What to Expect From Your Wedding Photographer

One of the first conversations I have with inquiring clients is about how I approach covering a wedding; your photographer is going to be with you from beginning to end, and it’s important to have some idea of what that will look like as you make your decision. Hiring the best wedding photographer for YOU means making sure that you both have the same goal regarding wedding photography. Each wedding event is different, of course, but no matter what the plan for the day is, my priority is to understand exactly what you’re looking for, and make sure that we can both be comfortable that I will cover everything you wish. 

My goal is to capture the story of your day as I see it, so I aim to start while you are still getting ready: that time of anticipation, often with only close family or friends around, is one of my favorite parts of a wedding to photograph. I’m looking for ways to show what you are feeling, your relationships with those you love, and some bridal details as well:

If you have planned a first look, we usually do this right after you’re done getting ready, and follow it up with portraits; if there’s no first look, I still like to try to schedule portraits before the evening reception starts so we can take advantage of outdoor light. If you have a daytime ceremony, we might do a first look and portraits ahead of time, or just do portraits right after the ceremony. Outdoor portraits are always best around the golden hour, so for evening events, if there’s any way to schedule them before guests arrive, that is preferable to having to pull you out of your wedding during dinner or some other time in order to get portraits. But if we have to do them earlier in the day, they can still be gorgeous:

If it is possible to take family portraits or wedding party portraits at that time as well, it can be very helpful to get that done before guests arrive, so that we don’t have to worry about it later in the evening when there are hundreds of people around and kids falling asleep - whether we take those portraits outdoors or on the finished stage in the hall:

During your wedding ceremony, outdoors or indoors, daytime or nighttime, and whatever sort of religious or nonreligious ceremony it might be, my goal is to capture all the emotion and significance without getting in the way of guests and family, and with all the rituals that are important to your family or your culture:

Once the guests begin to arrive at an evening reception, I usually take the cocktail hour to photograph the decor in the wedding hall as well as capture guests mingling and greeting; if your ceremony and reception are essentially taking place together, of course I’m photographing that beforehand if possible:

Once everyone is ready, I’m photographing your reception entrance - if your ceremony is part of your reception, as with an onstage nikah for example, this is before the ceremony of course - focused on capturing the way you’ve planned it to go, whether it’s by horse, motorcycle, car, or just on foot, and of course including any awesome entrance shenanigans like Bangladeshi gate ceremonies:

And once everyone is seated, I'm photographing everything that happens! First dance, speeches and toasts, guest reactions, cake cutting, shoe stealing, ring exchanges, bouquet toss (or ramen toss) and other candids - all that good stuff that goes by like a blur when you’re part of it, but you’ll be so glad to be able to look back on for all the love, laughter and happy tears of love:

If you’ve got dance performances and/or an open dance floor planned at your wedding, this is something I also want to make sure I capture for you - and it’s also another one of my favorite parts to photograph :)

Most South Asian weddings feature stage group portraits - when the couple sits on the stage and guests wait in groups and families to join them for formal portraits. This can be exhausting for the couple, but it’s one of the most important parts of the evening for families, so I often recommend planning to set aside a specific time in the program for this, to make sure that nothing else is going on to distract from those photos. It can also help to have a family member or two keep this organized with the mic - if we couldn’t get family shots earlier in the day, calling up family groups first, and/or just keeping guests in line beside the stage and moving through the groups. The formal shots are important, but this can sometimes be a ton of fun when you get all your friends up on stage with you; if you choose, instead, to walk around your hall mingling with guests, that can provide opportunities for more candid shots with your favorite people, and be WAY more fun than sitting on a stage and grinning for an hour; but keep in mind that the group shots will be a little less formal, without the backdrop of the stage and with people in the background - which is totally fine if that’s what you’re going for:

If we didn’t have time for portraits earlier in the day, that’s totally fine - we can always take time for some gorgeous creative nighttime portraits, whether it’s outdoors in the dark or indoors using your wedding venue’s beautiful decor:

And finally, if you’ve got an exit planned, I’m there for all the laughter and tears and love at the end:

If you’re planning a wedding day you want to remember forever, I’d love to talk to you about how I can tell your story! Let’s talk :)