Going to go against the norm of what most Brides say about their wedding: “I had the best day ever and wouldn’t have changed a thing”. Whilst this is true for the most part - there is one major thing that I would have changed.
I got married 10 years ago - that makes me feel so old! But back then, there was no Pinterest, no Instagram and I had only just joined the world of Facebook. So I was completely unaware of all the advice out there in relation to Wedding photography. My love for wedding photography was only just beginning. Photography was hugely important to me (having just graduated from my photography degree), and we spent a huge part of our budget on it. It was actually my husband who found the photographer after hours of research on google. I still love the photos today - I don’t think they have aged at all - they remain timeless. But there is one major expectation that wasn’t met. And that is there are no portraits of me and my husband. Of course there are the images of us taking our vows, cutting the cake and having our first dance. But the type of images I imagined I’d hang around our home, were very definitely missing.
I still remember the feeling when I looked through the images - I was completely elated and so excited to see them. I looked through them again and again until I realised something so important was missing. ‘Where are the photos of us?’ I remember questioning this, because we had planned so carefully to take our whole bridal party away from the venue to a field hidden behind a dual carriage way. Ha - that sounds hilarious when writing it down! But bare with me. I used to drive alongside this road daily and sometimes cycle to this field whilst planning the wedding and I was drawn to the long, wild grass and cluster of huge pine trees. Our wedding venue was in, essentially a warehouse - which we decorated with candles, fairy lights, peonies and huge drapes of white fabric. A real DIY affair. We did the best we could with our budget, and I still think we made it look beautiful. So it was important that we went somewhere away from this environment for the group photos and portraits.
I’m telling you all this, not to speak negatively against our photographer, but to highlight that it is extremely important and essential to discuss EXPECTATIONS with your wedding photographer/s. When we challenged our photographer about these missing images, he told us we hadn’t given him enough time to get them. And he was absolutely right - I couldn’t argue with that, but I also felt cheated because he hadn’t told us we needed to give him that time. I just assumed that was part of his job. We were married 10 years ago, so perhaps having a dedicated time out for portraits wasn’t as ‘trendy’ as it is now, but still.
So, whilst it is our job to EDUCATE you as best we can, it is YOUR job to tell your photographer/s if you have certain expectations. And we don’t mean producing lists and lists of certain images or obvious shots - you do need to build a level of TRUST with your chosen photographer and let them do their job. But if something is particularly important to you - you need to say so!
And that’s why we are building a Client Information section to our website - full of all the advice we can give you. We want to educate you the best we can, sharing our knowledge and experience from all the weddings we’ve shot over the years.
So there we go. My biggest regret when we booked our wedding photographer was expecting portraits of me and my husband, and assuming they’d be taken. We should have discussed it with our photographer first - I shouldn’t have assumed anything. Always discuss every aspect of your day, fully with your photographer in your pre-wedding consultations. And then when that’s all taken care of, you get let go and have an amazing, happy day - with the security that everyone is on the same page.
Jade xx
We hope you’ve found this helpful! We’d love to chat with you about YOUR wedding - get in touch via the contact page or send us an email info@coralandstone.co.uk