Clark + Walker Studio Wedding Day Tips!

As you already know photography is a passion for us and we love capturing the raw emotion of a wedding day. We have over 12 years of combined experience and learned some great lessons along the way. These tips are the answers to the most common questions we get asked. We thought it would be a great resource to our brides and grooms to share some successful tips to get the most out of the day!

Pre Wedding:

Tip 1: Give us a timeline of your wedding if you have one. If you have a planner we’ll work with him/her in advance, but it’s always super helpful for your photographer to at least have some input about the photo time well in advance.

Tip 2: We’ve found putting together a shot list for family formals can be extremely helpful. In addition to making things move much faster, it’s also hard when you are put on the spot to remember shots that you wanted. It’s easy to forget in the rush of the wedding day. Don’t forget to get input from the rents!

Tip 3: When creating a family shot list, we usually photograph elderly and children first followed by family, bridal party, and lastly bride and groom.

Getting Ready:
Tip 4: Have your bouquets arrive at the getting ready location as early as possible. If your bouquets do not arrive at the getting ready location your detail shots of them won’t be quite as good and all your shots of you once your dressed along with any family shots will be with your hands at your sides.

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Tip 5: Have any accessories (rings, shoes, ect) at the getting ready location if you would like them photographed.

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Tip 6: Bridesmaids should be dressed before the bride puts on her dress.

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Tip 7: 90 mins is a good amount for photographing getting ready.

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Tip 8: We suggest the bride get her hair and make up done last.

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Tip 9: You paid a lot of money for your wedding dress. It’s probably the most expensive outfit you’ll ever wear. It does NOT belong on a plastic hanger.

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We even wrote an entire blog article about getting ready tips!

Ceremony and Post Ceremony:

Tip 9: The wedding party should keep the flowers at their belly button and walk slow down the aisle.

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Tip 10: Having a bridesmaid, family member or friend help in organizing people “on deck” can help people get to the cocktail faster.

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Tip 11: If using a videographer (and it’s not us!), either professional or a family member please let us know before hand.

Reception:
Tip 12: After we have finished with the family formals and bridal party formals we like to spend about 20-30 minutes alone with the bride and groom. This is usually the butta light time!

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Tip 13: When dinner is served we love to be either in the room or close by if possible.  It’s never good when we’re eating half a mile away in total silence and walk back in the room to find the maid of honor at the end of her toast.

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Tip 14: This is the most important one…. HAVE FUN! It’s easy to go deer in the headlights style once the ceremony starts (I try to warn people about this in the morning), or to get overwhelmed or to worry about what time it is – but anytime you feel this way just grab the hand of the love of your life and realize that you have all the people you love most in your life in this one spot, this one day, with you. It probably won’t happen again and you’ll never forget it. Enjoy every last minute.

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Looking back on all of the weddings we have done this past year, there are a few fun and notable details that really stood out to us. Whenever a bride and groom add a personal touch about themselves it’s always a huge hit! Here’s a collection of some of our favorites as we start up the busy season in 2011:

We “like” the facebook reference!

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The bride and groom were both doctors – these notes are so clever

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He fits the part perfectly!

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If you can’t have your own mandsome invite holder like above, then carve your initials on the box…

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One of the best candy bars we’ve ever seen…and the kid is pretty cute too!

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Even though you are “Mr. Right” she’s always going to be…

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This hair piece adds a classy and romantic touch

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A simple yet elegant bouquet, and I love the country feel with the book underneath.  Having your getting ready at a sweet location makes our job so much easier

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This reception room was an absolute knockout

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Their cake toppers were their own Wii characters! So creative

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This cigar roller was a huge hit with the fellas

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A gorgeous pair of Jimmy Choo’s makes for a great night of dancing

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The sign and the flower vase were creative and inexpensive, yet really added to this wedding

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This chuppah was insane!

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I love some of these cool rustic signs I’ve been seeing

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Definitely one of our favorite bouquets yet – props to Renaissance Floral Design!

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This room pretty much speaks for itself…magical!

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This beautiful necklace was something blue and also something borrowed. An antique from her grandmother

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Awesome ring shot

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Who doesn’t love cookies and milk?!

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This cake really blew us away

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Oh just some Super Bowl bling…

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These flowers down the aile are perfect for any outdoor wedding

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When this couple first told me they were getting married at the Summer Camp where they first met I wasn’t quite sure what to picture, but this is how you do it

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This cake topper was a huge hit with all the guests

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How funny is this personalized drink by the bride & groom?!  One of my favs of the year

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Hope you enjoyed us sharing some of the fun and unique things we’ve seen this year.  It’s been an awesome year sharing with you on the blog and we can’t wait to up our game yet again in 2011.

Is one of the few questions I ask and never quite know what I’m going to get as a response.  Sometimes the getting ready location is well thought out and planned ahead, and sometimes it’s just a small garden variety hotel room.  I think a lot of us have done a good job trying to help spread advice and education on a lot of factors for brides when it comes to photography, but this morning I wanted to talk about the getting ready location.

For us at Clark+Walker, the getting ready location sets the tone for the day and plays a really important part in our photos. Many of our detail shots will take place in the morning, and it helps to have a setting to work with. We love big beautiful windows, natural light, lots of room for people to enjoy, and funky chairs/furniture. I’d guess about 1/4th of your wedding photos – whether it’s your bridesmaids, your details, you getting dressed, or candids – will take place in your getting ready location. We see people spend tons on the reception, plan the ceremony location, pick 3 spots for portraits… but then the getting ready location sometimes just doesn’t fit. Make sure your choice of where you’re getting ready supports the type of wedding images you want. I had a bride fairly recently with a smokin wedding and we were chatting about all her locations, and when I asked about where she was getting ready she mentioned just a regular old hotel room. Once we had this conversation I think I changed her mind into getting ready in a location that might fit what she expects for wedding photos a bit better. That’s when it hit me that maybe I should put some suggestions and tips in a blog post. Enjoy!

One of my favorite situations from 2010 was Mandy+Indy’s wedding we shot in Baltimore. Mandy actually rented a house for the getting ready portion of the day and to enjoy with her girls. The house was beautiful, full of windows, and had a ton of space for them to enjoy and eat and drink and get make up done. Look at this room Mandy got ready in:

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On top of the house being beautiful, it also lends itself for detail shots as well. The house had this awesome book on the nightstand in the guest room, and this funky telephone downstairs. These make absolutely killer props for detail shots

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It doesn’t have to be a house though, here is a suite that Lisa rented in a hotel below. Check out all the windows in the suite, perfect for awesome photographs

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This hotel room wasn’t a suite, although every room at the Aurora Inn could realistically should be called a suite because they are so amazing. But the colors in this room just allowed me so much pop for my photos. I know this is the kind of look Jacquie was going for with her getting ready shots

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One of our favorite all time getting ready spots – the french doors out onto the patio allowed us not only fresh air but also gorgeous light. Not only was the light beautiful, but check out the awesome couch for portraits as well! The character this location had really helped make the shots for Holly.

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In this photo you can actually see we had Courtney do most of her getting ready (except the naked part!) out on the patio on a beautiful day

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Laura’s wedding has been one of our most popular from all of 2010, and she nailed her getting ready location in Saratoga. The Batcheller Mansion Inn was the perfect spot for her and her girls, and it showed in both the getting ready as well as the detail shots.

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Making sure you have the right props can be key too. Plastic hangers can be a major photo-kill so make sure you’ve got a great hanger, a cute getting ready outfit, and in this case a super sexy mirror

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Or bring whatever style mirror works for you, but just stay away from plastic hangers and dollar store looking mirrors

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In addition to just the room, look what we had right outside the getting ready room in Florida for Lindsay’s wedding. It’s easy for shots of the bride and her girls when you have this right outside the room! Capturing this in a hotel lobby or out near the street…. not the same.

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I mentioned the Aurora Inn before, but they have such high end looking couture wall paper in all their rooms. Combine that with big windows and it makes our job that much easier

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Sometimes we get the boot as photographers, sometimes people insist we stay, and most of the time it’s in the middle. I understand not wanting an album full of shots in your spankzzz, but there’s so much emotion happening when you put that dress on. I think any bride after they get married looking back will agree. There’s just something about when that dress gets put on, once it goes over the head it’s real. No matter how much you think you’re prepared. So often times when I’m sitting in the hallway and we’re hearing laughing, crying, and “oh my God you look so beautiful” and then “oh yea tell them to come back in!” It’s gone. Those moments can sometimes be some of our favorite from the entire day.

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It doesn’t have to be just the ladies either, having the guys in a great location makes all the difference in the world as well. In this wedding I didn’t love the room Andreas was getting ready in so I brought him out on the patio to get his suit on. The guys had fun with it and the light was amazing.

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And then having a location like this for a shot with the guys? Again it makes a huge difference in your photos

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I hope some of these examples have given you some ideas and hopefully some inspiration. So much thought goes into all these details on the wedding and making sure everything is thought out, but then we sometimes see the getting ready location almost as an after-thought. Considering how much time you’ll spend there on your wedding, and how many photos will take place there….. considering your location and make sure it fits with your wedding.