Planning & Preparation

Now that you have your engagement photo back and are almost done with wedding planning, it’s time to discuss the big day.

About 2 months before your wedding day, I will send you a questionnaire to fill out that will give me all the details I need to provide you with the best value for your investment. It is so important to me to know all the details so I can plan everything out. Are there going to be surprises? Who is in the wedding party and on what side? What are your must-have shots? How many family members do you have?

Regarding family formals, I usually limit the most important lists to about 10 different groups of people. I ask for all family names and relations in the questionnaire to get through family formals quickly and efficiently. Your family doesn’t know me. They will be meeting me that day. I have no idea who they are, either. That’s why I get their names. Instead of saying Helen’s family, or Jack’s siblings, my second shooter or I can call them by their names so we can get their photos taken quickly. On average, family portraits take 20-30 minutes. With the list of names, we can use that time to include more than the 10 primary groupings. If there is time, I like to try and grab bonus photos of the couples. Your sister and her wife; your parents together; your best man and his partner, etc. This only works, though, when I get all the information upfront.

Once I get all the questions back, we set up a time to review everything in a 30-minute zoom call. You and your spouse-to-be can ask questions, tell me about the catering situation, talk about cultural traditions, etc. Being prepped with as much information before the wedding day as possible is how I give value to your investment. After the meeting, I create a pdf friendly version of your timeline and family formal list, I get the information into my calendar for the day of, and then we make final preparations for your wedding day.

If you have a wedding planner, let me know ASAP so we can align our timelines. Sometimes the timeline a planner creates won’t match up with what I think will help maximize photos. The sooner we can collaborate on the timeline, the better. I love working with wedding planners. Having a coordinator on the wedding day helps keep everyone on schedule and gives you less to worry about.

Now that we have the wedding day timeline secure, this is it; time for the next chapter: your wedding day.