No wedding is complete without all the perfect moments that make it such a special day being captured and immortalized for posterity. It takes a lot of time, effort, and presence of mind to know which moments cannot be ignored and how to click candid pictures. The bride’s mother on the verge of tears at the sight of her daughter looking absolutely gorgeous, and the groom’s face shining with pure, unadulterated love as he watches his bride walking down the aisle. These are moments that will never repeat themselves and so you simply cannot afford to miss out on them. To ensure that they don’t fly you (read your photographer) by, you can come up with a checklist. It can include everything from the poses to other aspects of the wedding that you want to archive for yourself. In fact, we have one right here, so why don’t you check it out, and decide if you need to add or minus anything from it?
Checklist for Wedding Photography
Professional wedding photography can be a great experience. You get to witness wedding after wedding, each brimming with so much love that you cannot help but feel all gooey inside. And using your photography skills to enhance and capture the moments to make them memorable forever has got to be one of the best feelings ever! But that’s just the sentimental side of being a wedding photographer. There are so many technicalities to compensate for the high flying emotions, that you may not get the time to sit back and enjoy being in the presence of so much love. Having a checklist either handed to you by the couple or one that you may devise for yourself sure comes in handy. The basics remain the same for any kind of wedding only a few things might change here and there. Let us see one such neutral checklist that you can customize according to the weddings you attend.
Before the Ceremony
Here are a few things that you need to make sure don’t get missed out before the start of the actual wedding ceremony.
Venue
- A shot of the wedding invitations on a table.
- The decorations at the venue.
- The wedding dress before the bride wears it.
- Pictures of the flowers all around the venue, so that the theme of the wedding becomes clear.
Bride
- The mother of the bride helping her to get ready.
- A long shot of the bride, ready, with the veil and without the veil.
- A close-up of the bride, smiling.
- A shot with the mother.
- A shot with the siblings.
- A shot with the parents.
- A shot with the grandparents.
- A shot of the bride with her whole family.
- A shot with the maid/matron of honor.
- A shot with the bridesmaids.
- A shot with the flower girls.
- A picture of the bride getting into the car.
Groom
- The groom getting ready, being helped by his best man or father.
- The groom fixing up his boutonnière or tie.
- A shot of the groom with his best man.
- A shot of the groom and the groomsmen.
- A shot of the groom with his parents.
- A shot with his siblings.
- A shot of the groom with his whole family.
- A shot with the grandparents.
- A shot of the groom stepping into the car.
Others
- Pictures of the bridesmaids.
- Shots of the flower girls.
- A picture of the maid/matron of honor.
- A shot of the groomsmen.
- Candid shots of the groomsmen, joking around with the groom.
- The ring bearer(s).
Checklist at the Ceremony
Now for the pictures you absolutely must have of the actual ceremony.
- The bride getting out of the car.
- The groom getting out of the car.
- The guests assembled.
- The bridesmaids, flower girls, and maid/matron of honor, ready at the entrance with the ring bearer(s), the groomsmen, and the best man.
- The groom standing at the altar.
- The bride, standing with her father.
- The groom looking at the bride as she walks down the aisle.
- The guests smiling as the bride walks down the aisle.
- The back of the bride as she walks down the aisle, with the focus on the groom’s face.
- The bride’s father kissing her before leaving.
- The bride and groom holding hands at the altar.
- The ceremony in progress.
- The bride saying the vows.
- The groom saying the vows.
- The exchange of rings.
- Shots of the parents during the ceremony.
- The first kiss as man and wife.
- The newlyweds walking out, hand in hand, smiling and waving.
- The parents of the couple hugging each other.
Checklist after the Ceremony
Here are some of the shots that you must take at the reception.
- The bride and groom arriving at the reception.
- The table with the gifts on it.
- The seating arrangements.
- The food counters.
- Close-up of the wedding cake on the table.
- The wedding centerpiece on the family table.
- The table with the favors on it.
- The guests seated at their tables.
- The bride and groom’s families at their table.
- The best man, giving the toast.
- The maid/matron of honor giving a toast.
- The newlyweds cutting the cake.
- The first dance of the bridal couple.
- The couple eating and drinking.
- The guests dancing, eating, and enjoying themselves.
- Kids at the wedding, dancing.
- The groom removing the garter from the bride’s leg.
- The bride throwing the bouquet.
- The face of the women waiting to catch the bouquet.
- The couple getting into the car.
- The couple waving good-bye to the guests and family.
Well, that was a detailed checklist that you can equip yourself or your wedding photographer with. Apart from these, there will definitely be many more precious and candid moments that will be captured and frozen in time. Have a happy wedding!
