My last blog was about How To Book A Wedding Photographer and this blog is about going forward from the booking stage. So, you’ve booked your photographer for the big day, but what next? How does wedding photography work?
Well, this is how my workflow unfolds and what you can expect after booking myself to photograph your wedding or elopement.
The months before your wedding
After booking, you can feel free to talk to me about your wedding ideas and plans as much or as little as you wish. With some clients, I know absolutely everything that’s going on, whereas, with others, I know nothing. It’s cool, just be you, and if you need help with a certain problem, or want an extra, objective opinion on an idea, I'm always happy to help where I can. You can always see my Wedding Tips Page as well for more inspo and help!
Potential couple portrait session
If you have a couple portrait session included in your package, we will find a date that works and discuss what you may wish to do for it. It’s a great time to learn how to pose and to ease up against the camera. It's also an opportunity to get to know me, and for me to get to know you even more. I ask you about any camera fears or worries and hope to put you at ease. We have a crazy amount of fun and get some stunning photos while we’re at it. I adore them!
Six weeks before - email questionnaire
While we may be talking through your planning stages, at six weeks before your wedding day, I will send you a questionnaire to fill out. Not only does this help me write the blog after your day, but it helps me get to know you guys even more. I ask questions about the timelines of your wedding day, which help me figure out logistics of your day, and plan when we can run away for some incredible fine art portraits. It also includes your VIP formal photo list, which I can refer to on the day to make sure you get all the formal photos you want.
Your wedding day
It’s your wedding day! Yippee!
It’s all going well and I have photographed everything there is to photograph, from the details, to group shots, and of course your fine art couple photographs. For me, it can easily be a 17-hour day, so if you see me having a glass of water and taking five minutes to sit down, you know why. My record is 16 miles walked on a wedding day… that’s a lot of walking around a venue!
Back up
Backing up your photos is so important! Not only do my cameras have two card slots to make sure the risk of losing your wedding photos is kept to a minimum, but when I am home and I download your wedding photos to my system, it backs it up immediately across four hard drives. Later that night, it then gets sent to another load of hard drives, 260 miles away at my parents’ house.
The first edit
Most people think editing nowadays is using Photoshop, but it’s not. In fact, good editing is exactly the same as it was hundreds of years ago. The first round of editing is choosing which photographs to include in the wedding gallery.
On your wedding day I will capture anywhere between 2,000 and 6,000 photographs. If there is a second photographer too, there will be even more for me to sort through. These thousands of images will include ones which were a cool moment that didn’t quite fit the vibe of your day, ones where Nana is blinking, and virtual duplicates of other photographs that make it to the final delivery of images.
If you’ve ever seen me work, you know I run around crazily and even in group shots hold down the trigger capturing all those micro-expressions. You don’t need nor want to see all of these, you just want to see the best, and that is what the first edit is about.
The second edit
Now we're getting closer to what most people think editing is. The second edit Is where I correct the colour, crop images, maybe make it black and white and in essence make it “Josh Style”. I may also use this time to remove some images from the final selection, as it may not add to the overall story of your day. Let’s be honest, you don’t want to see thousands of photos, you just want the best ones!
Delivery of the online gallery
So, once I have got the final images all sorted and edited, I will create an online gallery for your images to live in. It is also where you can buy prints and share your images with anyone you wish, just by sending them a simple email. You might like to send them on to people who couldn’t make it on the day, or to those who are in the photos themselves. It’s up to you, but the gallery is password protected, so don’t worry about random strangers being able to access it all!
If you had a couple portrait session, then your wedding day photographs will be added to another album within your existing gallery, with the same password and link to share.
Blog
It is as this point that if you said you would like a blog, then I will pull it all together to place on my website. This is an even smaller selected range of photographs from your wedding day, which you can share on social media and revisit with a simple click. It’s a great way to show the essence of your day to your wider friends and acquaintances.
One more question
After all of that, I will ask if you would like an album (if you haven’t already ordered), or to stay at just a USB. If you just want a USB, I will put all the images on the drive and post it to you. If you decide to have an album, I will take you through the album process, which you can also see below.
I would like to add, you don’t have to decide right away, you can take your time, or stick to a USB and later on in life order an album.
If you order a wedding album
If you order a wedding album, I will ask you to mark the images you want in the album from your online gallery. We can work this in two ways - either you tell me the budget for your album and I’ll tell you how many images to choose, or you select as many as you want and I'll tell you the price. I’m pretty easy going and will always try to get you the best deal. If you have pre-ordered your wedding album, you can of course upgrade it to feature more photographs too!
From the images you highlight to me, I will start to design your album to not only flow with the day, but to be aesthetically pleasing as well. Once designed, I will email you a proof copy which you can approve or make amendments to online. These amendments come straight back to my album software and I redesign it and send it back. Once approved, I send you a questionnaire all about your cover options.
It’s best to make all your amendments in one go, as if we continue to go back and forth, I will start to charge for time.
Leave me a review
About a month after you receive everything you’ve ordered, I will email you asking for a review. There is no pressure to leave one but it really does mean a lot to me, and it helps other couples who are looking for a wedding photographer.
Stay in touch because you’re cool
Hopefully, you adore the photographs and plaster them all over your walls!
One of the biggest rewards of my job is watching a journey grow and seeing a couple blossom in their life together. I love to stay in touch with all of my clients, to see the adventure unfold. So please do keep in touch, and if you get any prints up on the wall, send me a photo of them, as that’s where photos should be - on walls for all to see!
Hopefully, this helps you understand how wedding photography works and what you can expect from me. If you would like me to photograph your big day, please feel free to contact me!
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