Written by Jarom & Shanessa
Husband & wife duo Jarom and Shanessa love all things cameras and are wildly talented when it comes to shooting weddings. In fact, their pretty dam good at a lot more then the big day itself and have the whole client experience from start to finish on lockdown too! So we recently sat down with them to pick their brain on how to prepare for a wedding day shoot and yes, that means before and after the shoot too. If you’ve ever felt a little nervous about a wedding day (who hasn’t!), read on and you should be confident and ready to roll for your next big day.
What are your top 5 tips on preparing for a wedding shoot?
- Make sure all of your equipment is charged and fully operable. It would really suck to show up to a session or wedding and not have a full battery!
- Have back up equipment ready to go for any unfortunate circumstances. Sometimes camera equipment overheats, especially when you are shooting in harsh sunlight, in case this happens make sure you're prepared and ready to go with a backup!
- Be to the wedding a little early to capture details before any guests arrive. Once people arrive it's really hard to get details without others in the shot, or things like water bottles, purses, etc. so it's a good idea to show up early to get those important shots!
- Have poses and prompts prepared and ready to go for photographing. When you have these things planned ahead of time it helps the couple feel comfortable and confident! They trust that you know what you're doing and this proves it!
- After the wedding be sure to back up all your footage into at LEAST 2 other places (ex. hard drive and/or desktop). I think a photographer's worst fear is losing the footage of an important day, we're really cautious and we back up everything to different hard drives to be safe! If you're wanting a 3rd place, Box.com is really awesome as well!
How do you plan and manage your timeline for the day?
On days that we have a wedding or session we are sure to do all the tips written above very first (a lot of them are done the night before), once this is done we check all of our SD and CF cards and make sure we at least have 8 ready to go for the day ahead, this is including back up cards as well. Our awesome bride for that day sends us her itinerary 2 weeks before her wedding date so we know exactly when and where we are needed. We also love to get a shot list from our bride so we are sure we don't miss anything special to them, every bride is different and we want it to be an experience that is unique to them.
What is your process post photoshoot?
Our process is pretty simple and everyone is going to be different depending on their schedule and a few other things. As soon as we are done with a shoot we make sure all photos/videos are backed up to our hard drives, we have an awesome camera bag that holds our laptop along with our hard drives and adapters so access to this is really easy, especially in the car. Shanessa is a worry wart (not a bad thing) and the longest we wait to ever back anything up is 15-20 mins because cards get corrupted, broken, etc and we don't want to chance anything! Once we get home we usually cull through the session/wedding, we edit our photos by oldest to newest, so usually we don't get to editing the photos/videos until a week or two after the session.
How do you ensure the client experience is 100% from start to finish?
The first interaction we have with our clients is the most important, we think it's really important to invest in the client and what their needs may be, along with talking about expectations right off the get go, this helps the process go so smoothly because both of us know exactly what to expect from each other! Our brides and grooms are our #1 priority from the moment they book until forever, building a friendship with them is very important to us because on their wedding day we don't want to feel like just another vendor, we want to feel like friends and family on their wedding day. We have made so many friends from them being our brides and we even go on double dates and have game nights with each other! We want every bride and groom to feel as if their experience is unique to them, and not something that we do with every bride and groom.
What advice can you give photographers shooting their first wedding?
Be sure to follow the tips we gave above, and that will help tremendously. You WILL get nervous and it is so normal, by now we have shot hundreds of weddings and we still get nervous, we are human! Have confidence in yourself and know that they hired you for a reason, and they trust you to capture their most sacred moments. Be honest if there's something you're not comfortable doing, this doesn't make you a bad photographer, everyone has their limits and this is why it's so important to set those expectations right off the bat! Last of all, have a good time and don't be afraid to crack jokes and have a blast! (always read the situation before doing so and make sure the timing is appropriate)! Be sure you're getting all the shots that the bride wants, but don't forget to get shots that YOU want as well!
Remember, every wedding and client is different but staying organised and ensuring each experience is one to remember is something we can aim for every session. And if things don't go as planned, don't sweat it. If you've built honest and authentic relationships with our clients you'll realise those 'uh - oh' moments are a lot more manageable then you thought. We're all human and if we're doing what we love and working with the people we connect with every wedding day will be memorable to both photographer and client.
coffee a week. Use code:
lead your photography
sessions with confidence.
FAQ's
How should photographers prepare for a wedding?
What’s the best way for wedding photographers to manage a wedding day timeline?
What’s the best way for photographers to stay organized for their wedding clients?