Looking back on your wedding day you definitely want to have a lot of photos of the people you love, the environment, and natural moments throughout the day. However, you are also likely spending a lot of time and money on all of the little details. These little details are also important to be able to look back on as a part of the collection of memories from your wedding day.
Good wedding photographers make it a priority to capture these, so that you have a full range of photography.
Today we want to share 8 of our favorite wedding details, that you definitely don’t want your photographer to miss capturing.
As a piece of advice: you can always give your wedding photographer a shoot list. That is expected in other types of photo shoots, but people often feel like they don’t want to be involved when it comes to weddings–possibly because they don’t want to feel like they are telling their photographer what to do.
Yes, you want to give your photographer a certain amount of creative freedom so that he or she can capture what they feel is important on your big day—they have a vision you personally selected when you hired them.
That being said, if you have specific things you want to document or certain moments that you don’t want to miss, let them know! In fact, don’t work with a photographer that is not willing to listen to your own thoughts, impressions, and ideas.
At LakeShore Photography and Video we always meet with our clients ahead of time, usually multiple times, so that we can be sure to create a shared vision. After all, the creativity of our photographers is just one component of documenting wedding highlights, you know what is most important and what you will want to look back on and remember.
Wedding details are a part of the wedding photography “package” so here are 8 that you definitely do not want to have your photographer miss when capturing your special day:
1. The Cake
Oh yes. You paid up the wazoo for it. You’re going to smash it in each other’s faces (hopefully). You are going to save the top tier for your first anniversary.
So before all that happens, you want a nice picture of it in all of its glory. Cake photos are something that will be a nice addition to a wedding album, and you will likely want to look back on it in years to come.
2. Shoes
Shoes are one of my personal favorites (this holds true outside of the wedding-scene). For whatever reason, shoe detail photos are always a really nice thing to capture in wedding photography.
They are hardly seen once the bride is in her dress, and it is likely that many are not looking down at the groom’s feet with all of the excitement. This makes shoes a really personal thing and a lot of couples will enjoy looking back on the shoes they wore.
3. The Rings
Yes, they are on your fingers until death do you part—but looking at staged photos of wedding rings in your album is bound to be a special experience when you look back on memories.
Photographers get really creative with taking ring pictures, so as long as you let them know this is something that you want, they will set up the shot and make it happen.
4. The Dress
Ahh the dress that you are only going to wear your life! You definitely don’t want to miss capturing some of the finer details of your wedding dress. In fact, you are probably going to be more likely to look back on photos of your wedding dress than you are to pull it out of storage and take a look at it again.
On that note, why aren’t more people doing “trash the dress”?
It is such a fun way to get additional photography post-wedding, and I have to admit it is one of the coolest things to see an expensive garment that you are never going to wear again destroyed in the lake, the mud, or in a paintball fight. Talk about fun! That being said, if you are entertaining “trash the dress”, you definitely want to get detail photos before the wedding.
5. Groom Details
There is often so much focus on the bride getting ready—there is always a lot going on in that dressing room—that some photographers won’t think to spend enough time capturing groom details. However, here at LakeShore Photography, we know there are a lot of special groom details worth capturing. From cigars and ring boxes, to cufflinks and bow ties…we suggest you encourage your photographer to spend some time on the man of the day as well. They are likely to capture photos you will look back on fondly.
6. The Bouquet
Flowers are beautiful wedding details and are often very unique to the bride’s taste and personality. They are many photographer’s favorite wedding detail to capture. Unfortunately, as we all know, flowers die, and although there are some ways to preserve them and dry them for long term keeping—they will never be as fresh and vibrant as they are on your wedding day. Most photographers would not think to miss this detail, but make a special mention of it at your pre-wedding meeting just in case.
7. Beverages
Food pictures are something typically captured–at least on a minimal level. However, it is becoming more common for couples to serve a signature drink at their wedding bar, or have a special bottle of wine on their table. From champagne toasts to mimosas in the dressing room, there are many moments that make for cool beverage detail photos.
8. Hair and Makeup
The bride typically spends a lot of time choosing her hair style and doing a test-run with her hair and make up artist. All of this time and effort is to make sure her personal features are looking glamorous on the day of her wedding. Sometimes photographers don’t appreciate all of the time and effort behind this particular wedding detail, and it can actually make for some really great wedding photos.
The Takeaway
There are a lot of details to capture on your wedding day. If any of these stood out as photos you would personally want to have as a part of your wedding album, definitely mention it to your photographer! Details are not often as thought-about ahead of time as staged photos or action moments, but they can make a really nice addition and will certainly be something wonderful to look back on long after you are married.