Do you want good photos at your wedding or do you want jaw dropping, breathtaking, phenomenal ones? My name is Cicely Procopio and along with my husband Jason, we are Procopio Photography. I think we can all agree that on your wedding day you want better than good pictures, you want to have the best portraits your photographer can produce! What you as the client can do to get these stunning pictures is to give your photographer enough time to photograph you. I can’t emphasize this enough, the more time we have alone with the couple, the better and more creative the pictures will be.
Every photographer is different so I would recommend asking your wedding photographer how much time they would like with the two of you. We typically shoot the couple on their wedding day for an hour. Some clients give us more than an hour, but on average it’s an hour of shoot time with just the two of them.
A First Look is key, which is when the bride and groom see each other privately before the ceremony. Don’t cringe! A first look is actually so much better than seeing your spouse to be for the first time at the ceremony. We have found that first looks are more intimate, more personal and much more emotional. The only people at your first look are you, your fiancé and your photographer. If you don’t do a first look you will be seeing each other for the first time with all of your guests at your wedding is staring at you. Also, a first look will make it easier for you to have a relaxed and fun wedding. Think about your wedding day. You have to fit in this hour of portraits of just you and your fiancé, you have to do bridal party pictures (that take 30 min) and family formals too. If you see your spouse to be before the ceremony, that opens the door to being able to do the hour of portraits of just the bride and groom right after your first look. You can check that off the list, done!
Then there are the “bridal party all together” pictures. Again, every photographer is different so be sure to ask your wedding photographer how long they need with your bridal party all together. We spend a half hour with the entire bridal party all together. So you do a first look, roll right into the hour of couple’s time and then a half hour of bridal party pictures. Done, done and done before your ceremony even starts! Whew!Then, the only other type of posed pictures you will have left on your wedding day is your family formals. Some couples decide to tack this on before the ceremony as well. You know what that means? You can actually attend your cocktail hour or have private time with just you and your new husband/wife and relax after your ceremony. Or, if you are up for it, you can do more pictures of just you and your spouse for as long as you like during cocktail hour. Basically, if you do all your pictures before the ceremony, cocktail hour is no longer mandatory picture taking time, it becomes whatever you want it to be.
Any angle you look at it, we prefer first looks and our clients do too. They are private, more emotional, and they also open up your time line immensely for whatever the bride and groom want to do. Our advice for brides that still aren’t sold on the first look idea we highly recommend scheduling two hours of cocktail hour (not including travel). That way we can accomplish the hour of bride and groom portraits, a half hour of bridal party all together pictures and then a half hour of family formals.
Depending on how the day flows, some couples will choose to split up their hour of portrait time (of just the two of them) into two 30 minute sessions or three 20 minute sessions. It all depends on how their day flows and what they want to do. Whatever is best for you as a couple is fine, just make ensure that you give your photographer enough time to capture the images you have been dreaming about your whole life.
Enjoy!
-Cicely
http://www.procopioblog.com/
(All images credited to Procopio Photography)
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