Ceremony


Ceremony


The Ceremony.

It is of outmost importance not to distract you, your family, and your friends during this significant part the day. With that being said, during this part of the day the entire coverage is completely photojournalistic. We always follow the very simple rule of never positioning ourselves between the couple and the guests. During this part of the day I like to say that we are wedding ninjas. Its is our goal for no one to even recognize your professional photographer documenting these moments. By using telephoto lenses, and our super ninja skills, we capture beautiful documentary style image to tell the unique chapter of your wedding story.

Tips and advice.

Unplugged. The use of smartphone cameras during ceremonies isn’t just common, it has become ever presently standard at every wedding today. Although its certainly understandable that your friends and family want to capture blurry, over exposed iphone photographs of you walking down the aisle, those guests really cannot be completely present during your wedding. Instead of watching you, your fiancee, and your wedding party  – they are watching the action through their phone displays. Or worse yet, aunt Susan with her giant ipad, or uncle bob with his brand new “almost pro” camera. These guests will be proudly checking back on the photos they have just taken and contemplating which one they should post to instagram or snap chat. In addition to the fact that these guest are not as fully engaged in the day as you’d like them to be, they are likely in my way! As I photograph your processional, recessional, and even the first kiss, those aspiring amateur iphoneographers may step into the aisle without as much as a second thought, obtruding my view. This happens at a countless number of weddings, and unfortunately, there is very little that I can do about it.

With this being said, I encourage my couples to consider having what is known as and unplugged wedding ceremony. You may suggest to your guests through both the officiant and your wedding program that they should turn off their phones and cameras during the ceremony. For example, you may include in your program something to the effect of, “Welcome to our unplugged wedding ceremony! We’d love you to be fully present for our ceremony and therefore ask that you turn off your mobile phones, tablets, and camera and celebrate the moment with us.” The officiant may second this statement before the start of the ceremony.

Walk slow. During both the processional and the recessional, talk to your bridal party and ask them to slow it down. They don’t need to walk a turtles pace.. but slowing down their normal cadence just a bit gives me the opportunity to capture more pictures of them.

If you are planning on having a special ceremony tradition like a foot washing, breaking of the glass, jumping the broom, or candle lighting for example, please let us know prior to the ceremony.

During the ring exchange, try to avoid hiding each others hand. Typically the photographer will be on the side of the guests during this time. Your guests want to see those rings also, don’t hide those hands!

Consider providing your guests with bubbles, flower petals, rice, or some other sort of confetti. This always provides for really awesome recessional photos. You may also decide to provide guest with a note of instructions so they know exactly what to do and when. Sometimes with all the excitement and the recessional approaching so quickly guests may be a bit lost, so inform them beforehand.

After the ceremony, guests tend to bombard the couple with hugs, kisses and congratulations. Decide before hand, so that you may allot this time in your timeline, if you would like to have a receiving line where you hug and kiss each and every guests, or if you prefer instead to use this extremely valuable time and daylight to take beautiful photos! I strongly recommend, saving the receiving line for after we’ve finished taking photos, as time is often very valuable after the ceremony.


Formal Photos


Formal/posed photograph of family and bridal party