Marks Wedding Day Tips
From my experience of capturing over 300 weddings, here’s some insight and practical advice to help you get the most out of your wedding day in terms of fun, flow and what works well…
GETTING READY
If you’ve booked a videographer then common sense states that we can’t be in two places at once so it’s best to stagger the bridal and the grooms prep so that key stages can be covered. If you’re getting ready in different locations if it’s over 20 minutes apart from each other, it’s worth considering booking one of my second photographers. Just let me know if this is something you would like to consider.
Below where I refer to groom and bride - this of course this can be groom and groom, or bride and bride.
Groom Prep
15 minutes of capturing the last stages of the groom getting ready is all I need, even if it’s just the boys cracking open a beer or putting on their flower button holes.
For the grooms prep, if time is limited then we can cover everything we need to in about 15 minutes as long as you’re ‘ready to get ready’ - showered, trousers on, hair done. It gives me the opportunity to capture cufflinks, tie being done up, jacket going on.
Bridal Prep
Usually I like to see the girls first in the morning before potentially heading to the boys. It’s nice to say “hi” and see what stage you’re at. The last stages/finishing touches of bridal prep are by far the most flattering and generally these are where the best photos are captured.
Here are some tips for bridal prep -
Have a set of your wedding stationary where you’re getting ready for me to capture along with any special jewellery or details you’d like capturing.
Getting into your dress - at this stage its best to have your bridesmaids nearly ready at this point. Once you’re into your dress, if you plan on having a reveal moment to the girls then you want them in their dresses. Otherwise you end up with all the girls looking amazing and then one bridesmaid in her dressing gown still.
If it’s a parent or friend helping you into your dress, the same applies. Make sure they’re ready before you and not in their rollers still.
Don’t forget if you’re having a registrar that you will need to allow time for your pre-ceremony interviews, usually this takes around 10 minutes.
Usually I capture the last few stages of the dress being buttoning up, putting the wedding veil in etc. I’m happy to go with the flow and whatever you’re comfortable with.
When to get into your wedding dress?
You need to get into your wedding dress at least 1 hour before the ceremony, minimum. I know that may sound like a long time but trust me, this last hour absolutely flies by and it serves many purposes too. Firstly if anything is delayed on the morning, you have a small window to make up some time. Once you’re ready we will have time to spend 5 minutes doing some beautiful portrait photos before heading off to the ceremony. You’ll have time to sit down and have a breather, pop some fizz open and chill. If time allows we can even do a few shots of the girls together and if you have plans for your dad to see you, capture that too. Being ready early also allows me to get to the ceremony and say hello to the celebrant/vicar and capture guests arriving. Again, if logistics prove difficult for this then potentially look at booking one of my second shooters to join me.
CONFETTI
There’s so much choice with confetti and a great confetti shot just doesn’t fall out of the sky ; ) as always have a plan!
Here are my confetti tips -
IMPORTANT - check with your wedding venue what confetti is allowed
This is the first thing to do, most places allow confetti if it’s biodegradable but I know a few wedding venues that don’t allow confetti and allow alternatives such as bubbles or pompoms instead. If you are allowed to use confetti, there are three choices -
1. Biodegradable Tissue Paper Confetti - this looks amazing, flutters through the air and has plenty of hang time. If there’s wind then it just drifts through the sky and looks magical. It probably won’t go in your eye or get stuck in your hair like dried petals can. You can also buy biodegradable tissue paper confetti canons - again check if that’s allowed. If you are allowed these then buy 6 of them, use 4 in the confetti tunnel and 2 for the first dance.
2. Fresh Flower Petals - Large fresh petals also works really well. With this I recommend you go to the supermarket a day or two before your wedding and buy lots of bunches that have colourful petal flowers and individually pull the petals of yourselves into a basket.
3. Dried Flower Petals - This works well but needs to be large, see my tip on go big!
Go big
The biggest tip from me for confetti is go big with the confetti size. Confetti larger than a 20p coin looks best on camera. If your confetti is really small, it looks like people are throwing bird feed at you!
Use a basket, not paper cones
Fill a basket full of confetti from which your guests can grab a good fist-full on the way out from the ceremony or have a couple of baskets passed around your guests. Don’t serve your confetti in paper cones – you can’t get much in them for a start and also you can’t launch the confetti high into the air like you can if you release it from your hands. Plus for some reason half of it always seems to stay in the cone! So it’s best to avoid cones.
Confetti tunnel
The best way to do confetti is a confetti tunnel. As the bride and groom, make sure that you’re not around whilst everyone is getting lined up for this. Once you’ve walked back down the aisle, go off to a side room, the back of the church/barn etc, do a lap around the venue to the back door etc. Whatever it takes to just disappear. If you stand anywhere in sight then automatically people will congregate around you and say hello/congratulations and before you know it, the entire wedding party will have formed a welcome line to say hello. An hour later you’re still in the line saying hello to people, the rest of your guests are bored stiff wanting a drink and canapés and you just want to get on with the bloody confetti and onto the party!
Make sure your bridesmaids/ushers know the plan. I’ll be on hand to make sure that everyone is in place to get the best shots. A little help from your team goes a long way.
Make sure to stop half way down the confetti line for a kiss.
Lastly enjoy it, it’s one of those once in a lifetime moments so embrace every second of it and i’ll capture some amazing images : )
THE DRESS
A dirty wedding dress is the sign of an amazing day…and keeps the dry cleaners in business ; ) Just a heads up, at some point in the day, usually late afternoon when you’ll reach a point where you stop caring about whether your wedding dress gets dirty or not, though I’m sure you’ll want to keep your dress clean until any formal group photos you’d like have been captured after the ceremony.
You bought the dress specifically for this one big day so my tip is get the most out of it.
When you look back and think “I wish we had more sunset photos on the beach” but in reality you said “I don’t want to go in the beach in case my dress gets sandy and wet”
I’ve been to many weddings now where the bride has a different dress for the evening party.
GROUP PHOTOS
The only posed photos I tend to capture on the day are formal group photos with your family and friends. I recommend keeping the list as short as possible, for your sanity more than anything. Generally I say keep it to under 10 different groups. I will ask you to provide a list of these before the wedding day so I can print and bring along with me so we don’t miss any out. I will also ask if you can delegate someone in your wedding party than can be responsible for rounding up people for these.
Here are examples of typical group photos -
bride & groom + bride family
bride & groom + groom family
bride & groom + both families
bride & groom + groomsmen
bride & groom + bridemaids
bride & groom + groomsmen & bridemaids
bride & groom + everyone
Plus have a think and let me know any important ‘must have’ photos you’d like, especially with certain people or groups, for example bride with mum/dad, brothers/sisters, nan/grandad etc, college/uni/work friends etc
GOOD VIBES
If you turn up to your wedding ready to have fun and party, so will your guests, energy is transferable. If you’re worrying what the weather is doing or the candles haven’t been lit etc and you start to stress out, your guests can sense this and energy will fall. You can’t control everything, especially the English weather. Some of the best photos I’ve captured have been in the rain using a see-through umbrella and off camera flash, so don’t worry about the photos, that’s my job ; ) whatever the weather, i’ll capture beautiful images for you.
Remember above all else what this day is all about. Forget traditions unless you actually want to do them of course. Don’t do something because you think that you have to or because your parents did it at their wedding. Have a blast and celebrate!
SPEECHES
The speeches are all about managing expectations. If you have someone stood in the darkest part of the room with his back to half of the wedding party and they decide to start roaming around the room, images may well suffer.
Choose a spot for all of the speeches to take place. Whether that’s one specific spot or whether each speaker is going to just stand up from their seat and speak from there. Have a plan and stick to it. One specific spot really helps me especially with lighting.
A mic stand can be a great idea to give a specific location for the speeches to take place. It also frees hands to hold notes and to skip through pages instead of having to fumble around. Either the wedding venue, your sound guy/dj/band will have one if you ask.
There isn’t a magic formula for where to stand as each room layout is different and seating locations may vary. The main focus would be that the person giving the speech can address the bride & groom as well as the rest of the room without having their back to half of the wedding party. Usually up at the front just to the side of the bride and groom works really well. They can speak personally to the bride and room while the rest of the room can still hear them.
Chat to your speech givers and prep them about these points ahead of time.
UNPLUGGED
An unplugged wedding is where guests are asked to not use electronic devices like phones, cameras or tablets. The goal is to have guests fully present in the moment rather than distracted by taking photos or videos.
Couples often this to maintain intimacy of their wedding and to ensure professional photography is uninterrupted, and also to avoid distractions like phones ringing or people posting on social media.
From a wedding photography perspective, there are three key moments where guests being unplugged really helps in terms of capturing the best photos without people holding up phones -
Ceremony
Speeches
First dance
Signs and announcements are typically used to politely inform guests of this request.