as a photographer, the wedding day is full of surprises. by the time you are walking into the venue you have already {hopefully!!!} discussed what to expect with the bride beforehand. she’s probably already told you the amount of bridesmaids she has, who the goofiest groomsman is, where she’ll be getting ready, etc. it’s important to discuss the details of the day. not just the timeline…but the details you will be photographing!!! this post is about how i approach the wedding day details for each one of my brides!
when i walk into the wedding day i am prepared with my gear, my timeline, phone numbers for a few of the bridal party and a basic layout of the venue. other than that…the wedding day is full of surprises for me! as a professional, it is my job to be prepared for anything. i should be able to adapt to the day, the timeline and whoever i am working with at the moment. my one and only job is to produce magazine worthy images for my brides. that’s it. one job…and i’m going to do it well!

my day starts off with finding the bride and talking a few minutes with her and her bridesmaids. i make sure my camera is ready and in my hands when i walk in, in case there is something cute and capture-worthy happening! this past weekend, when i walked in the flower girls were getting their hair curled and it was so cute! and i was ready 🙂

once i’ve talked with my bride and calmed her nerves about how our time together will go i ask her where her details are and if there is anything specific she wants done with her dress and shoes once i am done with it. sometimes it needs to be transported to a different room so she can get dressed in a “de-cluttered” environment.

here’s a quick run down of the order for me with details…

1} dress

2} bridesmaid’s dresses

3} shoes

4} jewelry – rings, earrings, necklace, headpiece, veil, etc.

5} perfume

6} family heirlooms

7} invitation suite and/or program

8} makeup used – eyelashes, mascara, eyeshadow palette, lipstick, etc.

***i start wide and end with a macro lens*** – if i can arrange everything in one area, i do that. i may use a folding chair and lay a bridesmaid’s dress over it to photograph the shoes, jewelry and perfume and then swap the bridesmaid’s dress for the bride’s gown…then i have the details on a colored backdrop and a white backdrop. so either way the bride decides to go in her wedding album, she has them both!

the image above is a sample of detail images i would take on a wedding day. the image on the far left is a bridesmaid’s dress draped over a metal folding chair. there is a window to camera right…no reflector. the next image is of the bouquet on a gold charger that i bring to all of my weddings {i have a bag full of stuff!}, then i have incorporated the program with the charger and then a quick detail shot of the bride holding her bouquet during the bridal portraits. i could have gone completely neutral with the color palette and photographed the shoes in front of the bouquet on the bride’s dress, but i think the white flowers would have gotten lost in the background…especially with the pearl accents on the bouquet.

the image above is a ring shot that i took on top of the bride’s pearls…i draped the bridesmaid’s dress over my camera bag on a table in order to set up a place for details 🙂

the ring shot above is the bride’s ring in front of her shoes, on the guest table at the reception venue! we incorporated the table linens for texture since the bridesmaid’s dresses were being steamed!

although these images were all from separate weddings…the details were captured in almost the exact same way! approaching the details without a plan can be overwhelming…and you’re sure to miss something. by having a game plan either written out, or in your head, you are prepared to capture everything in a methodical and strategic way so that you don’t miss anything. it frees up some time to get creative with some shots as well 🙂