Stimulate Photography: Wedding Photography Fun

I only thought it appropriate with shooting my first wedding of the year that this blog be all about the little tidbits of such a special occasion!

Here are a few things that I keep fresh in my mind when preparing to shoot a wedding:

Stimulate Photography's Shot List: A 'Who's Who' list of shots wanted by the couple. Having this worked out about a week or so in advance has helped me tremendously with time management throughout the wedding. Keeping time with the couple is of much importance as you do not want to slow the process at all trying to figure out who is who and whom should be photographed with whom.
Location Location Location: Shoot the surrounding area! Couples love looking back to the memories of where they got hitched, what the weather was and how the location was decorated. It is a great idea to scout out the location before the day of the wedding just to be sure you are fully prepared. If you are unable to shoot from a specific standpoint now you have other options to quickly choose from. This way you will never miss that ever important shot!
Shoot everything. Many couples want to look back on this set of photos and remember everything from the smallest button on the wedding dress to Uncle Joe being drunk in the back section. Well, maybe more so the buttons and things... These shots will create depth to the wedding book as well. This will only help you in the end and will leave your wedding couple and family in awe of your work!
What format will you be shooting in? I always shoot in RAW when working a wedding. This will offer you more editing options and flexibility. Most all wedding present themselves with tricky shooting. From low-light situations to backgrounds shooting in RAW will offer you more than JPEG etc.
The day before the wedding make sure that all your batteries are charged, you have extra memory cards and an itinerary of the days events. Make sure you know how to get to each location and have extra routes mapped out. There is no reason to be late and miss the shots of the couple arriving or that special moment between father and daughter. Be prepared!
Last but not least by far, have fun! This is the absolute must. Weddings are about celebration, they should be fun! Having fun will relax the people around you which will in turn show more of their personality in your photographs. Relaxed people equals a much easier time shooting in an already crazy photo session!

Of course there is a list the size of Texas of little tips to remember for wedding photography but these are just a few that came to mind. With much research online as well as reading books, experience at wedding photography will be a great teacher.

I am looking forward to the 2011 wedding season! So far it has been filled with so much love, laughs and new friends!