What to Expect From Here
Welcome to the family! Here is some info to help you better understand the process of working together! The main theme; this is about YOU! We are excited to partner with you and your families!
Timing
The best time of day for great light is approximately 2 hours before sunset. When setting the time of your ceremony, make sure that you will have enough time after the wedding ceremony to take advantage of this beautiful light. This means that ideally, your ceremony would end at least 1-1/2 to 2 hours before sunset. If you will be doing “First Sight” for you and your spouse before the wedding ceremony starts, this gives you more flexibility in scheduling the ceremony later and getting to your guests sooner. If you have your heart set on an evening wedding, we’ll still get great shots of your special day, but will be required to use camera flash, video lights, etc. If you have questions about scheduling and how it will affect the photography/videography, please contact us and we would be happy to explain further!
Some Other Time Related Guidelines to Consider...
Allow plenty of time before “First Sight” or after the ceremony so we can focus on just the two of you. We recommend blocking out a minimum of 30 minutes for Bride/Groom shots.
Allow ample time (20-30 mins each group) for the bridesmaids/groomsmen to get photos taken before the ceremony (after everyone is all fancied up!). Don’t forget to allow another 20mins or so for the whole bridal party together with you and your spouse after the ceremony, if you want.
If you want family group shots, allow plenty of time for those too. We recommend blocking a minimum of 15 minutes for this, typically 4-5 groupings is favorable. You will receive a questionnaire that you can fill out online that will contain a question asking what groupings you would like. Make sure you appoint someone in your wedding party or in your family to gather all needed persons for the formal shots. Once they are present and know what group they are supposed to be with we can position them.
And what about all the beautiful detail shots? Cocktail hour is a perfect time for these. After your ceremony and post ceremony photos, take a load off and mingle with your guests and have a drink or hang with your bridal party before being announced. Spending some time before dinner with your guests or bridal party will give you both a chance to take a breather before mealtime and the rest of the evenings happenings. It also gives us time to run around and get some great candid moments and cover all detail shots of the décor, that you put so much work into, while there it is still light out. Allow about 20 minutes for this. The video team often uses this time to get up with the DJ for audio purposes as well as setting up and lighting or equipment in prep for the first dances!
However you choose to schedule the timing for your big day remember to have fun and relax! It’s your day and we are here for you!
**Make sure to be on the look out for an email containing a link to the online “Wedding Day Details” questionnaire as we get closer to the big day**
We know there will be a ton of things happening on your wedding day and want to be well aware of all the wonderful details (funny socks for the groomsmen or your bright yellow shoes for example), so please share these with us! This is especially important for video, the family dynamics and other relational nuance (good and sensitive) is important when the video is coming together in post (and on the day of for that matter). If you have any questions please don’t hesitate to contact us. Please remember to provide us with a copy of the final timeline at least ONE WEEK PRIOR TO YOUR WEDDING DAY. As well as a rough draft once it is available.
Photography Isn’t Graphic Design!
We believe in natural, realistic, candid and honest photography. When it comes to Photoshop we will not shave your hips and waist, change your hair color, or airbrush your entire face so that you like a photo on a highly edited magazine cover. You will look beautiful without all that stuff anyway! We believe that natural is beautiful and our photography style reflects this.
On your wedding day we will take a lot of images, once the images are processed we will cut any images not suitable for viewing. Think of it like quality control. For example: if you cousin pops up in front of one of our cameras and the back of his head takes center stage in a photo, it will not be included in any galleries. We want you to have as many images as possible from your big day, so if there are any images in question (like if one person had their eyes closed but the rest of the people in the photo are all bright-eyed and bushy-tailed, it will be included anyway). Generally you can expect between 300-600 great images telling the “story” of your wedding day!
Honest Videos
Same rules apply as above! The video will be a story of your day, so it is very important you fill in the questionnaire that will be specific to videography. This provides the context and nuance needed for us to be great storytellers! Video is a much more complex editing system, its not easy to just add this, or take out that, it all flows together. The timing of the song and climaxes in it…. the breaks in music to allow time for audio… and so on. So preparedness is key with video. We can generally fix a “must change” request but its not really the medium that allows for changes without a re-do approach. But don’t worry we are on the lookout for all the love and fun your wedding will exhibit. Just share the “need to knows” with your videographer and we can take it from there!
Posting and Publishing
We may publish a limited selection of favorite images or highlights of the video from your wedding and/or engagement session. This content from your wedding and/or engagement may also be placed our website and/or tagged on Facebook/Instagram. If you dislike the idea of being tagged or us sharing, please notify us as soon as possible. In that case we will know not to include you in any posts. And please, once you receive your photos/video back, we ask that you don’t re- edit or add filters or anything of that nature.
Proofing/Ordering
Once all images have been edited and are ready for proofing you will receive an email with instructions on how to view and order images. The proofing gallery provides a great opportunity for you to share your images with friends and family who may want some themselves! You can plan to share this with guests when you receive the proofing information so please take advantage of this! The proofing gallery will expire so be sure to note the expiration date put in the email. Please allow approximately 4-6 weeks from your wedding day until you start looking for the proofing email. If we are running ahead of or behind schedule we will let you know. If you have any questions during this time, feel free to contact us! If you are using our video team, please expect 3-5 months for the final product. We will try and complete this sooner, but please be patient with us here. Combing through hours of video from multiple cameras to re-create your story takes time, and we don’t wont to rush it!
You will receive a final package a week or two after the proofing gallery goes up. So be on the look out for that as well! **It is important to keep us up to date with any email or address changes so packages or correspondence doesn’t get lost!**
And What About Ordering Albums???
You will most likely want to order an album from your wedding day. Be sure to put in your order within 6 months from when your proofing gallery goes live!
You can browse here through Theo Milo Photography (our parent company). You can even pre order one now if you wish. This is helpful if you really want one, but are afraid you may never get around to it after you get married.. Trust us, this is pretty common..
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Once you place an order for the type of album you would receive an email with more instructions on how to go about selecting your images.. In short, you create a favorites list from within your proofing gallery and share that with us. We then get a design drawn up for you to have input on prior to the album going into production. Pricing depends on what size, how many pages and what type of upgrades you would like. Expect to spend anywhere from $550 to $1700 depending on aforementioned details.
Engagement and Bridal Sessions
If doing an engagement and/or bridal session is something we have agreed on ...
Engagement session: Your engagement session will include the hi-res images just like the wedding collections. If you would like to order an album from the engagement session, (maybe for a sign in book?) it will work just like if you were ordering a wedding album. Just ask for the order form link. We will work closely together to determine a location/theme and timeframe. Don’t be shy if you have any ideas! This session is meant to showcase your personalities!
Engagement Video - if you are using our video team, you can include a short video along with your engagement session at an additional charge.
Bridal: Typically, the bridal session will be done within the month or two before your wedding day or whenever you have your dress. We highly recommend scheduling trial hair and make up for this session and if you can get your hands on a bouquet from your florist also that would be ideal! This session may or may not come with a disk. As far as a location, this one is up to you! We are happy to help if you have no idea where to start but to give you some direction... a friends huge house with a beautiful yard, a ranch, or garden or large field...anything really! Let us know your ideas and we will put our heads together and come up with something perfect!
Lastly...Get Excited!
We believe there are very few situations out there that share the same weight and wonderfully beautiful atmosphere as your wedding day! We are honored to come alongside you (in a fly on the wall sort of way) and be there to catch all the emotion and moments and freeze them forever so you can look back on and swoon over again and again! We are always going to act in your best interests and make creative and professional decisions with you in mind!
The Story Creative Team...