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Creative Solutions if You Have to Reschedule Your Wedding Due to Covid-19
It’s a crazy time to be living in. I certainly did not expect a pandemic to occur right now, and I’m sure this is the last thing any spring 2020 brides and grooms expected either. My heart BREAKS for all of the couples who need to cancel or postpone their weddings due to covid-19 and all the new ordinances and regulations on gathering sizes that have come along with it. I know that this time can be so difficult and stressful. Planning a wedding is stressful enough without a pandemic! I’ve put together a few creative solutions to rescheduling your wedding for you to hopefully ease at least a little bit of stress during this time.
Postpone Your Wedding
The most obvious answer to everything that is happening right now is to postpone your wedding. Luckily, most vendors are being so understanding and flexible with their rescheduling policies. Please reach out to your priority (or most expensive) vendors before deciding on your new date! You can cut down on the back and forth with your vendors by sending out a google doc with date options where your vendors can submit the form after checking off which dates they are available. If your venue and vendors are super in demand, you may need to reschedule for a Friday or Sunday or the off-season. Off-seasons or less busy times of the year for weddings depend on where you are located. Here in Indiana, our off-season starts in mid-November. Typically, July and August are a little less busy as well.
I know that this can be such a sad experience since I’m sure that you have been looking forward to marrying your best friend for so long! The last thing you want to do is wait even longer. You can make the experience a little better by deciding not to just sit around being sad on your wedding day. Make it a special day with the love of your life if you can! Go out and do something to make the day special and celebrate your love, whether that means going out for a hike and picnic, writing personal vows to say to each other that day in a location that is meaningful to you, or just dancing in your living room to your wedding song. Every day is a good day if you get to spend it with the one you love. You can make the day that was supposed to be your wedding day, a day full of love and joy even if it didn’t go how you imagined that it would.
Elope Now. Have a Party Later
This is a personal favorite choice of mine. Why? Because this is what my husband and I did. As soon as we got engaged and started planning our wedding, we realized that we didn’t want to wait 8 months to be married, but we still wanted to plan a party to celebrate. So what was our solution? We had a small, intimate ceremony about 3 weeks after we got engaged. My parents and our best friends were there, and Andry’s parents skyped in from Madagascar. That day was SO meaningful to us! 8 months later, we had our big wedding where we said our vows and celebrated with all of our friends and family, and Andry’s parents came from Madagascar to be with us in person. It’s becoming so popular for couples to get legally married before their wedding day, and there are so many different reasons for it! For some, it’s logistical or religious. Maybe a couple wants to live together but isn’t comfortable living together before they’re married. For some, they feel less pressure or stress on their wedding day knowing that they are already married and this is just a celebration for fun. I promise, you can make BOTH days special and amazing. Plus, I can tell you from experience that there is a super fun perk to this option: you get to celebrate TWO anniversaries every year! I’m a firm believer that you can never have too many excuses to celebrate your relationship.
So how does this work with your vendors? I can’t speak to every vendor’s policies, but I can tell you what I’m doing for my couples. I’m allowing my couples to split the coverage they’ve booked between two dates. Usually that looks like 1 hour of coverage now and 7 hours later or 2 hours now and 6 hours later. You’ll probably only need ceremony coverage, bride and groom photos, and a few guest photos for your small wedding. If worse came to worse and we didn’t have enough time for all the photos you want for your big wedding later, I always gift my couples at least an hour of coverage anyway, so I wouldn’t worry if you’re one of my couples ;)
Live Stream Your Wedding
Another great option if you don’t want to reschedule your wedding is to reduce your guest count and set up a live stream for guests who aren’t able to make it! This works super well so that all of your friends and family can celebrate with you, but you’re not putting anyone at risk. If older or immunocompromised family members don’t feel safe attending, they can still be part of all of the action virtually.
If You Have to Cancel
One of my couples had to cancel their wedding entirely, and we’ve been coming up with some solutions so they can still at least have the wedding portraits that they have been dreaming of. It’s hard to make solid plans with how quickly the current state of events is changing, but we are tentatively planning to take some portraits on their wedding day, just the three of us; take portraits at (what would have been) their wedding venue at a later dater; and take photos at a celebration that they’ll have at a separate time. We had actually already taken all of the bridal detail photos before the wedding day, so they at least have photos of the details they spent so much time working on.
I promise that no matter what, there are always creative solutions so that you can still have what you dreamed of and so that you can still have an amazing and special wedding day (or days). Hopefully your vendors are more than willing to work with you to make your dreams come true.
The Best Wedding Venues in Indianapolis
1 . Laurel Hall
It’s no secret that Laurel Hall is one of my absolute favorite venues in the Indianapolis area. It’s also one of the venues that I photograph weddings at most frequently. First of all, Laurel Hall looks like a castle that belongs somewhere in Europe. There’s nowhere else in Indiana to get this vibe for your wedding day. Also, Laurel Hall is the perfect venue for your entire wedding day from getting ready through the reception. There is a beautiful presidential suite for the bride and bridesmaids to get ready in. The groom suite is in the basement of the building. There are multiple options for your ceremony location including the chapel on the third floor, the lawn outside, or even in the solarium on the main floor. The terrace is the perfect spot for your cocktail hour, and the grand dining hall is a lovely place for your reception. My favorite place to take photos in this amazing venue is the Solarium with its beautiful windows and amazing natural light.
2. Newfields
Newfields, formerly known as the Indiana Museum of Art, is one of the most beautiful places in Indianapolis. It’s an art museum with four floors of cool exhibits as well as acres of beautiful gardens. I love to explore the Newfields museum, gardens, and Lily House even when I’m not photographing weddings and engagement sessions here. There are so many options for your ceremony and reception locations. My favorite spot is probably the terrace behind the Lily House.
2. The Conrad
The Conrad is perfect for couples who love the city and being downtown. First looks at the Conrad happen on the balcony of the penthouse, which has the most incredible view of downtown Indianapolis. I especially love being able to see Lucas Oil Stadium from up there. They also have the most beautiful ballroom for your reception. And the staff of this venue is one of the best venue staffs I’ve ever worked with. They take care of everything!
3. Black Iris Estate
Although, Black Iris Etstate isn’t technically in Indianapolis, I had to include it on this list. Located in the beautiful suburb of Carmel Indiana, this wedding venue is so unique and offers a wide range of photo backdrops. The gazebo outside is the perfect spot for your ceremony. It’s located in the woods with beautiful green backdrops for photos. There’s even a creek running through the trees. Black Iris Estate is also currently working on a Willow Chapel that will make another great ceremony option. I love the elegant feel of the ballroom at Black Iris, which is perfect for your wedding reception.
4. Mustard Seed Gardens
Mustard Seeds Gardens is a wedding venue with a much different look and feel than most of the other venues on this list. It’s the perfect wedding venue for a couple who loves nature and the outdoors. There is a large outdoor ares with huge beautiful trees. The outdoor sting lights add the perfect touch. There are so many great ceremony options from setting up your ceremony at one of the beautiful trees or using the white gazebo. There’s also a beautiful upscale barn that provides the perfect place to party and celebrate your marriage at your wedding reception.
5. The Ritz Charles
The Ritz Charles in Carmel, Indiana is ideal for couples who want to get married in the suburbs. There are so many options and things you can do with this venue, the possibilities are endless. My favorite spot for wedding ceremonies is in their beautiful white chapel, and my favorite place for wedding receptions at Ritz Charles is the garden pavilion. I can’t get over the amazing natural light at the garden pavilion offers for wedding receptions. It’s perfect for couples who love the light and airy look and feel. There is also a ballroom option at the Ritz Charles for couples who prefer the elegance of a ballroom wedding reception.
6. Allison Mansion
Allison Mansion, located on the campus of Marion University is Indianapolis’s best kept secret. I was introduced to this venue by Chrissy from Special Occasions by Chrissy, and I’ve been obsessed ever since. It reminds me a lot of Laurel Hall. It’s a historic mansion with amazing rooms for your reception that are full of natural light.
7. Daniel’s Vineyard
Vineyard weddings are some of my favorite! I’m a big wine drinker and I love exploring vineyards whenever I get the opportunity. I’ve done vineyard tours everywhere from California to Tuscany, so it’s safe to say I really love vineyards. And even though we don’t have the same rolling hills here in Indiana as Italy or Napa Valley, we still have some beautiful vineyards including Daniel’s Vineyard, which is located in McCordsville, Indiana.
8. Union Station
Union Station is located right downtown, and is a great wedding venue for couples who appreciate all of the cool historical elements of the venue. This place is huge and has unlimited possibilities for your ceremony and reception set ups. It’s an amazing venue for your entire wedding day.
9. Canal 337
Canal 337 quickly became one of my all time favorite wedding venues, the first time I photographed a wedding there. It’s the perfect wedding venue for couples who are in love with Indianapolis and also love industrial yet elegant types of venues. It’s located right at the end of the canal, which makes it the perfect venue for all of your wedding photos. You can either get married indoors or you can get married outside right along the canal. The room where most couples choose to have their wedding reception has an entire wall of windows that open up to the canal, so this wedding venue really shows off the beauty of the city.
10. The Central Library
Last but not least, the Central Library in downtown Indianapolis is definitely one of the best wedding venues in the city. Unfortunately, I haven’t had the opportunity to photograph a wedding here yet, but I’m dreaming about the day when I do. It’s already one of my favorite spots for engagement photos, and it’s one of my favorite spots to just hang out. The architecture of this place and the beautiful natural light are hard to beat. It’s also located right downtown, which means there are so many amazing photo opportunities without even having to drive anywhere!
Are you looking for a wedding photographer? I would absolutely LOVE to work with you! Send me a message over on my contact page to see if I have your wedding date available!
My Top 5 Tips for a Stress Free Wedding Day
After photographing over 100 wedding days, I’ve seen it all! I’ve seen weddings go SO smoothly and end up way ahead of schedule. Those are the weddings where the bride and groom can spend the day having the time of their lives focusing on their love for each other and hanging out with their friends and family. I’ve also seen super stressed out brides, grooms, wedding parties, and families because of totally avoidable situations. After witnessing all of this, I want to share the secrets I’ve figured out about how engaged couples can ensure that their wedding day is the best day of their lives and completely stress-free.
1. Use as few venues/locations as possible
The number one cause of stress on a wedding day is multiple venues or locations. If you want a super smooth wedding day AND to save money and time, I would encourage you to only use one venue for your entire wedding day. This includes getting ready, your ceremony, cocktail hour, reception, and all of your bride and groom, bridal party, and family portraits.
Sometimes, my couples tell me they don’t like the look of their ceremony or reception venues for their bride and groom and bridal party photos, so they want to take all of these photos at a third location. I totally get it. Some venues aren’t ideal for portraits, and I want you to have amazing photos. But I would encourage you, when you’re choosing your wedding venue, to choose a location that you LOVE for all aspects of your wedding day. Does the venue have a ceremony location AND a reception location that you love? Does it have a bridal suite and a man cave/groom suite? AND does it have beautiful locations for portraits? Would you be happy to have photos at that location hanging in your home forever to someday be passed down to your children and grandchildren?
Using multiple locations adds so many unnecessary logistics to your wedding day. There are so many more things that you have to think through and there are so many more opportunities for miscommunication. How is everyone going to get from the salon to the church? What is the parking situation like at each of these locations? What if there’s traffic? Plus, it’s so easy to loose someone along the way. I know you’ve told the groomsmen where to go a million times, but one of them will go to the wrong place. I promise, this happens all the time.
When you choose to have your entire wedding day at only one venue, you’ll also save money. Not only on your wedding venues, but also on your wedding vendors. When you don’t have to account for drive time between locations, you won’t have to add on extra hours to vendors’ services to make sure the entire wedding day is covered.
Using only one location for your entire wedding day is THE number one way to reduce tons of stress for yourselves, your wedding party, your family, and all of your guests on your wedding day!
2. Reduce Your Bridal Party Size
I totally get it. You want ALL of your friends to be your bridesmaids, and you don’t want to hurt anyone’s feelings. Maybe you have a million sisters or a large friend group, and you don’t want to leave anyone out. But you also have to think about what is best for you and your fiance, and what is going to make your wedding day as enjoyable as possible for the two of you.
Adding more people to your bridal party not only adds to the cost of your wedding (think about all those bouquets that you have to buy), it also quickly starts adding to the stress of your day and your entire wedding planning process. You have more people with opinions on dresses and hair and makeup. There’s a lot more communication involved with more room for miscommunications to happen.
On the day of the wedding, the more bridesmaids you have, the earlier you’ll all have to start getting ready assuming you’re all using the same hair and makeup team. There will be a lot more people to corral for photos and make sure everyone is where they need to be the entire day.
One of the best things you can do for your stress level on your wedding day is to only have your absolute closest friends as your bridesmaids and groomsmen. The ones who you know are your lifelong besties. The ones who you couldn’t imagine getting married without them by your side. Hopefully, these are also the friends who calm your nerves and help keep you relaxed on the biggest day of your life.
3. Create your timeline months in advance
Something I do for all of my couples is to create their timeline for them from the very beginning. As soon as my couples book with me, I send them an easy and short questionnaire to fill out, and from there, I create a custom timeline for them. After photographing so many wedding days, I know exactly how long it takes to get you amazing bride and groom portraits and plenty of bridal party photos without having to worry about time. And here’s a little secret: I always add buffer room in the schedule between different parts of the day, so you never have to stress if anything runs behind for any reason.
4. Limit your guest list
This tip is similar to limiting your bridal party size. The smaller your guest list, the less people you’ll need to communicate with prior to your wedding day and coordinate on your wedding day. It’s also a lot less people who are expecting to spend time with you and chat with you at your reception. Focus your invitation list on the people who matter the most to you and your fiance and who you couldn’t imagine the day without. Make sure everyone you invite is someone you want to spend time with at your wedding reception. Of course, this will also save you SO much money on almost every aspect of your wedding from the venue to the food, the rentals, the floral centerpieces, and so much more.
5. Hire a wedding planner
Most of my couples’ number one regret is not hiring a wedding planner. Wedding planners can save you time, money, and stress by taking almost everything off your plate and doing it all for you. They already have all of the expertise in all aspects of the wedding day, and they will plan an entirely stress-free day for you! If a wedding planner isn’t in your budget, I would highly recomend at least hiring a wedding coordinator. They will run your wedding day for you and communicate with all of your vendors. Trust me, you don’t want to be the point person for questions on your wedding day. Lora and Amanda from Magical Moments Event Planning are the amazing planners pictured above!
Are you looking for a wedding photographer? I would absolutely LOVE to work with you! Send me a message over on my contact page to see if I have your wedding date available!
Six Wedding Favor Ideas To Make Your Guests Feel Extra Special
Wedding favors can be such a fun little addition to your wedding day if you have a little bit of extra room in your budget to make your guests feel extra special. Usually, these little gifts would be left for each wedding guest at their seat when they sit down for dinner. They can take the favors home from the wedding to enjoy as a reminder of your special day.
Forever Wedding Favors sent me six wedding favors to test out and review for you, so I can’t wait to show you these fun ideas!
These cute, bear hug salt and pepper shakers are perfect if you want your favors to be super useful for your guests in their every day lives.
Key shaped bottle openers are a classic wedding favor. Who doesn’t want a practical addition to their key ring?
This wine bottle opener is probably my favorite wedding favor idea! I’m a big wine lover, so I’ve seen a lot of different types of wine bottle openers, but I’ve never seen one this cute! I thought it was an actual miniature wine bottle at first.
This pack of playing cards is perfect for the game loving couple!
This heart-shaped wine stopper is such a cute, classic, and practical favor!
And last but not least, these love magnets are an adorable reminder of your wedding day that will be on your guests’s refrigerators for years to come.
You can find all of these adorable wedding favors in addition to hundreds of other ideas over at Forever Wedding Favors. Most of their favors are around $1.19, which allows you to add something fun to your guest experience without having it eat up too much of your wedding budget. I hope you found these few little favor ideas helpful when deciding on favors for your wedding day!
Five Ways You Can Include Your Mom on Your Wedding Day
Happy Mother’s Day! If you’re currently planning a wedding, today may be a reminder of not only how much you love your mom, but also that you want to include her in the wedding as much as possible. Let’s face it: moms are superheroes. And after everything your mom has done for your in your life, the least you can do is show her a little love on your wedding day. Here are my top five ways you can include your mom on your wedding day, and make her feel extra loved and special.
1. Let her get ready with you
Your wedding day is not only the biggest day of your life, but it’s an emotional day for your mom too. She’ll love getting to be there as you’re getting ready and to be able to get ready with you. She’s probably been there with you through your whole wedding planning journey for moments like picking out your dress and going with you to get it altered. This makes her the perfect person to help you put on your wedding dress on your wedding day. Someone has to button all those buttons, and your mom might be the best person to help. Plus is makes for some beautiful photos of sweet memories.
2. Wear her Jewelry
Wearing your mother’s jewelry is a wonderful way to check “something borrowed” off your list of things you need for good luck. On my own wedding day, I wore my mom’s pearl necklace that was passed down to her by her mom. It was so special to both me and my mom. But if a necklace doesn’t go well with your dress, you could also borrow a bracelet, a ring, or a pair of her earrings.
3. Have her escort you down the aisle
Traditionally, fathers escort their daughters down the aisle to meet their groom.. But there is nothing wrong with breaking away from tradition and having both parents walk you down the aisle. Your mom will love being included in “giving you away.”
4. Save her a seat
Usually, unless you’re doing a sweetheart table, the bridal party sits next to the bride and groom at the reception. But, at a few weddings I’ve photographed, the bride and groom saved the seats right next to them for their mothers. I thought this was the sweetest way for them to spend time with their mothers during the reception, and show their moms just how important they are.
5. Gift her with a parent wedding album
Last but not least, you can even include your mom after the wedding by gifting her with a parent wedding album. Usually parent albums are a smaller version of your own wedding album. She will love having a physical book in her home to reminisce on your wedding day for years to come.
Are you looking for a wedding photographer? I would LOVE to work with you! Send me a message over on my contact page to see if I have your wedding date available.
Katie and Justin's Engagement Session at Holiday Park in Broad Ripple
After a rainy few April days this past week, we ended up with PERFECT weather for Katie and Justin’s Engagement Session at Holiday Park in Broad Ripple yesterday evening. It was 70 degrees with only light clouds in the sky. We could not have had a more ideal situation for our engagement session. Our golden hour session made for the most beautiful, soft, glowy light for all of our photos. Holiday Park was a great location for our session, because it provides a wide variety of background options, which is just what these two asked for for their engagement session.
Katie and Justin are SO sweet together, and they are so much fun. I just LOVED the way they interacted naturally together. They were such natural models in front of the camera, so I know their wedding day is going to be so amazing. I can already imagine how beautiful their wedding photos will be!
I was already so looking forward to Katie and Justin’s wedding at Finely Creek Vineyards in June. I fell in love with Finely Creek Vineyards when I shot a beautiful fall wedding there last November. The outside of the venue provides so many amazing spots for photos such as the vineyards, the fields, the string lights, the arbor with a chandelier. The inside of the venue is very classy with white walls and beautiful chairs that they provide for the wedding guest tables.
Katie and Justin, enjoy these sneak peaks from your engagement session while I edit your full gallery! I can’t wait to send you the rest of the photos, and I’m already looking forward to your wedding day, which will be here before you know it!
Are you looking for a wedding or engagement session photographer in Indianapolis or anywhere else in the world? I would absolutely LOVE to work with you! Send me a message over on my contact page!
How to Have the Wedding of Your Dreams on a Small Budget
Let’s talk about something that can sometimes be a little bit awkward: your wedding budget.
I think a lot of brides look through popular wedding magazines, blogs, and Pinterest envisioning their wedding details. Then when they actually start looking at pricing for the things they want, they realize that most things are a lot more expensive than they thought. It’s okay if your budget isn’t the same as those magazine weddings and looks more like the average wedding budget. You can still have a magazine worthy wedding no matter what your budget is. Here’s how: reduce your guest count and bridal party size to the smallest number you and your fiancé feel comfortable with.
More guests means more money spent on a bigger venue, more food, more tables, linens, chairs, centerpieces, etc. And a larger bridal party means more money spent on bouquets and anything else you decide to pay for for the bridal party. With all that money you save from having fewer guests, you can afford those florals you really want, you can opt for the vineyard cross back chairs instead of the standard white chairs (or having to use chair covers over chairs you don’t like), and/or you could hire a wedding planner that may not have been in the budget otherwise.
And in the end, if you decide you’d rather have 300 people at your wedding than have the perfect flowers, that’s okay too! It’s your wedding, and you should have what you want. With every wedding planning decision, there are trade offs, and it’s up to each couple to decide what’s most important to them. I just want the average couple to realize that they CAN have the weddings of their dreams AND be on the cover of a magazine by simply only throwing the wedding for their closest friends and family.
My Top Three Posing Tips For Flattering Photos On Your Wedding Day
No matter how “technically” perfect a photo is or how beautiful the editing is, you’re not going to like it if you don’t like the way you look in the photo. Almost every couple I work with tells me before their engagement session that they don’t like being in front of the camera, because they don’t usually like the way they look in photos. And while some of this can be chalked up to body image issues, honestly, I think it mainly comes down to posing. Posing is about making sure you look as amazing in your photos as you do in real life. And one of the things I’m always doing during your wedding day and your engagement session is making sure you look your best. I have a whole posing system that we flow through to make sure you have tons of variety and that every photo is super flattering.
My couples always tell me after their engagement session and their wedding that they felt so comfortable, they had so much fun with their significant other during portraits, and they LOVE the way they look in their photos. For me, there’s nothing that makes me happier in this job than hearing how much my couples love their photos.
Today I’m sharing my top three posing secrets for flattering that make my couples look amazing on their wedding day.
Tip One: Lean Towards the Camera
You know that horrifying moment when you’re laying in bed browsing through Instagram, and you accidentally open the camera, and it’s pointed towards you? It’s pretty much the most unflattering version of yourself that you’ve ever seen. Or at least I feel that way when it happens to me! A lesser version of this is what’s going on when you lean slightly away from the camera during a photo. It causes the photographer to shoot at an upward angle towards you, which is not a good angle for anyone. In almost every single photo and pose, I tell my couples to bend at the waist and lean slightly towards me while keeping their weight on their back leg. This instantly makes them look thinner, and it’s a much more flattering angle.
Tip Two: Belly Button to Hip Bone
Belly button to hip bone is my “go to” pose for flattering both the guy and the girl. The most flattering look for men is facing the camera straight on, while the most flattering look for women is turning their body to the side. So for this pose, I have the guy face me straight on, and the girl puts her belly button into his hip bone. Ladies, this pose, literally cuts your body in half and makes you look amazing. Although, I do want to emphasize that this is not about looking “super skinny.” It’s about making sure you look as amazing on camera as you do in real life.
Tip Three: Flattering Your Arms
The biggest thing a lot of my brides tell me that they’re self-conscious about is their arms. AND strapless dresses happen to be the most popular style of wedding dress. So making your arms look amazing on your wedding day is so important to make sure you like the way you look in your wedding photos. My first tip for making your arms look amazing, is to hold them out away from your body slightly. When your arm is pinned to your side, it gets squished and flattens out, making it look much larger than it actually is. You can avoid this by holding your arm slightly away from your body. The other thing you can do is use your veil strategically. When setting up a pose, I always bring my bride’s veil forward so that it covers half of her arm. This cuts the arm in half visually and makes it look much smaller.
I hope you found these posing tips helpful, and that you’ll feel much more confident when posing for your wedding photos!
How to Store and Back Up Your Wedding Photos
Today’s blog topic isn’t very “sexy,” but it’s an important one! When I deliver your gallery once the wedding is over, and I’m finished editing, I do so via an online gallery system called Pixieset. Here is an example of a full gallery that a client receives: https://rakoteetphotography.pixieset.com/g/camandchelseigh/. When you enter the gallery, it will walk you through how to favorite, share, print, and download the images. You can download your photos with a special password that I send to you, and of course, you are free to share you gallery and password with friends and family. When you download your images, you can download in high resolution, which is best for printing, as well as web size, which is best for sharing on social media. Your gallery will remain online for 6 months after delivery to allow plenty of time for downloading and ordering prints if you wish to purchase any prints through my professional lab (you also have a print release and can print wherever you would like). After those six months, it’s up to you to store and back up the photos in order to save them for the rest of your lives and for future generations.
When downloading the high resolution files, they may be too large to fit on your computer. I recomend storing them on an external hard drive. Here are the ones I use: https://amzn.to/2SCsZdl. If you don’t need 4 TB of space, this one might work better for you: https://amzn.to/2C0SygZ. I recomend purchasing two of these, and backing up your photos in multiple locations, because you can never be too careful with your wedding photos, and sometimes technology fails (I am crazy about backups). You’ll also want to store your photos on the cloud in case anything were to physically happen to the hard drives, such as a house fire or a break in. Google drive is probably the easiest way to use cloud storage. You won’t be able to fit all of your wedding photos in the amount of space that google offers you for free, but it’s relatively cheap to purchase additional storage.
I recomend downloading both the high resolution and web size versions of the photos, and saving them to two external hard drives AND cloud storage. You’ll want these photos to last for generations, and this is the best way you can make sure that happens.
Although today’s blog topic wasn’t as fun as normal, I hope it was helpful! If you have any questions about storing and backing up your wedding photos, feel free to leave them in the comments below or email directly here.
What to Have Ready When Your Wedding Photographer Arrives on Your Wedding Day
As a wedding photographer, the first thing I do when I arrive on the wedding day is photograph the bride and groom’s personal details. This part of the morning goes so much smoother if the couple already has everything ready and organized for me when I arrive. Otherwise, I’ll have to search through the crowded getting ready room to find everything, and I’ll probably have to go to the groom’s suite to track all of his details down as well. I recomend that both the bride and the groom’s details be all together in a box or bag (at least the smaller items that will fit) in the bridal suite when I arrive, since I usually head to the bridal suite first on a wedding day.
Here are the items that I recommend my brides and grooms have ready for me to photograph when I arrive on the wedding day:
Wedding Details:
Invitation suite, stamps, wax seal, and any other invitation details
Other important stationary such as the programs
Loose flowers from the florist for styling photos
Any other special customized wedding details
Bride’s Details:
All three rings (or however many you have)
Your personal ring box if you have one (I recomend the Mrs. Box)
The bridal jewelry
The veil
The bridal bouquet
The bride’s dress (on the hanger you want it photographed on - bonus points if it’s already hanging somewhere beautiful)
The bride’s shoes
A special perfume if you’re wearing one
Any other special details that you want photographed
Groom’s Details:
The groom’s shoes
The groom’s tie
The groom’s watch (if he’s wearing one)
A special cologne (if he’s wearing one)
Tie clip
Cufflinks
The groom’s boutonniere
Any other special details that the groom may have
Photographing the wedding details is one of my favorite parts of the wedding day, and my couples always love these photos as well. You spend so much time, money, and emotions picking out these special details for you wedding day. I want to create beautiful, sentimental photos for you with these details. Having them all ready for me when I arrive on your wedding day is super helpful!
Are you looking for a wedding photographer? I would absolutely LOVE to work with you! Send me a message over on my contact page to see if I have your wedding date available!
The Perfect Family Formal Shot List
What are family formals? These are the formal shots that the bride and groom take with their families on the wedding day. This is planned into the timeline, usually right before the ceremony if the couple has a first look or they can also be taken right after the ceremony during cocktail hour.
Around six weeks before the wedding day, I send my couples a questionnaire with all of the information I need from them in order to photograph their wedding day. One of the most important things I need from my couples is their family formal shot list. The reason I ask for this before the wedding day is so that, on the wedding day, when it’s time for family formals, I can just read straight down the list, snap the shot, and then move to the next shot. It’s easy, painless, and stress-free for the families. And families almost always tell me they love how efficient I am! In reality, the efficiency happens because the bride and groom planned ahead.
Family formals can easily become one of the most stressful parts of the wedding day if not planned for well enough. My biggest tip is to make sure that everyone knows where to be and when! In case anyone is missing, appoint a family member or close family friend to find missing people. Unfortunately, I don’t know what your family members look like, so I won’t be able to do this. You also need to double check with your fiance to make sure you’re both on the same page regarding the family formal list. This part of the day goes SO much smoother when I can just read down the list, instead of someone trying to figure out additional groupings they want on the fly.
When thinking about who to include in your family formals, think about which pictures you’re going to want to hang in your home and pass down to your children. It’s usually photos with your immediate family and your grandparents. Remember that you can always take photos with your aunts, uncles, cousins, and other extended family members during the reception after the formalities. Limiting the number of people included in family formals really helps to cut down on stress for the bride and groom and the time needed for photos.
After photographing over 75 weddings and seeing what works well, and which photos actually get printed, here is my recommended family formal list:
Bride’s Side
Bride with mom
Bride with dad
Bride with both parents
Bride and groom with bride’s parents
Bride and groom with bride’s immediate family (bride’s parents, siblings, and siblings’ spouses and children)
Bride and groom with bride’s maternal grandparents
Bride and groom with bride’s paternal grandparents
Groom’s Side
Groom with mom
Groom with dad
Groom with both parents
Groom and bride with groom’s parents
Groom and bride with groom’s immediate family (groom’s parents, siblings, and siblings’ spouses and children)
Groom and bride with groom’s maternal grandparents
Groom and bride with groom’s paternal grandparents
Both Sides
Bride and groom with both sets of parents
This list takes approximately 30 minutes to complete if everyone is on time. Do you have any unique family situations such as an aunt who practically raised you? Or maybe step-parents need to be added in? Feel free to adjust this list as needed. This is your wedding day after all, and every family is different. I would just recomend trying to keep your family formal groupings to no more than 15. In my experience, this number tends to work the best. If you decide to add more than 15 groupings to your list, just make sure you set aside plenty of time (45 minutes-1 hour) for family photos at your wedding.
Are you looking for a wedding photographer? I would LOVE to work with you! Send me a message over on my contact page!
The One Thing Brides Always Forget in the Wedding Day Timeline
I always offer to create a customized wedding photography timeline for my brides and grooms, and I send them a recommended photography timeline as part of my “Bridal Guide” as soon as they book with me. Most of my couples are super organized, and already have their timeline planned. When I look at their timeline to see if I need to make and changes or give any recommendations, there is almost always one thing missing from the timeline: a designated time for reception detail photos.
Let me explain why this is important. My brides and grooms spend a lot of money on their wedding reception details. They’ve spend countless hours with their florists and/or wedding designers planning their centerpieces. They’ve spent extra money on fancier chairs and beautiful linens. they have the room arranged perfectly. And they’ve picked their wedding venue because they love the way it will look when it's all set up for their reception. I think all brides and grooms see the value in making sure they have photos of the reception details, but many couples think that their wedding photographer can take these photos during the reception. Unfortunately, that is not the case. Once your guests enter your reception, there will be bags and coats on the chairs, drinks and cell phones on the tables, and I won’t be able to get a clean shot of the room or the tablescapes. This is why I tell my couples that we need to plan for these photos in the timeline BEFORE guests are allowed into the reception.
There can be a few logistical challenges with making this happen. First, we need to make sure that the entire reception will be set up before I’m scheduled to take photos of it. Check with your venue, your caterer, and your florist to make sure set up will be finished in time. If your ceremony and reception are in the same venue (which always makes for WAY easier logistics the entire day), then I can photograph your reception details in the 30 minutes before the ceremony while the bride is in hiding. If your reception venue is driving distance from your ceremony and we don’t have any photos to take after the ceremony (because of doing a first look), then I can send my second shooter to the reception venue towards the end of the ceremony to take photos before guests arrive. If you’re having a separate location for a cocktail hour, this gives us a little more wiggle room. If you’re doing a room flip or using the same chairs for the ceremony and reception, unfortunately, I won’t have much, if any, time to photograph the reception fully set up, but I always do my best to take as many photos as possible in the small amount of time I have.
I promise, it’s always worth it to plan reception detail shots into your wedding day timeline. If you don’t believe me, check out some of my favorite wedding reception detail photos below.
Are you looking for a wedding photographer? I would absolutely LOVE to work with you! Send me a message over on my contact page to see if I have your date available!
Why You Need To Take Sunset Photos On Your Wedding Day
One of my favorite parts of any wedding day is sunset photos. I get so excited every time a couple plans 15 minutes for sunset photos in their wedding day timeline. These photos ALWAYS end up being my absolute favorite bride and groom portraits from the day, and they are always my couples’ favorite photos as well. I talk about sunset photos on social media so often that my brides tell me things like “I know how much you love sunset photos, so I planned it into my timeline.” My couples are the BEST.
Even one of my couples who gave me an hour for bride and groom photos after their first look still made time for sunset photos during their reception as well. Golden hour photos or photos taken right at sunset have such a different feel to them than photos taken earlier in the day. If the first look is at 1pm, the sun will be super harsh at that time. We’ll have to be careful about where we shoot and which direction we face to make sure the lighting is flattering and not causing weird shadows. However, at sunset, the lighting is amazing. It’s soft and beautiful and flattering.
The timing of sunset photos will depend on the season that your wedding is in. Just google what time sunset is on your wedding day, and we’ll start sunset photos about 20 minutes before that. For my summer weddings, this tends to be around the end of the reception. For my winter weddings, this could be right after the ceremony.
Not convinced that you need sunset photos on your wedding day? I’ll just let the photos speak for themselves.
Are you looking for a wedding photographer? I would LOVE to work with you! Just send me a message over on my contact page!
Why You Need an Engagement Session
I LOVE engagement sessions for so many reasons. Most of my couples love them just as much as I do. Two of my three wedding photography packages include a complimentary engagement session. This isn’t only a benefit for the couple, it’s a benefit for me as well. But every once in a while, I’ll get a request from a couple who wants to book me saying that they don’t need an engagement session, so they’d like me to either swap it out for something else or reduce the cost of the package. Well, first of all, the engagement session is complimentary. Therefore, It doesn’t have a monetary value to be subtracted or traded. It’s my free gift to my couples that they can choose to use or not. In this post, I’ll explain why my hope is that all of my couples take advantage of their complimentary engagement session.
Engagement sessions are such a great way for me to get to know my couples before the wedding day. The couple gets to learn my posing and directing style while we chat about all their wedding details and planning. This is such great practice, because once the wedding day comes along, my couples already know all the poses. And they already know that they loved their engagement photos, so they don’t have to worry about whether or not they are going to love their wedding photos. They already know that I know how to make them look as amazing on camera as they do in real life, and they already understand that they don’t have to stress trying to come up with poses, because I take care of all of that.
Another benefit of the engagement session is it’s a great opportunity for my couples to communicate their hopes for their wedding photos. Maybe they get the images back and they realize that they loved the twirling photos, and want more like that on their wedding day. Or maybe they didn’t like the sitting photos, and want to skip those on the wedding day. This is another reason a trial run is so important!
Not to mention, my couples get awesome photos of the two of them that they can print and frame. Most of my couples (even the grooms) have a blast at the session. It’s like a date where you get to snuggle up to and flirt with your favorite person. What could be better?!
Are you looking for a wedding photographer? I would LOVE to work with you! Send me a message over on my contact page!
What to Wear to Your Engagement Session | Outfit Inspiration
One of the most common questions my couples ask me before their engagement session is what they should wear. So today, I’m sharing the advice that I share with all of my clients.
I always recomend that my couples bring two outfits, one formal outfit, and one more casual outfit. The casual outfit is the one that you should show up to the session in, so you can save your formal outfit for sunset. For both of your outfits, you should coordinate with your fiance, but not match.
I know the tendency is to go for darker colors, especially for your formal outfit, but for that light and airy look, lighter colored outfits really help to achieve that aesthetic.
Here’s a great example of a perfect casual outfit.
Here’s an example of a more formal outfit that Andry and I wore to our own couple’s session. I bought this outfit from Amazon and would highly recomend it. The skirt comes in almost any color. You can find it here. You can find the lace shirt here. Andry wore a white button-down shirt, a tie that matched my skirt, jeans, and a sport-coat. This is my favorite outfit that he wears!
If you come from a culture with unique traditional clothing, that would be a great outfit to wear to your engagement session.
Button-down shirts tend to work really well for grooms and go well with both their bride’s more casual and more formal outfits. I loved Michael’s outfit shown below.
Here are a few more awesome outfit ideas that my couples have worn to their engagement sessions. I love how many of my brides wear white for their session. It’s so bridal! AND I love when my grooms wear full suits for that formal look.
Amanda’s hat was the perfect accessory in the photo below.
One last tip - when in doubt, overdress. You already have so many photos on your phone of you and your fiance dressed casually. Your engagement photos are special. You’ll look at them for the rest of your life, and you’ll print them and hang them in your home. You’ll love seeing photos of yourselves all dressed up.
Are you looking for a wedding photographer? I would LOVE to work with you! Send me a message over on my contact page!
Why You Should Consider a First Look with Your Groom on Your Wedding Day
Let’s start at the beginning. What is a first look? It's a special time where you and your fiance get to see each other for the first time on your wedding day in a private moment before the ceremony. I highly recommend them! A first look not only allows more time for photography and a smoother timeline, it's also a sweet intimate moment for you to share with your fiance before the craziness of the day. If you aren’t sure about the tradition, this blog post will help explain why it would be a romantic addition to your wedding day. 90% of my couples have a first look, and they absolutely LOVE it!
Andry and I did a first look on our own wedding day three years ago. We both agree hands down that it was our absolute favorite part of the entire day. We were both so nervous the entire morning, but when we finally got to see each other, all those nerves went away. We shared such a sweet special moment, just the two of us. We didn’t even notice the photographers. BUT our photographer captured our priceless reactions, and I have a framed photo of our reactions hanging in our bedroom. They are some of our favorite photos from the whole day. Not to mention, after our first look, we got the spend the entire day with each other! We didn’t have to wait until the 6pm ceremony.
Many couples don’t want to consider a first look, because they get caught up in how “non-traditional” they are. But the digger I deep, the more I realize what is most important to my couples is the reaction of the bride coming down the aisle, and the photos of the reaction. Well, I can tell you after photographing countless first looks, that first look reactions are so priceless. I’ve witnessed so many tears by grooms. But those reactions to the first look don’t change the fact that even though the groom has already seen the bride, they always still have an amazing reaction, tears and all, to their bride walking down the aisle. If anything, I think the first look helps the walking down the aisle reaction, because all those nerves are gone, and true emotions can express themselves.
When you have a first look, you and groom get to embrace each other when you first see each other. You get to cry together, laugh together, and KISS each other! You get to take a moment for yourselves. You get to be TOGETHER and ALONE (besides the photographer who you won’t even notice). You don’t have 50-300 pairs of eyes on you. After your first look, you get to move casually into portraits. There’s no time crunch, no DJ reminding us that guests are waiting, and there’s plenty of time for photos. We get to take all of your bride and groom photos, bridal party photos, and family photos BEFORE the ceremony. That way, after the ceremony, you can head straight to your own cocktail hour to spend time with the people you love the most. Think of it this way, when you do a first look, you get DOUBLE the amount of portraits.
I would never want to pressure any of my couples into a first look if it’s just not for them after they’ve looked at all the pros and cons for having a first look or not having a first look. I ALWAYS respect my couples’ wishes. However, if there is no first look, we’ll either have to cram all of the portraits into 1-1.5 hours between the ceremony and reception (meaning we won’t get as many photos or as much variety), or you’ll keep your guests waiting for quite a long period of time if we use the entire 2-3 hours that I generally recomend for capturing a wide variety of bride and groom, bridal party, and family photos. Just remember, that these portraits are the ones you’ll frame and hang in your home, and these are the photos that will be passed down for generations.
I want the BEST for all of my couples, and after shooting over 75 weddings, I’ve been able to figure out what works really well. I love to give my couples’ all the advice I possibly can, because most of them have never been married before, and I’ve been a part of SO many weddings at this point.
Still on the fence? Check out some of my favorite first look photos!
Are you looking for a wedding photographer? I would LOVE to work with you! Send me a message over on my contact page!
Bridal Party Gift Ideas
Your bridesmaids and groomsmen are some of the most important people in the world to you. They’re there for you throughout your lives as well as on the biggest day of your life. And they often put in a lot of work to help make your wedding amazing, whether they’re helping you research vendors, working on your DIY projects with you, or just celebrating with you! Have you thought about getting each of your bridal party members a small gift to say thank you? It doesn’t have to be extravagant or cost a lot, but a small token of appreciation can mean a lot to your bridesmaids and groomsmen.
I recently discovered an online shop called Bridesmaid Gift Boutique as well as their sister company for groomsmen gifts, Groovy Guy Gifts. There are so many unique and inexpensive gift ideas for both bridesmaids and groomsmen in their shops! They sent me the necklace below, which is adorable, and you can customize the initial, the metal type, and the thank you note. I think this would make a great gift to surprise your bridesmaids with on your wedding day.
I also love their personalized stemless wine cups! For groomsmen gifts, some of my favorite items in the shop are these whisky stones that you can customize to say whatever you want and this billfold in a box. They also have some super unique gifts on both websites that involve a caricature artist! I wish I had known about these gift ideas back when I got married! I definitely recomend checking out these websites. Browse around through the different options to see if there’s something you may want to give your bridal party members as a little thank you gift!
Are you looking for a wedding photographer? I would LOVE to work with you! Send me a message over on my contact page!
10 Questions You Need To Ask Your Wedding Photographer Before Hiring Them
Every once in a while, I’ll have a potential client come to a consultation or send me an email with a pre-made list of questions that they found on the Knot or somewhere else on the internet. While I’m always happy to answer any questions that my clients may have, I don’t think most of these lists serve the client well or get them the information they need. And at the same time, I hardly ever have anyone asking me the REALLY important questions. So today, I’m sharing my own version of the 10 most important questions you need to ask your wedding photographer before deciding to hire them.
Do you have liability insurance?
Besides just being a good idea for the photographer’s business, most venues will require all of your wedding vendors to have liability insurance before they will even let the vendors step foot through the door.
Do you have backup equipment?
I cannot stress enough how important this is. Yet I’ve NEVER been asked this question by a potential client. In my opinion, every professional wedding photographer needs to have at least two full frame cameras with dual memory card slots. The dual memory card slots is important! Technology fails sometimes. Even brand new technology, and a wedding photographer needs to be prepared for anything to happen without it affecting their client’s images. I wrote a whole blog post about the equipment I use here.
Can I see a full wedding gallery?
Again, this one is SO important. I have been asked this multiple times, and I’m always happy to share a few full wedding galleries. It’s so easy for photographers to pick and choose a few good images from each wedding to put in their portfolio, but what do the non-ideal parts of the day look like? How much variety in posing are they able to achieve? Are the family photos the same quality as the bridal party photos? Are the indoor reception shots just as good at the natural light portraits?
What is the turnaround time for delivering the photos?
I can’t tell you how many horror stories I’ve heard about brides not getting their wedding photos back for six months or even longer! So many photographers have super long turn around times that their clients aren’t aware of ahead of time. My turn around time for engagement sessions is one week and for weddings is 30 days. However, I’ve never taken longer than two weeks to deliver a wedding gallery. Your photos are just as important to me as they are to you, and I’m just as excited to get them to you as you are to have them!
Do you have a contract?
Every professional needs to have a contract in place! It protects both the vendor and the client and outlines the agreement in writing.
Why do you love photographing weddings?
This question may not seem as important as the others, but it totally is! It can really help you get a feel for whether the photographer actually loves photographing weddings or not. Sadly, in every profession, some people just do it for the money. Some photographers specialize in a different type of photography that they really love, and only do weddings to make a living. This is so sad to me, and it’s why I always recomend finding a photographer who SPECIALIZES in what you’re wanting to hire them for. Personally, I ONLY shoot weddings and couples, because it’s what I love! I could go on and on for days about why photographing weddings specifically is my life calling (maybe this will be my next blog post). You deserve a wedding photographer who’s excited to be there on your wedding day, not one who just wants to get it over with.
Why should I hire you?
This question gives the photographer the opportunity to tell you what makes them unique compared to other photographers in the local area. Personally, I love to talk about the unique experience I can offer to my clients.
What is your approach to shooting a wedding?
I pose and direct my clients during portrait time, and getting ready, but during the ceremony and reception, I try to be a ninja. I get lots of awesome candid photos without being too intrusive. It’s important to know whether your photographer will pose you or just let you do your own thing, and how they approach the ceremony and reception photos.
What kind of lighting do you use throughout the wedding day?
This goes along with seeing a full wedding gallery. While natural light images are so beautiful, it’s important to know that your photographer is prepared for your ceremony if it’s in a dark church and your reception if it’s happening during the evening in low light. How do they plan to light those images, so they will still be the same quality as the rest of the day? Do you they use off camera flash?
Will I be able to share and print my images?
Imagine how sad you would be if you finally see your wedding photos, but you find out you’re only allowed to print through your photographer, and you don’t actually receive any of the digital files to share online. Not every photographer gives you all of the images for the same price you paid for them to shoot the wedding. Personally, when clients invest with me, ALL of the edited digital images are included. They can print through my professional lab if they want to, but they also have the option of printing wherever they would like, and they are free to share their images.
I hope these questions help you get all of the information you really need during your consultation with your wedding photographer!
You're Engaged! Now What?
I remember the moment I got engaged. I felt like I was on top of the world. I was so giddy, envisioning my future with Andry. But we got engaged when I was twenty two and Andry was twenty five. We were the first of our close friends to get engaged, and we had each only been to probably two weddings in our lives. We had absolutely NO idea what we were doing when it came to wedding planning.
This time of year is proposal season. I’ve seen so many engagements pop up on my Facebook timeline. So I wanted to put together a helpful guide for any couples like Andry and myself were, who need a little help with knowing what to do first after getting engaged.
Celebrate!
You don’t have to start planning your wedding the moment you get engaged. Take a moment (or as long as you want) to just celebrate the fact that you get to spend the rest of your life with your best friend! Don’t let the stress of planning overshadow the importance and excitement of being engaged. Celebrate not only with your fiance, but with your friends and family as well.
Determine your budget and guest count.
These are the two most important decisions in wedding planning. Every other decision you make with stem from these two decisions. Ask both sets of parents what they are willing to contribute to the wedding, and then determine what you’re willing to contribute as a couple. The number one thing you can do to increase how nice of a wedding you’ll be able to have for whatever your budget is, is to reduce your guest count to the smallest amount of people you and your fiance feel comfortable with. A higher guest count means extra money spent on a bigger venue, more food, more linens, extra chairs, tables, centerpieces, etc.
Select your venue and wedding date.
You can’t set your wedding date without knowing the dates the venue you select has available. I would recomend finding a few venues you love that are within your budget and going and touring them. Look through photo galleries or check out their tagged photos on Instagram to make sure you love the way it looks in the season you’re getting married.
Hire vendors that will make your wedding day stress free and give you an amazing experience.
Once you have your venue and date, you can start looking for all of your other vendors. Couples usually reach out to me right after they book their venue. When hiring vendors, make sure you not only love their work, but you love their personalities and you feel comfortable working with them on the most important day of your life. The biggest piece of advice I can offer here is to hire a wedding planner! I’ve never talked to anyone who regretted hiring a planner, but I’ve talked to plenty of couples who regretted not hiring a planner.
Relax and let your professionals take care of all the details.
If you hire amazing vendors (especially your wedding planner!), you won’t have to worry about anything! Your vendors will tell you everything you need to know, ask the important questions, and make sure everything is taken care of! The rest of your wedding planning will be stress-free!
Get married to the love of your life!
Enjoy the fruits of your wedding planning, and celebrate the first day of your marriage with the people who are the most important to you!
Are you looking for a wedding photographer? I woud LOVE to work with you! Send me a message on my contact page!
The Top 5 Benefits of Friday and Sunday Weddings
As I was going through all of my weddings from this year, preparing a blog post on my best wedding photos of 2018, I realized something. So many of my favorite weddings of the year were on Fridays and Sundays. I’m so thankful that these brides and grooms decided to have non-Saturday weddings, because if they hadn’t, I wouldn’t have been available to shoot their wedding date. During the busy season, my Saturdays book up around a year in advance, but I can keep taking on Friday and Sunday weddings. I even photographed a handful of week day weddings this year! I would love for more couples to start having non-Saturday weddings, so I’m laying out the top five benefits of Friday and Sunday Weddings.
Venue Discounts
Most venues offer discounts for Friday and Sunday weddings. With all that money you’re saving, you can afford to spend a little extra on other things that may be really important to you and your fiance, like beautiful statement floral pieces or those amazing designer shoes you’ve had your eyes on.
2. Vendors are more likely to be available
Wedding planners, photographers, and other vendors tend to get booked for Saturdays about 10-12 months or even farther in advance during the busiest months of the year. For Friday’s and Sunday’s, however, we are much more likely to be available on your wedding date.
3. You can plan a shorter engagement
If you have your heart set on a certain venue or certain vendor, you can have a shorter engagement without compromising anything that’s important to you since your preferred vendors are much more likely to be available on shorter notice. It would be so difficult to plan a wedding only a few months in advance if you were getting married on a Saturday in October for example (the busiest month for weddings here in Indiana), but if you move that to a Friday or Sunday in October, you can keep your preferred time of the year AND get your first choice of vendors! That means you get to marry the love of your life sooner!
4. Cheaper Flights
I know that the number one concern of most people when it comes to non-Saturday weddings is inconveniencing their guests. Both a Monday and a Wednesday wedding that I photographed this year had over 150 guests in attendance. If you’re having guests travel in from out of town, you can actually save them a lot of money by having a non-Saturday wedding, since they can book flights for cheaper days of the week. As an avid traveler myself, I try to always fly on Tuesdays or Thursdays whenever I can!
5. Portrait Locations won’t be as crowded
If you’re planning on using any public locations for portraits, they can be very crowded on Saturdays, especially if it’s a nice day outside. Friday and Sunday weddings can really help with being able to use locations you want, without the crowds. Earlier this year I shot a Friday wedding where we took most of our portraits on the Canal. We had almost the entire canal to ourselves! I shot a wedding downtown the next day on Saturday, and we had a difficult time keeping people out of the backgrounds of our shots.
Friday and Sunday weddings are becoming so much more popular, and there are so many benefits of having your wedding on a day other than Saturday. I hope these 5 benefits have caused you to consider a Friday or Sunday wedding if you weren’t before or at least helped with your decision!