Planning your day

• Make sure you leave plenty of time for formal photos. We recommend two hours of shoot time plus travel time to and from the shoot location.
• Don’t forget daylight saving, in winter plan your ceremony earlier.
• Pick your bridal party based on your friendship / relationship with them. Its best not to pick your bridal party based on their DNA. Recently at a Wedding we had a Bride who picked her sister and they didn’t get along. The sister pretty much managed to get the whole bridal party in a bad mood.
• Colorful flowers really make your photos vibrant and are strongly recommended. White flowers on a white dress will blend into the each other and wont stand out in the photos.
• If you are not having a professional videographer then make sure that whoever is videoing your wedding has plenty of spare batteries, tapes and a half decent video camera. Many times we have seen family members doing the video standing right next to a power point half way up the room during speeches as there batteries have run flat. Our advice is to get a professional videographer as well as a professional photographer.
• When deciding on a church or garden location consider this: The church will provide shade for your guests in any weather, the gardens will not. Even if your not an overly religious couple the church still makes for very nice backgrounds.
• Given the choice between beauty and comfort (e.g.. shoes) try and achieve a happy medium as your comfort will be very important on the day as well as you look like.
• Always make sure that a run sheet is provided to all suppliers at your wedding. A run sheet is a list of al the names and phone numbers of all the bridal party as well as full addresses of all locations on the day. At all times except the ceremony at least one person from the bridal party must have there mobile on and available to take calls. This is important incase there are any last minute changes or changes en-route to photo locations.
• Write the Groom a list of what he needs to bring to the ceremony e.g. rings etc. Recently a groom forgot the rings and thus the ceremony was an hour late which meant their formal photo time was halved.
• It should be discussed and agreed upon with your photographers if the photographers are to seek approval for extended time or work until the particular event is finished. For example we recently had the time run out just after the start of the speeches but could not really stop at that time so an agreement needs to be made beforehand.
• In the event that the weather is not favorable on your day, donʼt worry your photographers have photographed in a variety of weather conditions. Trust that they will work to provide you with amazing images.

Brides Preparation

• As a Bride , we recommend a spray tan, acrylic nails and professional hair and makeup. If you have a strapless dress do not wear a bra as the straps will mark your shoulders when you put your dress on. these marks will show up in photos. A spray tan will make you look slimmer, healthier and more radiant.
• Make sure there is one bedroom in the house thats clean and tidy. Remove any clocks and other items off the bedroom side tables in that room. Make sure both bedside lamps work.
• Other than the bride, make sure all people required for photos are present and dressed fifteen minutes before the photographers arrive . This maximizes the time the photographers have to take family photos. The photographers will want to capture the bride being prepared, dress being laced up etc.
• Where possibly an outdoor location should be available and clean of any clutter.
• If you are wearing a garter and find it uncomfortable, many Brides wait until the reception to put the garter on.

Ceremony

• Always allow one hour for your ceremony, this covers the ceremony, signing the certificate, photography, congratulations and group shots. In our experience one Minister minute is two of ours. So if the minister says half and hour its more than likely an hour long event.
• For outdoor ceremonies , always have an indoor wet weather location available.
• For outdoor ceremonies make sure that the Bridal party is in either in full sunlight or full shade but not half and half as one half of the Bridal party will be darker than the other half. Full sunlight leaves strong shadows under peoples noses and necks.
• It might be the ʻIn thingʼ to be fashionably late for the ceremony but 15 minutes late is 15 minutes less formal time for photos which might be the difference between getting that perfect sunset shot and running out of time.

Formal Photos

• Make sure you allow enough time to get to and from the formal location(s).
• Think about the distance between locations. For example we recently had a wedding in Camden with the reception in Sydney. If this is the case then you need to add an hour traveling time to your schedule plus leave enough time for formal photos. The secret here is to have an earlier ceremony.
• It is recommended that we have approximately one hour shoot time per location.
• If there are any special formal photos that you either want or do not want please let the photographer know before your wedding day.
• For winter weddings (i.e out of daylight savings) the sunlight goes over the mountain in Wollongong around 4:30pm, we recommend formal photos should start no later than 2:30pm plus travel time.
• If you have children involved in your photography, make sure you have a minder that can play with them in between photos. This needs to be someone that they are very comfortable being with.

Reception

• If there are and fireworks or special effects please make sure you let the photographers know in advance.
• The photographers need to be seated in the same room as the Bridal party so that the photographers can keep abreast of what is going on during the night. You wouldn’t want a special part of your night missed as the Photographers were not aware of whats going on.
• Meals to the photographers should be supplied at the same time as the Bridal party so that the photographers are available when the Bride and Groom need them. Most reception venues wait until last to feed the photographers.
• From our experience having a professional MC is the way to go. Getting your Uncle to MC is not a wise choice as your Uncle does not have the experience to run the night to the correct time schedule. A good MC know what formalities are happening such as cutting the cake, the Bridal waltz etc etc. and keep everything running smoothly.
• Between entrees and mains your photographers will take table shots with the Bride and Groom at each table. It is advised that the guests stay at their tables until they have has their photos taken so as not to miss out on being in a table shot.
• Long speeches will make formalities run over time and often bore your guests so our advice is to limit each person to an allocated time per speech. Recently at a Wedding a single speech went for nearly an hour and most of the guests were falling asleep and when the speech finally ended everybody cheered making the speaker feel bad.