Congratulations! You are one step closer to planning your wedding by hiring me as your wedding photographer. Woohoo! I am honored and incredibly excited to work with you over the next year. My primary job is to capture who you are as a couple in the most authentic and special way creating beautiful images that you can use and cherish for years to come. To do so there are a lot of helpful guidelines, planning tips, and suggestions that I have compiled with my years of experience that you will want to review and prepare for as we work together. That is where the majority of the wedding client lounge posts will come in handy. Today we are going to go over the steps that we will take together from now until your wedding day just so you know what to expect from me.
Planning Your Engagement Session: now – the time of engagement session
If we haven’t already, the first step in working with me is planning your engagement session. This includes choosing a season, date, and time as well as picking out your outfits and narrowing down a location. After the planning is complete we will meet for your engagement session. Fun will be had by all and then 2-3 weeks after the engagement session is complete, you will receive a link to your gallery where you can download, print, and share any of those images. Those can be used on save-the-dates, your wedding website, and/or social media!
Planning Your Wedding: after the engagement session – 2 months prior to your wedding
During this time you can peruse the client lounge to help you plan for specific parts of your wedding day. The lounge includes many posts that will help you pick vendors (if you are still looking), prioritize your budget (where to splurge, etc), choose a timeline that best fits you, prepare for unfavorable weather and more. Anything to help ease the planning process for you!
Wedding Timeline: 6/7 weeks prior to wedding day
We will schedule a wedding timeline call 6/7 weeks out from your wedding. This allows for enough time for you to gather all the plans you have in place so far. This may include but is not limited to what time your venue allows you to arrive, what time everyone is getting their hair and makeup done, and/or what time you have to leave at the end of the day. After the phone call, we will narrow down the official timeline and share it with whoever needs that information. It can be adjusted as needed but this is a great time to have something in place to help ease the stress of the actual day.
Wedding Day: your wedding date
Now that all the vendors have been sorted out, the timeline is arranged, and things are officially set in motion, we will arrive at your wedding at least 15 minutes early to say hi and set our equipment down. Depending on which timeline you choose the following things will be photographed in varying orders: the details (dress, rings, invitation suite, flowers, decor), the getting ready portion of the day (final touches of hair + makeup, tying ties) the ceremony, family portraits, bridal party, bride + groom and reception. Once everything is complete, we leave the wedding and you head out on your honeymoon. Enjoy the vacation after planning and executing a somewhat stressful event while we get to work editing your beautiful images!
After The Wedding: 4-6 weeks after your wedding
I typically blog your wedding within a couple of weeks of the date, share it on social media, and then deliver the gallery by 4-6 weeks. You can download, print, or share your images right away. I highly encourage printing and hanging some up immediately otherwise it is too easy to forget. I also offer a la carte items for purchase and will share those with you again before we complete our time together. And since my business survives off of happy clients and referrals this is the time that I ask for a review.
Post Wedding: beyond 6 weeks
Your gallery will be backed up and online for 1-3 years depending on the collection you have purchased. After that, it is your responsibility to back up and save your wedding images. And in the future, if you have any other photography needs (anniversary, maternity, newborn, family) returning clients get 10% off my services. At this point, you are on your own free to enjoy and share your heirloom images with generations to come! Woohoo!!
