1. Smile often!! Relax and enjoy your wedding day… the photos will turn out a million times better.

2. Bring a satin or wooden hanger for your wedding dress… it makes a world of difference when capturing the beauty of it. *We come prepared with wooden hangers for you and your girls but having one with your future name on it or that says “bride” is adorable. We also always love it when you have bridesmaid hangers as it adds an extra special touch to your day. 🙂

3. Practice fully getting on the dress (especially if it’s complex with lots of buttons or a lace-up back) so you know how long it will realistically take.

4. Practice bustling your dress. I’ve seen brides take 30 minutes to bustle their dress because no one knew how.

5. Bring comfortable shoes… trust me, your feet will thank you.

6. Let “I do” be the only first on this day. Don’t let your wedding day be the first time you experiment with fake tanner or go through a trial run for your hair and make-up. There’s nothing that saddens me more than a bride who doesn’t feel confident and beautiful on her wedding day.

7. Touch up your make-up throughout the day. Getting rid of shine on your face makes a huge difference in your photos!

8. Think about the light… in the winter it gets dark between 3:30 and 4 yet in the summer you have more time so plan your wedding party shots accordingly and don’t be afraid to ask your photographer for help!

9. A lot of churches have rules re: no flash photography or where the photographers are allowed to stand. Make sure you ask and are ok with this prior to choosing the location for your ceremony.

10. Have your bridesmaids get dressed before you do as the photos of them helping you get into your wedding dress will look much better.

11. Send your wedding Pinterest board to your photographer! I personally love making sure we get those creative shots that make your wedding uniquely yours.

12. Tell your wedding party to smile while walking down the aisle – the pictures look so much better!

13. Feed the photographer(s) right after you feed the head table and immediate family. Often times, we are photographing speeches by the time we get our food and are then unable to eat.

14. Try not to eat during the speeches – you’ll regret it when viewing your photos later.

15. Try to resist the urge to talk the entire time during first dances unless there is still a lot of smiling and laughing between the two of you. We want to create the best possible memories for you and when you’re talking for the duration of the dance, it does not make for a good photo op.

16. De-clutter the getting ready area… you’ll like the photos so much more! *We will absolutely do this for you if needed. 🙂

17. Have a wedding day emergency kit. We come prepared with one but we typically aren’t there at the very beginning of the day so we recommend having one on hand. Here’s what we have in our kits to give you some great ideas of what to add to yours! 🙂 https://www.sbphotoanddesign.com/emergency-kits/
*It’s also not a bad idea for someone in the wedding party to have granola bars and bottled water (especially on hot days!) to share with the hungry bridal party that may have trouble concentrating on the poses without food in their stomachs.

18. Delegate… you have plenty of people that love you and want to help out. Don’t do anything on your big day but get ready, show up, and be in the moment. 🙂

19. “It’s all in the details.” Place your shoes, garter, flowers, rings, jewelry etc. together prior to the photographer’s arrival. It’s a lot easier for the photographer to get those creative shots of the little things that mean so much to you when they know where to find them.

20. Grooms – we get you don’t want to match your groomsmen but find a color other than white for your tie if you’re not fine with it blending into your shirt.

21. Remind everyone (at the rehearsal) during the processional and recessional to walk slow and smile! Additionally, it’s not a bad idea to tell all that attend the rehearsal that you never know when we’ll be sneakily snagging a photo of them so the more they smile throughout the day the more they’ll like the photos of themselves!

22. Practice the first kiss – while you don’t need to full out make out (lol), we’d love for you to kiss for a second or two. A quick peck gives us one photo but a kiss for a couple seconds or so gives us the ability to zoom in and zoom out, getting multiple first kiss options for you!

23. We utilize off camera lighting for a lot of the reception, including first dances. This means, we can only be at two of the four angles (don’t worry, we cover the best backdrops!) but if you’re doing dips/ twirls during a first dance then there’s a few things we’d say to you! First off, PRACTICE AND SMILE! We have grooms dipping their brides with their brides having scared expressions on their faces and I know that’s not the look they’re envisioning for that perfect dip (haha). Second, give us a few dips and twirls to ensure from the angles we’re at that we get a great shot of them! Third, when you dip, feel free to look at each other (be sure you smile! 🙂 ) then kiss, it’ll give you some additional photo options!

Was this helpful? We’d really love to be there to help you every step of the way while planning your special day. 🙂 Check to see if your date is still available today!