Choosing your wedding photographer is one of the most important steps when organizing your wedding.
Why? Because after the cake is gone, the music is off and your wedding dress is back to the laundry, what’s left of this important day… are the photographs. But every photographer is different, and may have a different approach. Moreover, while focusing on a million things during the busiest day of your life, some important shots might end up being skipped. That’s why it’s good for you to be aware of which photos are absolutely necessary, so that the photographer won’t miss any!
Many brides asked me about this over the years. Which are the absolute essential shots? Which parts of the day should definitely be captured, what can be left out and what do you absolutely need?
Well, here’s my take on a wedding photo checklist that, hopefully, will help you make the most of your day.
Let’s start from the beginning of the day, when brides and grooms meet with their family, bridesmaids and groomsmen in order to get ready.
The beauty routine of the bride really sets the mood of the day, despite her being sleepy.
Usually the bride and the groom will have just few moments to spend with the closest friends throughout the day. Therefore it is highly recommended spending some precious moments with them.
Similarly to the bride preparation, how and when the bridesmaids got dressed helps the storytelling of the wedding day: were them with you? Did they arrive later on already dressed up?
If the wedding dress is important, consequently are the other accessories such as the shoes, the necklace or the earrings. Sometimes can have an interesting story that is just waiting to be told.
Most of the time, this difficult role, goes to the mum’s bride, always on her side during the day, including her preparation.
The bride’s shoes, from my point of view, should be captured as part of her dress details, furthermore when worn to show the pedicure.
The bride’s dress is one of the most important piece to be photograph, along with the groom’s one. That’s because both took a lot of time choosing the perfect dress for the day.
Couples make each others gifts for their wedding day, for instance it could be a perfume worn on the day or a pair of shoes.
Bridesmaids are an important part of the bride’s day: they will be ready to help her out no matter what.
At this point the bride is ready to walk down the aisle: we saw her transforming throughout the morning and will shine in front of her guests.
In my experience, the bride’s bouquet can have some important details attached such as a photo or a charm remembering someone, or a family heirloom, but also it is one of those details that set clearly the mood of the wedding.
For this reason is one of the first photo I tend to capture at the beginning of the preparation set dedicated to the bride.
Also, the fact that by the end of the day the flowers and the greenery in the bunch will, more likely, have changed, turning into a brown-ish color and withered, requests that extra attention from the photographer.
Capturing it at the beginning of the day your bouquet will be freezed in time remaining nice and fresh, forever.
The groom getting ready is another moment interesting to capture, although make sure to arrange timing accordingly.
The groom’s cufflinks are the counterpart of the bride’s accessories: likewise they can be a memory of someone and an important feature of his wedding dress.
Now, the groom is dressed up and he will be the first one facing the ceremony room and greeting the guests.
This is a nice occasion for the groom, as well, to get a nice memory of his outfit before wearing it.
Together with the bride’s moment with her parents, this is another genuine and emotional memory that has to be captured.
The photos taken of the groom with his best man and/or groomsmen are pretty unpredictable but, most of the times, very funny.
This moment is always very emotional, therefore I recommend to prepare some tissues.
Lastly, there is the transportation the bride chose to arrive at the venue for the ceremony. This is a vehicle that was rented for the occasion and that’s the only memory the bride and groom will have after the ceremony.
In conclusion, I really hope this collection of all the photos you need to have at your wedding is actually useful.
I am closing it with our couple ready to go.
The photographer had already amazing moments to capture: loads of tears of joy and special moments with our beloved one.
Now it’s time to say “I do” at the ceremony and I have for you a lovely checklist for that too.
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