Boston Wedding Photographer | Seeing each other before the wedding. Yes or No?

Over the past month I have had the pleasure of meeting several fun couples. I met Mauricio and Felicia through some newlyweds whose wedding I shot last month. Felicia a bridesmaid and a vocalist that sang at their wedding, and Mauricio was one of the groomsman. When I met Felicia, she was interested in doing some head shots for her portfolio and resume. So we made a date and I of course, made Mauricio come along to do a couple’s shoot as well. These two make a pretty cute couple, don’t you think? They were so natural at taking good photographs. It’s like they were professional models.

Seeing each other before the wedding. Yes or No?

I think I will take this time to share a wedding photographer’s dream. This is only a suggestion for my brides, but it is well worth the consideration. Is doing your bridal portraits on the day of your wedding for you or for somebody else? Does it stress you out? Do you wish you didn’t have to worry about all the time your photographer is taking up while you can only nervously think about the ceremony? So why not do some of the photo shoot the day before? Here’s why: for most weddings I like to ask my bride and groom to allot about three hours of time to do photos of the bridal party and the bridal portraits. I know this seems like a lot of time, but it truly isn’t. Normally we have at least one hour of travel time to get to the desired location to actually do the photos, then you must account for the person who stops off to get a coffee and the other person that runs away to use the rest room. So now we are at two hours for portraits. We normally spend thirty minuetes doing the bridal party portraits, which can vary with size of party. That leaves about an hour and a half with the bride and groom for their portraits. The bride and groom portraits are the most important photos of the day. Why? Because, these are the photos that you will look back on the most after your wedding. So why not schedule a good amount of time to spend with your photographer to record the emotion and beauty of your special day. You’ll thank me for it later, I promise.

Here’s my ideal: I would have the bride and groom do their ‘First Sight’ of each other the day before the wedding. I think doing it this way relieves a lot of the stress that comes with spending a long period of time with your photographer on the day of your wedding. I have seen it done before where the brides get all ready: makeup, hair, accessories and all. The groom puts on his spiffy suit and then we do a shoot the day before the wedding. It’s a beautiful thing. We aren’t pressed for time, you can truly embrace each other without worrying about your guests, and most of all you can get plenty of the intimate shots that every couple wants to be the best out of all the photos. I want to see your love and intimacy come through on film. I desire to get that one shot that reflects your feelings for each other and that makes your heart sing every time you look at it. Doing photos the day before gives me the best chance to capture that photo.

This truly is my dream scenario. I don’t have to stress about time and we can really embrace getting amazing photos because nobody is waiting on me or you. That is why I just started offering a ‘First Sight’ add-on to my packages. For just $150 extra dollars we can do a separate photo shoot of just you and your honey. No time constraints… no caterers telling you that dinner needs to start, ummm now. It’s just you and me. What a dream!