Before the shutter
What I tell couples beforehand.
A few things come up in every first conversation. They are here because they are useful even if we never work together.
There is no reason to hide experience behind a consultation appointment. Anyone who goes into their day better prepared gets better images — regardless of who makes them.
The timeline
Plan more generously than feels necessary.
The most common mistake isn’t too little time for photographs but too little air between the items. If the congratulations run thirty minutes long, that half hour is missing at the end — from the two of you.
A detailed version with hours is on the page about the run of the day.
Does that sound like your day?
Tell me about it →
The conversation
Tell me about the people, not the shots.
Lists of shots help little — lists of people help a lot. Who will cry, who gives the speech, which grandmother rarely laughs. That way I know where to look on the day without asking.
For group photographs a short list is worth having: five to eight combinations, with names, and one person who calls them together.
- Who absolutely must be in a picture
- Who knows every guest by name
- Are there awkward constellations
- What should never be photographed
The weather
Rain is not an emergency.
A grey sky is often better photographically than blazing midday sun: soft, even light, no hard shadows across faces. What rain really costs is comfort, not image quality.
Still, a plan B belongs to it: a covered spot, a room with a large window, a couple of plain umbrellas. Settle that beforehand and nobody has to debate it on the day.
The guests
Phones are better kept down.
Nothing ruins the picture of the entrance as reliably as twenty outstretched arms holding telephones. A short request before the ceremony works wonders — most guests are relieved when somebody says it out loud.
Afterwards, gladly: what guests photograph in the evening is often a lovely complement to what I see.
Inquiry
Questions that aren’t here?
Write to me. I answer even if you have already booked someone else for your date.