You’ll have a list of things to do and one of those things will be to find a photographer who can capture your day.   You’ll be faced with a huge number and variety of wedding photographers, so how are you going to find the one that’s right for you?

There are plenty of things to consider, here are some thoughts to get you started.. 

Personality   You need to be able to ‘connect’ with your photographer as they are going to be with you for the majority of your day.  The chemistry has to be right and when it’s right it brings out the very best in your photographs.  If you don’t connect or like your photographer as a person then you may find it difficult to relax in front of the camera.  If you are not relaxed, it will show in the photographs! Meet with your photographer before making a final decision.  

Style  Formal, informal, reportage…plenty of choices so have a look at some portfolios and see what style suits you.  Would you like some formal photographs as well as some natural reportage shots?  Chat to photographers about your preferred style before making any final decisions.

Portfolio  Ask to see a a full set of photographs from one wedding.  It’s easy to pick out images from different weddings but you want to see one photographed from start to finish.  That way you can be sure that you will receive a full story of your day in a style that you are delighted with.

The End Result   How would you like your photographs to be presented?  There are many options available from beautiful elaborate albums to high resolution images on cd.  If you opt for the latter, ensure that the photographs are copyright free and of high resolution so that you can print and share them with friends/family. 

What’s Included?  Consider how much you would like to spend on your photography.  Wedding photography is available from £500 to £2000+ so spend time understanding what you will get for your money.  Does the photographer use an assistant/second shooter?  These may be options or as standard but it’s worth asking the question.  An assistant to the photographer is useful to help ’round up’ guests for photographs to save you having to nominate a guest for this task.  A second shooter can provide some of the reportage shots whilst the formal shots are being taken, not essential but a nice way to capture  the essence of the day.

Meeting  Arrange to meet your photographer at your venue to talk through the day.  This is a great opportunity to have some photographs taken by the photographer so that you are used being in front of the lens on the day.  Some photographers offer a pre-wedding or engagement shoot which is the perfect opportunity to practise those smiles.

Experience  How experienced is your photographer, not only behind the lens but in their handling of people and children.  It’s so important that your photographer has excellent communication skills and can develop a great rapport with your and your guests.  Other experience within the hospitality industry is also a plus as the photographer is heavily relied upon to stick to the timings! 

On the day  Do you want your photographer to photograph you and your bridesmaids ‘getting ready’?  These can make lovely photographs and a great start to the story of the day.  The Groom and Groomsmen can be captured as they arrive at the venue and your photographer should liaise with the persons conducting the ceremony to ensure that all requirements are met.  After the ceremony, how much time would you like to spend on photographs?   Often the photographer will use this time to capture some lovely photographs of you both whilst your guests are enjoying some champagne, just make sure that there will still be time for you to mix and chat with your guests.

The contract  What’s on it?  What happens if the photographer can’t attend on the day for any reason? What are the payment terms?  Details of their insurance and the timings of the day.

Thanks for reading and happy planning! 

As a woman in business it’s important that I regularly network.  As well as providing lots of support there it is also a great way to promote your business, people do still buy people! So I thought you might like to see what we get up to!  Yes there is tea and coffee but there is also plenty of business going on.  I popped along to the Colchester meeting at the Crowne Plaza this morning armed with my camera. Here’s a snippet…

We listened to a great presentation on ‘How to Win Awards’ by Kate Everitt from The Write Impression, I think we all left inspired by her enthusiasm and ideas.  Cristina Alciati, fitness expert, presented to us whilst hula hooping (we were most impressed), Clare Lauwreys, known as the IT Fairy chose not to promote her business but to ask us all to get ourselves onto the donor register today!  She received her life saving transplant from a donor so I shall be getting myself onto that list (I promise Clare!).   Susan Pattrick told us all about Dancing Giraffe and Helen Jones is looking fantastic, a shining example of her Forever Living products.  All pulled together by Mandie Holgate, another successful morning with the Business Women’s Network. 

There are still some lovely opportunities out there, I popped out with the camera this morning to capture ‘The Melt’ in my garden.  At first glance I didn’t see much but a closer look revealed splashing puddles, reflections and dripping snow..

A fast shutter speed freezes the action and with a nice wide aperture you can blur the background too.  I probably got a little close with the camera to the splashing puddles, as water and cameras don’t mix it’s not something I’d recommend but sometimes the shot is irresistible! 

So what photographic opportunities are on your doorstep?  It helps to head out with a ‘purpose’ in your mind and challenging to set yourself a boundary of say, your garden.  Look for angles and interesting lines. If you look around, photo opportunities are literally everywhere!   

Enjoy!

So just thinking about how you frame a shot can make all the difference, posh camera or not… 

Happy snapping! 

Well aside from wishing I could jet up to Scotland I rattled off some tips and told her to send the images to me so I could crop and perfect them in Photoshop.  These were my tips:

• Put up a white sheet outside, preferably on a cloudy day and not in the middle of the day.
• Wear something fairly plan, patterns detract from the subject
• Take two paces away from the background to avoid nasty shadows
• Stand at an angle, never straight onto the camera
• The photographer (her sister) to stand slightly above eye level, much kinder on the chin!  
• Fire a little flash but not too much, experiment and watch out for shadows!
• Look away from the camera and look back after the count of 3 to make the shot more natural

So that’s what they did, and very soon I got this image in an email..

I could see that they had followed all of the steps and the portrait was very nicely done.  It needed very little work.  All I did, with a bit of photoshop magic, was to lighten the image a little in curves, set the levels and then the white point to get that nice crisp clean background.  No ironing required!  A final crop and the image was ready to be sent to the newspaper that day. 

She’s thrilled with the result, as am I and the newspaper were impressed too.  Everybody’s happy, that’s the most important thing.

So if you’re in Scotland, and you pick up a copy of  the ‘Courier’, look out for this very well respected Equestrian Expert who will be dishing out all the riding and horse care tips you could wish for.  There’s only one thing for certain, she won’t be getting me on a horse! 

To find out more about Shelagh’s expertise, visit her website

Check out Shelagh’s first article in the Courier: