Top 5 Reasons I love Photographing Weddings

A little backstory first….when I first became a photographer over 15 years ago, I swore I would never shoot weddings. I hated everything about them. Mind you, my only real experience with weddings at this point in my life was attending them as a small child (and being forced out onto the dance floor to try and catch a bouquet surrounded by crazy women). Fast forward to someone I knew begging me to shoot her son’s wedding when I was in college, me saying ‘no’ a million times before finally agreeing to do it. I shot that wedding, loved every minute of it, and I was hooked.

Fifteen years later, I still love shooting weddings every bit as much as the first (probably more so since now I don’t have butterflies in my stomach the whole time). I have literally shot hundreds at this point. I have never counted, but I estimate I’ve photographed at least 350 weddings over the years, and that is probably underestimating it. There are a lot of things about shooting weddings that some photographers hate - it is a high pressure day with emotions running the gamut, quick pace, and a lot is at stake since it is a day without do-overs. I’ll just say it, weddings are stressful, and that isn’t for everyone, but I thrive in that kind of setting.

Here are some of the reasons why I personally love photographing weddings….

1) There is always a technical challenge to solve. I love that every wedding is unique and offers a new set of challenges. Weddings are a lot like novels, especially dramas. Every wedding is always a new cast of characters with new plot twists, locations, and other variables to figure out and make come together. Even with a completely well planned out wedding day, there are always challenges for the photographer to figure out and “make it work moments”….whether it be the lighting, the weather, timing, or simply finding the right backdrops for every shot in a not very picturesque setting. Every wedding presents a new set of challenges, and for someone who hates monotony, it makes for a fun day of work every single weekend. Being able to stay creatively engaged to what I am capturing makes my work so much stronger, and weddings provide just that type of environment for me.

2) Weddings are inspiring. So many moments, wonderful people, details, and places to explore! Not to mention, the fact that a wedding represents so much hope and happiness. Yes, weddings may be stressful, but in the end, every single wedding is a celebration and gathering of people who come together because two people fell in love. If that doesn’t give you inspiration to work from…..

3) The friendships I’ve developed. I have become close friends with several of my brides over the years, a few of the guests I’ve met, and most importantly, many of the other wedding vendors. Weddings have allowed me to meet some truly wonderful people I would not have met otherwise, and for that I will forever be grateful. I get to work with tons of talented individuals who share the same passions as I do, and I always look forward to seeing their faces when I show up to work….photographers have kind of a lonely existence otherwise. Without employees, these wedding vendors becomes a large network of co-workers in a sense, and family in another.

4) The variety. No two weddings are ever the same. One summer I was at the same venue SIX weekends in a row, and I never got bored. Every single wedding is always different, and amazing….new details, new challenges, and a new love story to capture. That never gets old.

5) I get to preserve history. This one is definitely my main ‘why’. How many people can say they get to preserve history? A few, but not a lot. Capturing moments of time for forever, well, that is absolutely priceless and will always make my job worth it. I also get to capture moments that escape the day - since I get to be places with the groom the bride isn’t, and vice versa, I get to provide them with a visual story of their day they were not able to experience otherwise, and that is priceless and very rewarding to me. And let me tell you a quick story…I just had a past bride write me and tell me her daughter came to her asking about the day her and Daddy got married. Being able to sit down with her and show her their wedding album was a priceless moment for her, and one I was able to help facilitate. She said she was so thankful to have someone who truly captured the emotions and every moment of the day for her to share with her daughter….priceless.

Finding the Perfect Location for your Wedding Photos

How do you pick the perfect location for your wedding photos? There is the obvious answer to this question….your venue. It has become pretty standard to have a wedding take place in one or two locations throughout the day (ceremony and reception). It is always nice to shoot in a location that has special meaning, like where you said ‘I do’ or are celebrating for the reception. It is also very convenient since you don’t have to travel off site and “waste” time driving. But as a photographer, I also know that just because a venue is perfect for hosting a celebration, it doesn’t always mean it is the best for formal photos. Perhaps the lighting just isn’t great, or there are a lot of distracting buildings in the backgrounds, or maybe you only have so much time reserved and can’t be there longer. Your venue represents the real, but maybe not the ideal. In those cases, you should consider picking an alternate site for your wedding formals. Here are a few tips to help you find the perfect spot!

1) Pick something close by. You don’t want to risk getting caught in traffic or lost while travelling. I’ve had weddings in the past where a couple was set on a specific location with a 45 minute drive to get to it. Sometimes it works out like planned and everyone arrives when they are suppose to, but I have had times where a bridesmaid got lost and showed up 90 minutes later (we were already suppose to be gone when she got there), or even one time where we got stuck in standstill traffic for nearly an hour on top of the 45 minute drive. The more people you have travelling to the location, the greater chance you have of someone not making it on time, too. Insider tip: Always travel in a caravan or with minimal vehicles together. While you may know where the location is, don’t assume your bridal party does, especially if they are not from the area. Consider doing family (and possibly bridal party as well) at the venue and just the bride and groom going to another location.

2) Look for great light. Lighting is always the most important factor for me when picking a great location. Certain times of day have harsher light (late morning and early afternoon, especially around noon), so having a location that offers larger shaded areas is important if you’ll be out taking photos during this time (especially in the summer to avoid sweating and squinting). Lighting also needs to be even - wooded areas tend to have very spotty light, which is not flattering. In general, open fields, bodies of water, or other large full sun areas are not ideal because of the contrast and bright light. Areas that offer partial shade, perhaps cast from a building or tree line, will make for much more softly lit and flattering portraits (this is called ‘open shade’). Insider tip: I usually encourage my couples to take their photos after the ceremony, as this typically falls a lot closer to sunset time. If you want to do photos prior to the ceremony to save time between the ceremony and reception, set aside a little bit of time around sunset to go back out for just a few portraits if you can, or pick a location for your photos that offers shade, even lighting, and where the sky can be minimalized as part of the background.

3) Look for variety. If you want to get the most diversity in your portrait set as possible in a short amount of time, look for a location that offers a variety of backgrounds in a small area. The more walking around you have to do, the longer photos will take, or less you’ll be able to capture in your time with the photographer. I think many brides also fail to consider how hard it is to walk around in their dress (and shoes) - you may find that out the hard way on your wedding day when you’ve picked a spot that requires a lot of walking, and I guarantee you’ll regret it.

4) Consider your privacy. If you pick a very populated spot, know that you may spend time waiting for people to clear out of your backgrounds, and that it may not even be possible to avoid people in your backgrounds (like in a downtown urban setting or area with a tourist attraction). Some popular parks can be overrun with multiple bridal parties, making it hard to get the “ideal spots” because they are already taken. Parking can also become an issue in heavily visited locations, which takes up more valuable time.

5) Make sure you don’t need a permit. Making sure you have proper permissions to shoot at a location ahead of time is very important - the last thing you need is to be kicked out and have nowhere to go. Many state parks require permits, and some locations do not allow for professional photography at all. Be sure of the rules and seek out permission if you need to ahead of time. If you have a private property you really would like to go to, find out who owns it and just ask for permission - very rarely is someone going to turn down a bride on her wedding day. Most likely it will be up to you to seek out permission, obtain permits, etc. NOT your photographer. so be prepared to get them and pay any fees that may be associated with it.

6) Consider the season. Locations change with the seasons, and so does the light. If you’ve seen a place in the summer, but your wedding is in February, take the time to go check it out and see exactly what it looks like during the season you’ll be taking your photos. There are a lot of parks that also mow down fields late fall, so the tall grasses you fell in love with will be missing when you show up. Insider tip: While location scouting, always go around the time of day you’ll be there for photos so you can check where the light falls at that time. If you’re able to, go back a couple days prior to the wedding to just double check the layout and that nothing has changed that you were counting on.

7) Think in terms of textures, depth, and color. Fields of tall grass, rust, peeling paint, and other natural elements that create texture add interest to a photograph. Selecting areas with depth to them (somewhere with a foreground, middle ground, background) and distance between each, adds contrast and tonal range. You also don’t want to pick a spot that has colors that don’t compliment your bridal party colors (like a red wall when you have pink/purple flowers). The more the space compliments the color scheme and “feel” (i.e. rustic, modern, timeless, classic) of your wedding day, the more cohesive your photographs will be.

8) You don’t always have to look at the big picture. When you’re taking photos, keep in mind that the actual area you need to take a beautiful photo in can really be quite small. Unless you have a large bridal party and need a large space, you can look for little spots of beauty within a larger space. Some of my favorite places to photograph are not great looking at all when you first arrive, but then you look closer, you find all the hidden spots of beauty within.

You can always ask your photographer for suggestions, but if they are unfamiliar with the area your wedding is taking place, do a quick online search for popular locations. Seek out some location options and send your photographer photographs of the locations ahead of time so they can offer you guidance on picking the right spot. As someone who has done this MANY years, there isn’t often a location I show up to that I can’t make work, but it makes my job a lot easier if I have ideal conditions to work with instead of having to figure out how to make them work!

Covid and Your Wedding: What 2020 Covid Weddings Taught Me

Covid effected the wedding industry in a big way last year, and to this day, still is. The impact from a financial perspective has been devastating to a lot of wedding professionals, but from the very beginning, I kept saying, “Don’t feel bad for me, my heart just goes out to the couples who are effected.” All of you were forced to make some really tough decisions if you got married last year or are planning to this year…..should you still get married or postpone? Should you change venues? Should you cut back the guest list? Should you just have a ceremony and forget the reception? From the beginning of wedding season when Covid first appeared, until the end on New Year’s Eve, every single wedding I had was impacted in some way, and the types of changes evolved throughout the season. A lot of my weddings early on felt like “normal” weddings, whereas by the end of the year, the mandates were explicit and some big changes had been made as to how the weddings could even operate (like mandatory masks, no dance floor, no guest congregating, etc).

In the end, most of my couples decided to go smaller, but still get married. There were a lot of “backyard weddings” and what are now being called “micro weddings” . A few couples were forced to change venues because the original venue they booked had closed down. Most cut their guests lists by half or more, and some had to beg people to even come at all anyways. I had one wedding where the bride had to decide to go forward or not without her parents being able to attend because they tested positive less than a week before their Big Day. I felt the turmoil of these couples that had to make some pretty heart wrenching decisions, and all I could do was offer a listening ear. Your wedding is a big deal….but so is everyone’s safety. Its tough. I get it. These are all decisions I’m glad I don’t have to make myself. As with many things in life, it is all about compromise anymore. For all the couple’s still looking to move forward with their 2021 weddings, I understand that you may have reservations because of stories just like these, and doubled with the restrictions, you may be second guessing the decision you’ve made to go ahead and get married.

But the one thing I kept hearing from each and every couple I photographed in 2020 was that while it wasn’t the wedding they originally planned, it was everything they wanted it to be, and perhaps even better in the end. Let me tell you a secret, I’m not surprised by that. The “intimate” weddings I’ve been a part of over the past 15 years I’ve been a photographer, well, they have always been my favorites. Everyone is just more relaxed and the atmosphere is completely different. Looking back, some of my favorite weddings had less than 20 people attending. These small weddings actually have more of a celebratory feeling than some of the “big party” weddings I’ve been a part of with over 400 guests. I promise you, it doesn’t matter how many people are present, only the quality of the relationship you have with the people.

The biggest takeaway for me in 2020 was that love wins. Nothing was going to stop these couples from becoming Mr. and Mrs. Not a virus. Not the government. Not a venue change. Nothing. The most important thing to them was ultimately being able to just get married. It wasn’t about the people, nor the party. It was only about each other. And I love that.

If you’re engaged and wedding planning, but just not quite sure what you want to do and how to proceed, first of all, take a deep breath. Ask yourself what matters most. There is no wrong answer. Maybe it is celebrate with your family and friends. Maybe it is to simply be married. Also consider your level of anxiety with Covid restrictions that may effect your day and how much stress that may cause you. And if you ultimately decide you want to get married, no matter what that kind of a day looks like to you, big or small, my piece of advice is to make sure to have a written understanding from all of your vendors that outlines cancellation and postponement policies due to Covid should they become absolutely necessary. Including these has become standard and you most definitely want to have a backup plan, just in case, plus an understanding of how these policies apply to your day. That is at least one step you can take to help manage the added stress of planning a wedding during Covid.

And if you’ve heard nobody is getting married during the pandemic, think again. Here’s some general 2020 wedding stats just for fun!

• October is the leader when it comes to the most popular time to get married (16%), followed by September (15%) and June (13%) The Knot

• A registered total number of 2,126,126 weddings took place, which means an average of 5,825 weddings took place each day Wedding Report

• Surveys reveal that love is the most important reason why the vast majority of Americans (88%) choose to get married Pew Social Trends (No surprise there!)

• The average wedding hosts 131 guests (The Knot)

• A basic insurance policy that covers anything from loss of photos, videos, attire, gifts, rings and deposits costs the newlywed couple in between $155 and $550 (The Knot)

• 50% of proposers believe the proposal was a surprise to their partner, but only 33% of proposees say they didn’t expect it (The Knot)

• A little over 10% of proposers ask their partner to marry them without a ring (The Knot)

• 87% of proposers say the exact words ‘Will you marry me’, while 84% get down on one knee (The Knot)

• And according to The Knot, the average for a wedding photographer is $2400

• In 52% of weddings, it’s the parents who cover most of the wedding costs Wedding Wire

Favorite Love Quotes for Valentines Day

I love to read. While I do love to write as well, I find it hard to express feelings as written words, so I love to collect phrases and quotes that express what I sometimes can not find the right words to say myself. I have boards upon boards of saved quotes on Pinterest (and you’ll see some favorites of mine scattered throughout the website and posted along with picture on my social media from time to time). What better day to share some of my favorite love quotes than Valentines Day!?!?! Here you go!

My personal favorites…..

“I choose you. And I’ll choose you, over and over and over. Without a pause, without a doubt, in a heartbeat. I’ll keep choosing you.” -The Chaos of Stars This is my absolute favorite of them all. I loved when I showed up to shoot a wedding this past fall and a large canvas hung on the wall where you walked in that had just this quote. If there is one thing I have learned about love, it is a choice you make, moment to moment, day to day, year to year.

“Fall in love. Maybe it doesn’t have to be with someone. Fall in love with music, art, dancing in the dark, car rides at 1am, the glistening of the stars, the colors of the sun as it rises, the smell of flowers, the feeling of adrenaline that takes over your whole body and suffocated your lungs with joy, good friends who bring out your best, silence, noise, fall in love with the little things that make you feel most alive and find purpose. Fall in love with life.” a.s.b.'

“I promise to love you fiercely if only you’ll crave me madly.” - Alison Malee

“Let’s fall in love as if the world was on fire and there is nothing left, but ash and us.” - Ruby Fransicso

“The sun loved the moon so much he died every night to let her breathe.” - unknown

“Someday someone won’t be afraid of how much you love. They won’t stay on the shore; they’ll meet you in the depths.” - via bl-ossomed

“Like any canvas, you just need to wait until the right painter comes.” - Emily Marie McBride

“We are all a little weird and, life’s a little weird, and when we find someone whose weirdness is compatible with ours, we join up with them and fall in mutual weirdness and call it love.” - Dr. Seuss

“I will love you as long as the sun burns in the sky, as long as the moon shines its light into the dark night, until the raging blue oceans become calm and run dry. I will love you until the end of time.” - Christy Ann Martine

“I don’t want you to love me because I’m good for you, because I say and do all the right things. Because I am everything you have been looking for. I want to be the one you didn’t see coming. The one who gets under your skin. Who makes you unsteady. Who makes you questions everything you have ever believed about love. I want to be the one who makes you feel reckless and out of control; the one you are infuriatingly and inexplicably drawn to. I don’t want to be the one who tucks you into bed; I want to be the reason why you can’t sleep at night.” - Lang Leav

And some other great quotes about love for fun……

“I may never find words beautiful enough to describe all that you mean to me, but I will spend the rest of my life searching for them.” - unknown'

“I’m so lucky to be yours. I don’t know who can handle me like you do.” -unknown

“I love you, in ways you’ve never been loved, for reasons you’ve never been told, for longer than you think you deserved and with more than you will ever know existed inside me.” - The Love Bits

“What is done in love is done well.” - Van Gogh

“I love you. After all this time. I still love you. It’s always been you. It was you yesterday. It was you today. It will be you tomorrow. And for the rest of my life. It will be you.” - unknown

“I always wanted you. Even before I knew you. It was you. You were the chapter that I didn’t know the words to, but always knew existed. And when I finally found it and began to read, I knew I was home.” - JmStorm

“I’m the lucky one who knew you, who still loves you, whose life will forever be divided into a before and after because of you.” - scribbles and crumbs

“He loved her, of course, but better than that. He chose her, day after day. Choice: that was the thing.” - Sherman Alexie

“Stay away from people who make you feel like you are hard to love.” - Quoteistan.com

“I think it’s beautiful, the way you sparkle when you talk about the things you love.” - Atticus

“The little things? The little moments? They aren’t little.” - thinkpositive.com

“A great relationship is about two things. First, appreciating the similarities, and second, respecting the differences.” - unknown

“Sometimes you will never know the value of a moment until it becomes a memory.” - Dr. Seuss

“We feel in love, despite our difference, and once we did, something rare and beautiful was created” - Nicholas Sparks, The Notebook

“You have me. Until every last star in the galaxy dies. You have me.” - The Love Bits

“He’s more myself than I am. Whatever our souls are made of, his and mine are the same.” - Emily Bronte

“I’ll let you be in my dreams if I can be in yours.” - Bob Dylan

“And in the end I will seek you out amongst the stars. The space dust of me will whisper “I love you” into the infinity of the universe. - unknown

“No matter what happens to use, every day spent with you is the best day of my life.” Noah, The Notebook

“Fall in love with the person who enjoys your madness. Not an idiot who forces you to be normal.” - unknown

“The goal is to laugh forever with someone you take serious.” - unknown

“You will never be able to escape from your heart, so it is better to listen to what it has to say.” - Paulo Coehlo

“I just wanted to know you breathed and moved in the same world as me.” - F. Scott Fitzgerald

“I found you without looking and love you without trying.” - Mark Anthony

“For all the things my hands have held, the best by far is you.” - unknown