this is a minimum, and where our packages start, it’s not my recommendation. Here’s why: throughout the day you’re going to have so many things going on and people around you, there’s never a moment with the bride alone…unless it’s planned and scheduled.
Schedule Coverage While You’re Getting Ready
A good time to schedule some extra coverage is while the bride is getting ready. Great moments are often caught during the time the bride is getting ready. As her Mom and Bridesmaids are helping her there’s often lots of laughs and other special moments that would otherwise be lost without being caught on camera. The wedding day starts even before the ceremony and these moments help tell a story of the wedding day.
Hiring your photographer and videographer to cover the time when you’re getting ready is a good tip in and of itself, but to make it to my “top tips” list there must be another reason, right? And there is! This is the best, and usually only, time to get the bride alone to take some bridal portraits. Most of the rest of the day will consist of candid photos, where the photographer takes pictures capturing natural moments as they happen, or formal photos with friends and family posing.
Plan Time For Photos Before The Ceremony
Your wedding day is one of the most important days of your life! And since you’re going to be wearing a beautiful dress and probably having a professional do your make-up and hair, why not dedicate some time to capture you looking your best? So not only should you schedule some coverage while you’re getting ready, but you should schedule some time after you’re ready and take some photos. This is an important point worth reiterating. All too often, brides wait until the last minute to get their dress on and then go straight to the ceremony.
I recommend scheduling some extra time with the photographer after you’re done getting ready if you’d like some great shots of you alone on your wedding day. Even if it’s not a huge concern for you, it’s still a good idea because another common issue is the bride running late while she’s getting ready, which often has to be compensated for and cuts into photo time after the ceremony.
Schedule Extra Coverage Time After The Ceremony
While scheduling extra time for photos after the bride is ready is a good way to get great bridal portraits, there’s another opportunity to schedule more time and make a big difference on your special day, and it’s often overlooked- after the ceremony! There is no right or wrong amount of time you should plan for photos after the ceremony. However, if there isn’t enough time to get all of the photos you want then it’s the wrong amount of time for you and your wedding.
It’s common for photographers to only have a half hour for photos after the ceremony. Sometimes that’s all that was scheduled and sometimes the ceremony starts late, which reduces picture time unless you’re willing to start the reception late. Either way, if the photographer doesn’t have much time to get all of the shots you want, they will have to rush just to get the bare minimum of “must get” formal family photos, and won’t have any time left for nice, creative shots. On the other hand, if the photographer gets all of the “must get” shots of the wedding couple with the wedding party and family, and still has time left over, the photographer can spend some quality time getting photos of just the bride and groom.
Plan Time With The Videographer Too
The extra coverage after the ceremony can be used for more than just pictures. It’s also a great opportunity to get some video! While the videographer will mainly be getting footage of the events as they happen throughout most of the day, with some free time after the ceremony the wedding couple can work with the videographer and create some good shots. This is particularly nice if you’re having a highlight video made because we can stage scenes, pick out backgrounds, record interviews, or whatever else we can think of. That is why our gold photography and videography packages include more coverage time.
Ideally, if you have a photographer and videographer and you’re having a highlight video made, you may want to consider having up to two hours dedicated for this. If that’s not practical because you don’t want to keep your family waiting for that long or for any other reason, consider having a “first look” before the wedding and scheduling the extra time before the ceremony so that you don’t have everyone waiting on you.
I hope these tips help you out on your wedding day. If you have any questions, comments, or additional tips, please write us in the comment section below.
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