Telluride and Durango Wedding Photography

As someone who mostly works in a photojournalistic style, I do not like to tell people what to do on their wedding day. Simply put, it’s your day not mine, and the photos are about the wedding, not the other way around. However, while planning your wedding there are some general things to consider which can drastically improve your photographers ability to make you look your best. Of course, every situation is different, so take this with a grain of salt and please consult with your coordinator or planner.

General:

• If hiring a videographer, make sure you inform your photographer of this and pass along contact information. Or better yet, ask your photographer for videographer referrals. Chances are that your photographer can recommend a great videographer that they work well with. Almost all professional wedding photographers have a clause in their contract stating that they are not liable for shots missed due to interference from videographers and their lights. Same goes for guests that show up with camera/video equipment. Generally, this is not a problem, but definitely something to be aware of.
• Bear in mind that flashes from other photographers and guest cameras can potentially ruin many important images. 50 different flashes going off at the same time during the cake cutting, kiss, first dance, flower toss, etc., might produce over-exposed and ghosted images. Almost all professional wedding photographers have clauses in their contracts absolving them of liability for this. Officiants and DJ’s come in handy for tastefully asking guests to refrain from using flashes. Once again, this generally is not too much of a problem.
• If you are having a family formal photo session (see below for more info) consider having a cocktail hour immediately after the ceremony, and if you are planning on having a receiving line, then wait until the family formals are done.

Timing:

• Allow 20 minutes or so for the family formal session (if doing one). Any longer tends to test the patience of the people in the photos and also keeps the guests waiting. Traditional portrait (print-sale) oriented photographers will tell you something else. I tell them it’s not 1984 anymore.
• If your photographer has been hired to shoot the ‘getting ready’ shots, then you will want him/her to arrive at the same time the girls arrive at where they are getting dressed.
• If doing the family formals before the ceremony, plan on starting it 1-hour before the ceremony. It might only take 20 minutes, but in my experience the girls usually take longer to get ready than planned.
• I will try to sneak the bride and groom out of the reception for 10 minutes or so at sunset or twilight (the ‘Magic Hour’) for an intimate, creative portrait. It goes faster when it’s just the 3 of us and maybe my assistant. It’s also best if this occurs before any dancing begins.
• Relax. It’s a party, not a business meeting. Not sticking to your schedule shouldn’t affect your photographer’s ability to do their job. It might tick off all of the other vendors, but if you’re not having fun it will show in the photos. No one cares about eating their dinner cold when they’re having the time of their life, except for maybe the caterer.

Venue Set-Up:

• Make room during the ceremony for the photographer to move around to get more and creative angles. When the front row is too close to the wedding party and the aisle too narrow it limits the line of sight towards the wedding party.
• If photographs of the wedding party getting ready is desired, try to pick rooms with space for people to move around, and decorate it. Rooms with windows are best, but if that’s not possible consider decorating with light. Vintage X-mas lights strung throughout a room can go a long way.
• Decorate, decorate, decorate! The more flowers/leaves, chair/table covers, props, linens, and accent lighting, etc., the better. This is especially important for outdoor ceremonies and receptions. For indoor venues the addition of accent lighting can be a dramatic improvement.
• Really dark rooms may enhance the romance, but they also make it harder for the photographer to focus and make the use of flash a necessity, thereby blasting guests with an extremely bright light source when their eyes are adjusted to the dark. Striking a balance in this regard can be tricky.

The Ceremony:

• The longer you kiss, the more photos the photographer gets, which means more for you to pick from later. If you surprise the photographer with a quick peck, there’s a chance that even the best amongst us might miss it.
• The longer the ceremony, the more, better, and varied photos you will end up with. Shorter ceremonies limit the photographers ability to move around and experiment with more creative angles and capture the faces and emotion of your family and guests as they watch.
• Face each other and your guests as much as possible during the ceremony, otherwise you will end up with a bunch of photos of your backs.
• Light Unity Candles from behind so you are facing your guests, otherwise no one will witness it but you. The only thing your guests and photographer will see is your backs.
• When putting on the rings try to hold the ring with your fingers on the top and bottom of the ring so it can be seem from the side by both the photographer and guests. This shot is often missed because the hand positions of the bride and groom cover the rings from view. Practice this during rehearsal.
• While walking down the aisle, don’t walk too fast, and wait for the people who just walked to take position before the next people start walking.
• After all the guests are seated and before the wedding party begins walking down the aisle, have the officiant (politely) make an announcement requesting that guests remain seated during the ceremony, and especially stay out of the aisle so as not to get in the way of the photographer. Almost everyone at your wedding will have some form of camera in the form of a phone, point and shoot, dslr, or video camera, and it is not uncommon for guests to jump out in front of the hired photographer during important moments like the kiss.

The Reception:

• During the First and Parent dances, spend at least a little of it dancing towards your photographer. Also, if you’re going for a dip or some other dramatic finish to your dance, do it towards your photographer.
• Set your cake table in a well-lit (nice, not necessarily bright) spot with room for the photographer to get a good angle. Avoid placing it against a wall and/or especially a window. A table with wheels also makes it easier to move the cake around without damaging it.
• Flower/Garter Toss: The brighter the room the better. Also, don’t rush right into it; take a moment to play with your guests so the photographer can get photos of that, too.
• Most photographers will not shoot during dinner. We either take a break to eat ourselves and/or work on detail shots. No one wants to see photos of themselves shoving food into their mouths.

Family Formal Photograph Session:

• Consult with your photographer and make a list of the desired family photos, and make sure this list is distributed to everybody on it. If you do not have a list then crazy Aunt Cindy will take charge and make one up on the spot. What will ensue is a grueling 2-hour long group session in which guests you’ve never even met will be getting their x-mas card photos done. Your guests will grow weary, impatient, and maybe even angry.
• To make the session go as smoothly as possible, put priority on the wedding party and immediate family (parents, grandparents, and siblings). Place secondary importance on Aunts, Uncles, cousins, and for everyone else consider informal shots at various points during the reception instead.
• When making the list, try to avoid redundancies that will slow the session down. For example, shoot the bride with all of the bridesmaids instead of with each individual bridesmaid. The longer it drags on, the harder it is to keep everyone smiling. This is the approach most photojournalists prefer, whereas traditional portrait-oriented photographers will look to do as many ludicrous combinations as possible to maximize print sales. For me personally, I don’t want to burn the bride and groom out on photos because I want them enthusiastic for the ‘magic hour’ portrait.
• Have a guest or two who knows most of the people on the list help with corralling them. It’s a great job for the Best Man and Maid of Honor, and far more efficient than having the photographer do it.
• Before or after the ceremony? If you do the family photos before the ceremony, you will be able to go directly to the reception, you won’t keep your guests waiting, it will go quicker and smoother since there will be no interruptions from guests, and if children are in the shots they will be far more cooperative.
• If doing it afterwards, at the end of the ceremony have the officiant announce to guests that the bar is open and that unless they have been requested ahead of time to be in the family photos that they refrain from interrupting the group session and remain in the bar area. Also, designate someone to fetch drinks for the people on the family photo list; DO NOT LET ANYONE ON THE LIST GO TO THE BAR OR THE GROUP SESSION WILL TAKE 2 HOURS INSTEAD OF 20 MINUTES!
• If you are having a receiving line, consider doing it after the family formals; for the same reason you don’t want anyone on the list straying off to the bar, mingling with guests will slow the formals down.
• If you plan on skipping the family formals, then I highly recommend that you consult with both sets of parents first. It’s highly likely that it’s very important to them. If you surprise them with this then it’s likely that you will have crying Moms, upset Dads, and angry Aunt’s who will take over and force you to do it anyway. Then you end up with the afore-mentioned Crazy Aunt Cindy scenario.