Recently I photographed a wedding at Cherokee Country Club in Tennessee where the planner lined the tables with tall brass lamps with green shades. The floral designer tucked beautiful, low arrangements down the center of each table and nestled tall tapers in hurricane glasses. I remember lowering my camera for a second just to look at it. Those tables are some of the most talked about details from this wedding.
I’ve been doing this for over 20 years now, and I’ve photographed more than 300 weddings. The weddings that look the prettiest in photos usually have one thing in common: the couple made a handful of smart decisions early on, and then they trusted their team to handle the rest.
Here’s what I would tell you if we were sitting down for coffee. (and fair warning: I’m going to start with light because, well, I can’t help myself.)
Light is my favorite thing to plan around
If you’ve ever walked a venue with me, you know I get a little nerdy about light. My favorite time of day is the hour before sunset. The sun drops low, everyone’s skin looks warm and soft, and the whole place just kind of glows. I love to save 20 or 30 minutes for portraits right in that window, and your planner and I will work the rest of the day around it.
Here are a few things that are good to find out early:
- Find out which way the ceremony spot faces at your ceremony time.
- Ask where the sun sets near your reception venue.
- Pick a getting-ready room with big windows.
Cloudy days are secretly great for photos, by the way. The clouds soften everything, so faces look smooth and nobody is squinting.
If your ceremony is in the middle of the day, that’s totally fine too. We’ll find some shade and plan your portraits for later in the afternoon.
Give your getting-ready room a little love
Getting-ready photos are where your story starts, so I always hope for a bright room with big windows. I do have one small favor to ask: have a bridesmaid scoop up the suitcases, plastic water bottles, and garment bags before I walk in. I promise I’m not judging. I have two girls of my own, so I know exactly what a room looks like after everyone gets dressed. We just don’t want all of the stuff in the background of your photos.
Plan your outfits for the whole weekend
You’ll probably change a few times over the weekend, and every look ends up in your gallery. When your welcome dinner dress, your wedding dress, and your brunch outfit all feel like they came from the same closet, the whole weekend looks like it goes together.
I also love it when couples send their parents a quick note about the look and feel ahead of time. It makes the family photos look so calm and put together. Think about where each event happens, too. A breezy linen dress is lovely at an oyster roast on the marsh, and a long silk gown looks gorgeous in a candlelit dining room. When your outfit fits the setting, you feel more like yourself, and that shows up in every photo.
A few small extra wardrobe tips that help a lot on camera:
- Big, soft prints look great. Tiny, busy prints can go a little fuzzy, so I’d save those for another trip.
- Very bright colors like hot pink and neon orange tend to bounce onto faces and make cheeks look a little sunburned, so I’d keep those to small pops like a clutch or a pair of shoes.
Go big with your flowers
Your floral designer already knows how to make a room look incredible, so I’ll just add my two cents from behind the camera.
Big, full pieces photographed beautifully, a lush ceremony arch, a bouquet with some size to it, and a few statement pieces at the reception show up in every kind of shot. Tiny bud bases tend to get a little lost in the wide photos.
Low table flowers are my other favorite because I can see everyone’s faces across the table. If your floral designer sets aside a few extra blooms for me, I’ll be so, so happy! I use them to style your rings and invitations, and those little touches make the detail photos so pretty.
Leave some wiggle room in your timeline
Rushed people look stressed in photos. Your full-service planner and I build your timeline together. We map out the whole weekend and add a few extra minutes between each part. That way, if hair runs late or a rain shower pops up, we just roll with it. When the day has a little wiggle room, you relax, and your guests hang around the table a little longer. That’s usually when my favorite photos happen.
A First Look gives you your cocktail hour back
A lot of my couples do a First Look and I love it for them. You get a few sweet minutes alone before the ceremony. We knock out most of your portraits early, and then you get to go enjoy cocktail hour with everyone you love. If you want to wait for the aisle, that’s great too, and I’ll plan for it.
Make a family photo list
A few weeks before the wedding, send your planner and me a list of the family groups you want. Add everyone’s names too. Then pick one family member who knows everybody and can round people up. Every family has an uncle who wanders off to the bar, and this is the person who can go get them.
Must-Have Family Photos for Your Wedding
Candles make the whole night glow
I love night photos. That’s when the toasts happen, the dancing starts, and your friends do the things they’ll be talking about for years.
If I could give you one tip for after dark, it would be candles. You can use tall ones, short ones, or little ones, and I’d say the more, the better. They give off this warm golden light that makes everybody look wonderful. String lights over a dance floor do the same thing on a bigger scale.
The one thing I’d skip is purple, blue, or pink party lighting on the walls. It looks fun in person, and it also makes everyone look like they’re standing next to a fish tank. Warm white lights keep people looking like themselves.
The best details have a story
Couples ask me all the time which details they should add for photos. My answer is always the same: bring the things that mean something to you. That might be your grandmother’s ring, your mom’s veil, or a handkerchief with your initials stitched in. Those pieces make the prettiest detail photos because you can feel the love in them.
My favorite trick is to put everything in one box before the weekend, including your invitation (times 3 please), rings, vow books, and family pieces. Hand it to your planner, and I’ll style and capture it all as you get ready. Your planner will make sure every piece makes it back to you.
You might be interested in reading about my all time favorite wedding details.
Comfy guests make the best candid photos
Some of my all-time favorite photos are of your guests. It’s your college roommate crying through the vows or your nephew asleep across two chairs at the end of the night. Those moments happen when people feel comfy and taken care of.
Also, an unplugged ceremony helps so much. I cannot reiterate this enough. When the phones go away, I get to see everyone’s faces.
On warm days, shade, comfy chairs, and cold water keep everybody happy. A welcome dinner is great for this, too. Your families and friends get to meet before the wedding, so by the time the ceremony starts, everyone feels like old friends. You can totally see it in the photos.
A good team makes it all look easy
Your team makes a huge difference in your photos. My dream lineup is a full-service planner, a talented floral designer, a caterer who knows the venue, and a photographer (me!) who gets along with all of them. With a team like that, a busy weekend feels easy.
I love working with planners and vendors. We swap timelines, walk venues together when we can, and look out for each other all weekend. If a toast runs long or a storm rolls in, we handle it, and most of the time the couple never knows. That’s my favorite kind of secret.
Your job is to soak up every minute with the people you love. We’ve got everything else.
Read more about why your photographer and wedding planner need to like each other.
Let’s plan a wedding weekend that looks beautiful in photos
Here’s the short version:
- Start with good light.
- Plan your outfits for the whole weekend.
- Go big on flowers.
- Leave some wiggle room in your timeline.
- Bring the details that mean something to you and build a team you trust.
- Go enjoy every single minute of it.
I’d love to hear about your wedding weekend plans on the East Coast or anywhere else. You can peek at how I work on my wedding experience page or scroll through recent weddings in my portfolio. When you’re ready, reach out here and say hi. If we get to meet in person, coffee’s on me.
