Read Part 1 here:
Anatomy of a Wedding Photography Job | Part 1
In the 5-days leading up to your wedding, I run through a checklist to make sure I am totally prepared to photograph your wedding. The checklist includes many things, but the big ticket items are:
Wedding planning is ready
I talked about this in my previous post, so I won’t go in depth here. Basically I ensure I have the final agreed upon wedding photography planning run sheet. I then print two copies of this, along with two copies of the family formal photo groupings.
Though I photograph weddings with digital cameras, having paper - or analogue - copies of these documents, means I am not relying on a device like my phone throughout the day.
Capturing unscripted moments is what I love about wedding photography. © Thomas Pickard | www.myweddingphotographer.co.nz
Photography Equipment
Before every wedding photography job, I make sure:
my camera equipment (DSLR bodies, lenses, flash units etc..) are all clean and in good working order
all batteries are charged up, including the spares
all memory cards are cleared and have been reformatted
both my DSLR bodies have the exact same date and time on them (this ensures the photos download in the correct Capture Time order after the wedding)
my lighting kit is packed and ready to go. I often use this for the family formals, if it is raining and I need to light the groups inside a building like a church or a similar space
The mental game
I’ll be totally honest - I was terrified photographing my very first wedding.
The responsibility of photographing a once in a lifetime event, weighed heavily on me and I knew there was the potential to make a lot of mistakes on the day.
Having photographed weddings since 2007, from elopements to four-day Indian weddings, to everything in between, I have the mileage under my belt to feel confident and relaxed on a client’s wedding day.
Having said that, I make sure I’m mentally prepared by running through these items:
I am well rested. This isn’t so important on really short wedding jobs, but it is critical on longer weddings, where I typically spend 9-12 hours photographing the wedding day
I have sketched some ideas for the bride and groom photos
I have reviewed the planning run sheet notes and checked all my equipment
I have budgeted enough time in the day, to ensure I get to the wedding even if something unexpected happens like a road detour, difficulties parking or I get a flat tyre
As you can probably tell, quite a bit goes into photographing a wedding. I can’t speak for other wedding photographers’, but I know taking these steps help me arrive at a client’s wedding feeling calm and ready to capture their wedding day.
Up Next: Anatomy of a Wedding Photography Job | Part 3 - The Wedding Day