RP Tip #3: Ceremony to Reception.

Disclaimer: RP Tips are based solely on our experiences as full time wedding photographers and posted at our discretion. RP Tips may not suit everyone’s wants or needs. RP Tips are offered as a benefit to brides planning their wedding day in an effort to get the best results from a photographer from our stand point. RP Tips are a trademark of Regeti’s Photography owned and operated by Amy and Srinu Regeti.

Let’s talk a little about timeline. There are a lot of important parts to a timeline, but this week I just want to talk briefly about the time from the end of your ceremony to the start of your reception and how valuable that time truly is for a photographer who yields creativity when given the time. As wedding season begins to approach this becomes the most popular question:

“How much time do I allocate for pictures in between?”

Typically after the ceremony you and your husband will exit the church/ceremony site, you may want to consider having your photographer exit with you and go straight into couple shots versus taking recessional photos, after all you have the processional photos. This will cut down on time wasted. I know that tradition says altar/arbor photos but let’s think about those photos and taking them into a better lighting situation, after all you do want the best photos that you photographer can offer to you. Consider keeping your shot list down to immediate family only and allow your photographer to catch other family members during the reception. Onto your bridal party, these usually consist of family or friends from your childhood, college, most likely you grew in some way through your life with them. Capturing all of you together should be very important and not in a stiff formal posed shot, why not casual it up a bit. This is where your photographer will come into play. It is just about you and the bridal party at this time. Remember that each posed shot may take 5 minutes or more (depending on your bridal party size) to set up so you want to be sure that you get the max out of your time and location. You should concentrate on locations with photo opportunity that will play well with lighting conditions. And remember to keep in mind how time will permit it to happen, the more time wasted in transport the less time is spent on photo opportunities.