Getting exceptional photography for your wedding

If you want to get Great Wedding Photos there are a few things you should do and consider. To get great wedding photos, hire a professional photographer whose images and style you love, communicate to the photographer your likes and dislikes, allocate enough time during the day to be creative and not be rushed, be Yourself, and Have FUN!

Start by finding a photographer whose work you really like. You want to love the images and feel comfortable with the style of pictures that the photographer shoots, or you may end up getting great wedding photos that don't fit your personality.

Next be sure that your photographer can actually do the work. In the film days if a photographer showed you an image there was a pretty good chance it was theirs, unfortunately, in today's internet environment images and whole albums are lifted off one site and then shown on another. The best way to insure that your photographer can perform is to actually see 4 or more printed wedding albums. Seeing four albums will help you know that the photographer is real and that they shoot good and consistent images from the start to the finish of the wedding. (For more information on picking the best photographer your wedding read the "5 Ps")

Now that you have selected a great wedding photographer you need to do a few things to help them get fantastic images. First and foremost you need to participate! This mean helping your photographer understand what kind of pictures you like and what you don't like. You can do this by looking at the photographers wedding portfolio and saying "I love this" or "I don't care the that". You can also clip photos from wedding magazine of from the web and show them to your photographer, although chances are that if you Love the photographer's portfolio you'll love what they do for your wedding.

Another thing you need to do is to allocate some time to make great images. If your wedding day is too full it will be impossible to be photographically creative. For example the image to the right was created the day after the wedding, because the wedding day was so full that we didn't have time to shoot anything fun. If you day is too full see if your photographer offers next day session, if you day isn't too full talk to your photographer about how much time is needed and any ideas you have that might require more time.

The last two things you need to do are: Be yourself and have fun on your wedding day. You would think that Being Yourself would be easy, but it's actually harder than you think. On your wedding day you will have a heighten sense urgency and in most cases your parent and family will be present and these to things can combine to make you act and react in ways you normally wouldn't. Just try to think about being with your fiance

Have Fun; seems obvious doesn't it. Yet I do a hand full of weddings every year where the bride or groom are stressed about this or that and all that comes through in your wedding photos. I'm Good, I can make you look taller, slimmer, younger, remove blemishes, and even change your hair color... but no matter how good I am as a photographer I can't make you look like you were having fun if you weren't. Something during your wedding day will not go the way it was planned, "Forget about it", the key is to remember that no matter what happens at the end of the day you and your fiance will be married... that should be enough to put a smile on your face.

So to get great wedding photos:

• Hire a professional photographer whose images and style you love
• Communicate your photographic likes and dislikes
• Allocate enough time during the day to be creative and not rushed
• Be Yourself
• Have FUN!