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​Our main mission as your wedding photographers is to create wonderful images of your wedding day. Below are some tips that we want to share inorder to help us create wonderful and stunning images of your wedding day. These tips and ideas are based on our own personal experiences on our past wedding coverages and we want to share it with you..OUR FUTURE BRIDES

1.     Make a wedding timeline: it doesn’t need to be strictly followed on the day of the wedding but at least this would serve as a guide for everyone to keep the day running smooth. You can share this timeline with us, your bridal party and to your family so they have a guide as well.

2.     Clean the room you will be getting ready in or at least clutter free as best as you can. You will notice a lot of  “putting the dress on photos” are on black on white, one reason, is the area is so cluttered with shoes, hangers, make up bags etc. that it distracts from the bride putting her dress on. 

3.     It is recommended if you can wear a nice robe when doing your hair and make up. It makes really good photos. Your bridesmaids can wear matching robes as well if possible.

    
4.    Have your maid of honor gather together all the details that you want us to take photographs; rings, jewelry, garter, shoes, wedding invitation etc.In that way you wont be scrambling this items when we need them for the details photos/shots

5.     Have your bridesmaids be ready and dressed before you put on your wedding dress. This sounds like an odd tip, but in general if all the girls are all ready dressed and helping you get dressed makes really nice photos rather than your bridesmaids helping you with their “pj’s” on.

6. ​ Leave enough time. Time is of the essence and the more time your photographer has the better. Please consult with us first if you have not decided yet on the times of your wedding e.g getting ready, ceremony etc. Group shots for example are notorious for taking longer than you expect. Having to round up a half-cut usher or a camera-shy aunt for the photos can take a while so make sure your photographer has a list of names and if possible delegate the task of helping round people up to a trustworthy usher or bridesmaid.
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Getting ready: “Having about an hour and a half with the bride before the ceremony would give us enough time to photograph all the details of the dress, shoes, jewellery etc as well as take some informal photos of everyone. After you hair and make up is done, It is nice to have some portraits also without your wedding dress just yet. We can set up your wedding dress on the background. You can wear a nice silk or floral design robe while we shoot these portraits.  
So here is a hint, discuss with your make up artist the time we arrive, so if we arrive at 11 am that means your hair and make up is just about done.. Most of the time, the bride would be the last one to be done with the hair and make up which we don’t really recommend.  We got lots of brides in the past that their make up or hair is rushed because it is almost ceremony time. Believe us; you don’t really need that added stress on your wedding day.  You would rather be the first one to be done and relax rather done constantly checking on the clock because it’s almost ceremony time and you’re not yet done with your make up or hair.
 
There’s always a mad rush before the dress has to go on and we like to have about 15-20 mins after the dress is on to do portraits of the bride with bridesmaids and mom before we dash off. Sometimes this goes out the window because time goes quicker than people expect and its a shame to lose those shots.”
 
Group shots: “Allow 5-10 minutes per group shot. Taking the shot doesn’t take that long but you would be surprised how time can go by…people can vanish for ages even if they KNOW they will be needed for photos. Ten minutes each means that they can actually have some time to spend with guests and your photographer has a fighting chance of getting some candid photos of this time too.”
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Bride and groom portraits: For the couple shoot we like to have at least an hour of actual shooting time.
Again the more time we have on our hands, the more creative we can be on our shots. If we are done early and you still have plenty of time prior to your reception, you can use this downtime to hang out with your bridal party and just enjoy the day or simply hang out with your significant other and just embrace the beginning of your new journey together as a married couple.
 
 
 

7. Ask your florist to have your bouquet, the bridesmaids bouquets and the boutonnieres delivered to where you’re getting ready (or, make sure they’re with you). Since a lot of couples do most of their formal photos a few hours before the wedding, it’s great when the florals for the bridal party are with you. (plus, then we can photograph them with all the other “getting ready” details.). If it doesn’t work out that way, it’s ok, but it’s typically helpful!

8. Don' forget a wedding day survival kit. A typical one includes a first aid kit, tampons, a Tide To Go stain remover pen,advil and anything else that might fix a minor emergency. Have your maid of honor prepare this and keep this somewhere close.
 
9. Be careful with alcohol. This is a day you'll want to remember clearly for the rest of your life, so make sure you don't drink way too much. One tip is to drink a full glass of water between each alcoholic drink.

10.     We strongly recommend letting your wedding officiant announce to your wedding guest before the ceremony starts to refrain from using their personal cameras, camera phones, ipads during the ceremony. Flashes from these devices can ruin our shot and there will always be that Uncle Joe that would pop out infront of us to get their shot making us change our position and our shot angle or worst making us a miss an important highlight of the ceremony.  

11.     Tell your bridesmaids not look down as they walk down the aisle. 8 out of 10 bridesmaids that we shoot always end up looking down because they are shy to look up or to look straight or sometimes they have this very serious face, tell them to loosen up and give us their picture perfect smile as they walk down that aisle.


12.     Walk down the aisle as slowly as you can. Embrace the moment, look at your guest and see how happy they are and most specially look straight to the person your about to marry and spend the rest of your life with. Don’t hold on your emotions, cry if you feel like crying, laugh as you please. We are there to capture those real moments, real tears. Don’t hold back on your emotions…

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13.     Write your own personal vows, it makes really good photos specially that time when you read those vows infront of each other during the ceremony. We love to capture those real moments.

14.     Hold your first kiss a little bit longer. It would help us compose the shot and c'mon your officially married, kiss each other longer than 2 seconds

15.    If family photos begin at 4pm, tell them 330pm. Even if you have the most prompt family on the planet, Aunt Sally might need to run to the car last minute to grab her lipstick, your nephew might need his diaper changed, someone might be stuck in traffic (or the bathroom). Yep, happens all the time, so give them a little wiggle room!

16.    We recommend to give us a shot list of the family photos. In that way, we can finish the family shots right away. We also recommend if you can delegate someone an Aunt or an Uncle perhaps to facilitate in gathering the family members for the family photos. Believe us, we also want the family photos done right away as much as you do..lol

17.   Consider having another set of comfortable shoes for the formal photos, it wont show on the photos anyways so that’s totally fine. Most brides have a hard time using high heels on their wedding day making it hard for us to direct and pose you since you are limited with your movement due to pain and discomfort. If you have never worn heels as high as 3-4 inches and will attempt it for the first time on your big day, make sure you practice at least a month before your wedding day.

18.    We always encourage our couples to pick their own favourite location for their formal photos, somewhere relevant to them. During this time we would do the bridal party first then finish off with just the two of you. We usually let the bridal party go back to their vehicles while we do the couple formal session. This session is very intimate and we want it to be private. Sometimes you don’t feel comfortable cuddling and kissing your spouse infront of your bridal party. Feel free to be flirty and playful as this would only make stunning and wonderful images and make us capture those real intimate moments.

19.    A few times brides have been so upset with the bottom of their dress getting dirty. Which is totally understandable, but most of the time they get upset only because they worry it will look that way in images. Promise, we can photoshop that out.

20. If your having a winter wedding, make sure you prepare for the weather. Sometimes, we had to cut our formals session short due to the groom or bride or the bridal party complaining on how cold the weather is. You can wear winter boots for both the guys and the ladies...Take into consideration as well the time of the ceremony. During winter time, it will already be dark around 3 pm. You really need to consider to have your ceremony start early so it gives us the fighting chance to get some great portraits and your bridal party shots before it gets too dark. 

​20. Don’t be afraid to ask questions and communicate with us! If something doesn’t feel right, if you want to change something, don’t be afraid to ask! Our brides email/text us all the time with what they think are “random questions” but in actuality they really aren’t random! Making sure that you’re happy on your wedding day.  So, if you want to move start times, want to add extra hourly coverage, want us to know a family dynamic etc. that is great! For us, there is no such thing as over communicating these types of things. The more we know about your wedding day, the better we can document it!

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