Princess Bride Studio Blog

When brides and grooms look at brochures and websites for wedding photographers, they are often overwhelmed by the vast differences in packaging and style. One of the big differences that crops up right away is the number of photos included in the wedding package. Some photographers promise 1500 to 2000 images, whereas other claims you’ll be satisfied with 100. Why so much disparity?

To sort out the answer to this question, you have to ask yourself who is taking the photos. An experienced photographer will almost always take fewer images than a less experienced photographer. Why? Because an experienced photographer edits in his mind before he takes the shot. If the shot does not look promising, he may wait until a better one comes along. The inexperienced photographer simply doesn’t fully understand what makes a good shot, so he takes pictures of everything hoping a few will turn out.

A photograph should tell a story. Images showing the backs of people heads and no real discernible action are not what most people want. A wedding is about friends, families, love and relationships. The photographs should tell stories about that. Additionally, it should tell them in a generally flattering way. Part of what you pay for in a professional photographer is his experience at making people look good. Anyone with a camera can take a picture, but not anyone can create a memory that you’ll want to keep for years to come.

One of the most common questions I get at the studio is, “How far in advance should I book my wedding photography?” The short answer is you should book your photography/videography right after you have reserved your reception hall. If you haven’t secured your reception venue, it’s possible you might have to change your wedding date to get the venue you would like, so that should be your first decision.

Another factor is your wedding date. If your getting married on a Saturday in June you’re going to have a lot more competition from other couples for vendor services, so you should consider booking your photography (and all your services) further in advance. Some popular dates are booked over a year ahead of time. If you’re getting married on a Sunday in January, you can probably have your pick of everything, so you can wait a little longer to book. But, I wouldn’t wait too long. When you know whom you want to hire, just sign up—because it’s always possible some other couple has picked that same date as you.

One of the biggest complaints about wedding photographers is that they take too long to do the formals.

It might not seem obvious, but one of the biggest impediments to fast photos is interruptions. There are a lot of sources of interruptions, from people asking what to do with the flowers on the altar to someone needing directions to the reception. But, the biggest source by far is other people trying to take pictures while the professional photographer is working. We know that grandma will want to take photos, and we totally respect that. But, as trained professionals (who are working, just as you do at your job,) it’s very difficult to do our job properly when we’re interrupted with “Wait, wait. I didn’t get that.”

A professional photographer knows there is limited time at a wedding and is usually working a few shots ahead in his mind to make things flow smoothly. Unfortunately, when he’s interrupted after each shot, it’s impossible to keep things moving and he can easily lose track of what he’s doing. Additionally, countless professional wedding photographs have been ruined over the years by amateurs yelling “look over here” which often produces a cross-eyed look in the photos.

For all of the above reasons, we highly recommend that you eliminate amateur picture taking while the professional that you’re paying for is working. However, it’s up to you to enforce this. Princess Bride photographers will rarely say anything to your guests unless it’s really slowing things down to the point that we can’t think straight. More interruptions simply mean that we take fewer photographs. So it’s up to you as the host/hostess of your wedding to set the tone and get your money’s worth out of your professional photography.

Mr. & Mrs. Pitkin - Married September 26, 2009

Many wedding couples ask us whether we have a list of photos that we take at weddings. The short answer is “yes.” The standard list that we use is very similar to one you might find in a bridal magazine. It includes all of the important highlights found at most weddings. You can find a copy of our Photo List here.

Keep in mind that every wedding is different and the photo list is really only just a general guide to help ensure that we don’t miss or leave out important events and/or people. While the list is broad, it is by no means comprehensive or absolute. Our photographers always take cues from the situation to  determine what photographs to make. And, we always take special requests from the wedding party and the families to make sure that eveyone gets all the photos they want.

Also, approximately one month prior to your wedding we’ll have a final wedding planning meeting with you. At that time we’ll ask you about the details of your wedding plans so our photographer knows what to expect and what’s important to you. We feel it’s the studio’s and the photographer’s responsibility to help keep track of things so you get the photos you want. This is important because on the day of the wedding, you’ll simply be too overwhelmed by the events of the day to remember every photo you wanted taken.

You can count on our experienced wedding photographers to know what to do to keep things on track so you can have a great time and enjoy your day!