3 Serious Wedding Photography Mistakes Every Bride Needs to Avoid!
1 – Not taking enough TIME for photos
This is probably one of the biggest wedding photography mistakes you can make! It doesnβt matter if youβve spent $100 or $10,000 on your wedding photography, if you only have 10 minutes to capture portraits, youβre going to be disappointed.
Having a photography centered timeline is vital to ensuring you capture the memories you want. Yes we understand you are focusing on family & friends & are excited about spending time with them, but just keep in mind when itβs all over, all you have to look back on are your photos. These memories are what youβll carry with you as you grow in your marriage.
So a quick tip to help you make sure you have the time you need is to have your photographers assist in planning your timeline. What that looks like is different for every bride. Whether you do a first look or not, whether you utilize a wedding planner or not, etc. but the key is to make sure you have enough time scheduled to capture all the special moments & not just hours of girls putting on makeup.
Weβve put together a free guide as our gift to help you plan your wedding timeline regardless of if youβve hired a planner or not.
Click the link to download:
Download our free Timeline Planning Guide
2 – Focusing only on PRICE
Another of the crucial wedding photography mistakes most brides make is focusing only on the price. Yes we totally get everything costs money & is seemingly a necessity & everyone has a different budget, but with everything that comes with planning a wedding, one place you CANβT afford to overlook is selecting your photography team.
In the end, the only thing youβll have from your wedding are your photos & video. Yes youβll carry the memory of your day with you, but your album is what youβll look at on your Anniversary, when youβre sick, when youβre having a disagreement, etc.
Britney Keirsey, our favorite premier wedding planner with Be You Planning, always tells her couples that photography is one place they need to focus their budget before some of the lesser βnecessitiesβ.
The challenge a lot of brides have is they spend tens of thousands of dollars on the venue, flowers, that extra lighting from the dj, & meals for all 200 of their friends! By the time photography rolls around they are super stressed out. Somethingβs gotta give & many times itβs the wrong thing.
Let me tell you about Candace (her name is changed for privacy) Candace had a gorgeous wedding & a tight budget. Because of this she βhadβ to book a cheaper wedding photographer. She didnβt get 2 photographers as she originally wanted or videography because of budget. He photographer was newer, (which thereβs nothing wrong with being new, we all started somewhere) so they didnβt have professional equipment or systems in place to protect her day.
The photographers camera had a critical malfunction & they lost all of Candaceβs wedding photos. All Candace had from her day was a few cellphone photos. We met Candace 6 weeks later & she was still in tears. We were able to give her a couples session to at least provide her some photos in their wedding attire. She still had no photos from her ceremony, her family, her reception, anything. It broke our hearts.
If you ask Candace what regrets she has from her wedding, sheβll tell you only one. Her day was perfect & was exactly as she is envisioned in her head, but it only lives in her memories now. She regrets not making choices to perhaps let something not so necessary go to be able to hire a more professional photographer.
Britney will tell you thereβs always ways to make something happen & she loves working with our couples to make their dream day a reality & make sure they have who they need to ensure it lasts.
3 – Hiring a FRIEND with a camera
We hear this 100 times a month! Brides will say I have a friend with a camera who takes nice pictures or studies photography & theyβre going to capture my wedding as a gift! π±
Sounds amazing & for a birthday party, graduation, or family session this could be totally a blessing, but when it comes to your wedding day you are playing with π₯The thing about a birthday party or graduation is that itβs a short time & if you get 1 – 5 decent shots youβre ok because someone has a good shot on their phone anyways. The same isnβt true on the most important day of your life!
Sure you might have some decent shots from the ceremony & reception from friends phones, but you spend more time with your photography team on your day than you do with anyone else. There are so many moments that we as seasoned professionals know to look for. Having someone with no experience with different lighting situations & scenarios is flirting with danger.
The biggest reason this sounds appealing is because youβll probably save a lot of money which is tempting for any couple under the stress of wedding planning. You didnβt realize all that was involved. Every little detail has you overwhelmed & you just want a break somewhere. We get it. Itβs a big deal planning a wedding especially by yourself. Weβve helped hundreds of brides plan details for their wedding, but trust us when we say it doesnβt matter how amazing your day is if you donβt have cherished memories to look back on. You want someone who is going to do more than just βclick a buttonβ or βsnap a few shots.β We personalize every couples coverage to their individual needs & desires & capture your day as if youβre the only couple on the planet, because, you are!
If you have any Wedding Photography questions or would like our help avoiding these wedding photography mistakes, please comment below or send us a message.
Download our free timeline guide to help you plan your perfect day: