Brides Advice: 10 Simple but Effective Tips to Pull off an Awesome Wedding

Best Wedding Photographers in Arizona

A wedding is one of the most important milestones in adulthood. It’s for this reason that brides plan months or years before the actual date. The planning period is fraught with tensions, anxiety, fear, and much more. As a bride, you’re in the middle of this vortex of wedding planning and you have to ensure everything goes right. After all, this is your biggest day and you want to create the best memories as you usher in a new phase of your life.

But even with the longest period of planning, there’s a lot that can still go wrong. The last thing you want is a shambolic wedding because it could ruin what was supposed to be your best day in the limelight.

To pull it off, consider the following ideas as you continue your plans.

What Are Your Values?

Many couples have great wedding plans but these revolve around other people’s values. It’s allowed to borrow inspiration from your friends’ weddings or from magazines, but ultimately you should let your own values guide you.

Talk about what values, expectations and dreams you have for this big day and write these down. Write the challenges you might face and outlines solutions to ensure your wedding conforms to your values.

Time is Precious (Take Your Time)

Want to pull off a magnificent wedding that you would wish to do all over again? Then take your time. Time can be your best friend or your nightmare when planning your nuptials. Most couples start a year before the actual date. You start with a blank slate and start drawing a plan on everything you need.

Your wedding is supposed to be a joyous occasion and you don’t want to go to hospital after the wedding day due to stress. Many brides complain about high stress levels because they rush everything at the last minute. By starting early, you can have fun while at it and you don’t have to bother people with last minute pleas.

Avoid the Perfection Trap at All Cost

You have seen those resplendent bridal gowns which seem to flow behind the bride in magazines. You might have dreamed of limousines and other glamorous bits for your wedding, but the main question to ask is; does all this glamor reflect who you are?

Do you want an event that’s so different from you that your guests won’t enjoy? What you want is a beautiful and joyful wedding with a real human touch. Don’t expect everything to work like clockwork because that only happens in movies. Instead, relax and plan a real wedding and enjoy the moment.

Start with a Plan

What type of a wedding would you like? Would a destination wedding work for you? How about your family? There’s so much to plan about a wedding, and this is a good reason to sit down with a wedding planner early enough.

You get to answer all questions from the ideal location, type of photography, guest list, bridal style, and theme of the wedding, colors to everything else that matters. If you want to pull off a successful wedding, always start with a concrete plan which gives you direction for the planning process.

A master checklist can help a lot and there are professional trackers available on the market. The wedding plan checklist also has a timeline which helps you keep everything on track. You know the most urgent tasks and it’s easy to follow them. You can visualize your wedding goals and prioritize them without a risk of getting stressed.

Plan as a Team

The biggest mistake brides make is to take over all the planning and only involve the groom when things go wrong. Many grooms have no idea about what’s happening and they’re surprised when they have to wear ugly suits for the big day.

Your wedding can turn into a stiff affair where the groom looks like a captive. Your guests will note this and you can easily avoid the discomfort by bringing along your partner for the planning phase.

They might know nothing about bridal gown styles or the latest bouquet styles, but they can give invaluable input on many other issues. Also, you don’t have to shoulder the burden all by yourself.

Prioritize, Prioritize, Prioritize

So, you have always dreamt of a horse carriage for your wedding? But is it possible in your city? Will you spend most of your wedding budget to fly in the carriage or build one? The most important thing in wedding preparation is to have a short list of priorities.

Now that you have already agreed about your values and goals, work with your wedding planner towards listing items to showcase your values and also achieve your goals. The goal could be as simple as giving everyone the best day of their lives. To achieve this, you have to choose the simple things that can help you attain this from the DJ, open bar, live music, kids’ activities, and more. Ensure these align with your wedding date to create a seamless experience.

Don’t Try To Please Everyone

If you want a happy wedding, accept early enough that you can’t please everyone. Make the big day about you and focus your energies towards achieving this objective. If you try accommodating everyone in your life, your wedding preparation process becomes more daunting, expensive, and stressful. Remember, your wedding date is a celebration of your union, so let it reflect your personal choices.

Work with Professionals Only

The best piece of advice you can ever get about wedding preparation is to use professionals. For everything you do, make sure you have an expert by your side and this starts with a wedding planner. These professionals work with other experts who handle the catering, bridal wear, decorations, transport, entertainment, security, and so much more. You can also source independently for these service providers, including your wedding photographer, who will capture every special moment on your wedding date.

Don’t Forget What the Day Is about

Many brides get so engrossed in the wedding planning process that they forget the reason for the event. This is a celebration of your union and the focus should be on the two of you. Don’t fail to plan for your marriage even as you focus on the big day.

During the Wedding Day

With so much focus on planning, it’s easy for brides to actually forget how to prep themselves for the big day. To pull it off, get someone to watch over everything as you soak in the moment, enjoy yourself, make sure you get some spa treatment some days to the wedding, invest in comfortable underwear, and make sure you gift something personal to each guest if possible.

Final Thoughts

Plan, relax and remain flexible; these three words can make everything easy for your wedding plans. Time is an invaluable resource and can make or break your wedding plan.

Ready to get going with your wedding plans? Lovelee Photography, we are the premier Arizona Photographers in Scottsdale, AZ. We shall help you capture those special moments with the perfect wedding photographer.

Questions or ready to book? Drop us a line using the form below.

How to Hire the Perfect Wedding Photographer: A Guide to Posing for Wedding & Lifestyle Photography

Posing is one of those crucial elements of lifestyle and wedding photography that many aspiring photographers tend to overlook at first. When you are first starting out, you will most likely find your family, couple, or bride and groom standing there asking what they should do with their hands, where to look, and how to stand. In fact, you may even find that right out of the gate a family or couple will say that they are uncomfortable with having their photo taken and it’s your job to make them not only look their best but feel more comfortable and confident during their session or wedding.

Making sure that your family or couple naturally look their best involves a technique that takes some time to master. It’s not all about trying to emulate a pose that you thought looked good in a magazine or online. Placing your client in a pose that is flattering to their body type and doesn’t look forced is something that will take some practice. One thing that many aspiring photographers can easily overlook is the significance of comfort and confidence, especially since they will be present throughout the entire wedding day.

Helping your bride and groom feel comfortable in their pose will accomplish a couple of important things.

1. They will look more relaxed, which will absolutely serve to make their pose more natural.

2. They will be able to enjoy their wedding more. Being a wedding photographer is more than experience and quality, it’s about spending the day with your bride and groom during an important milestone in their lives.

Helping your couple or family feel more confident in their pose will accomplish a couple of things as well.

1. Confidence is a key element in photography for your subject. If your couple or family members feel like they’re not confident in the post that you’ve put them in then they’re more likely to look awkward or uncomfortable.

2. Confidence has a way of presenting itself in imagery. It can take a simple pose and turn it into some with affection and passion.

Achieving That Candid Look Through Posing

Many times when you’ve created an environment where your bride and groom (during their wedding or engagement session) or your family (during a lifestyle session) are comfortable and confident in what you’re able to bring to their wedding or session they will quickly relax and almost forget that you’re there. This can accomplish an element of a beautifully natural “pose”. I like to allow my clients to relax and have fun during their session by positioning them in the best location for lighting and background, and then by posing them and allowing them to “fall into the pose”.

Choosing the right wedding photographer is crucial for this process. I accomplish this by setting up the pose and telling the couple to feel free to talk to one another, to laugh, and to just be with one another during this time. Unless I am giving them cues on where to look or how to stand in order to create a better body image, I want them to forget that I’m there.

Allowing your bride and groom to fall into a pose can achieve a number of things.

1. I am able to capture genuine smiles that are not forces or unnatural.

2. I am now able to capture pure emotion, the look someones eyes as they laugh together or hold one another.

3. It allowed the couple or family to let their guard down and will automatically stand more naturally.

Which brings us to detailed posing. . . .

The Details of Posing

Being aware of the little details in a pose and with working with a bride and groom, couple, or family during their wedding or session can go a long way towards creating a curated look in the final portrait. Over the past 11 years, I have gotten into the habit of noticing when a person has his phone or keys in their front pocket, or when a groom doesn’t have their top button buttons on their jacket for formals. You begin to automatically notice when a wallet is in the back pocket, bulging out, or when a brides hair is not falling right (or covering her face). Eventually you’ll begin to notice the little things like when a baby is drooling or there is a small hair is laying on a grooms lapel. It is also crucial to convey all the details about the wedding to the photographer during initial discussions to ensure expectations are met. Collaborating with wedding vendors can help streamline this process.

All of these elements will help to ensure that your final image is clean and organized, which will ultimately make your bride and groom happy with their wedding photography and keep your couple or family happy with their lifestyle portraiture. Working closely with wedding vendors can further enhance the overall experience and outcome.

Using Lighting in your Posing

While this isn’t typically included in posing guides it is none-the-less and important aspect, as is lighting in all of photography! Quite honestly, if you’re not paying attention to lighting in your posing and in your photography it can look flat and/or washed out.

For instance, when photographing “getting ready” portraits during a wedding, placing a bride or groom near an open window ignorer to use the ambient light to cast shadows on one side of the face and body while illuminating the other side can create beautifully dramatic contrast. Additionally, setting the natural light of the sun or the artificial light of a speed light behind your couple or family will cast a beautiful backlit glow during their first dance or out in a field during their engagement session.

 

If you’d like to learn more, Lovelee Photography teaches a master class on portrait photography, wedding photography, studio photography, and more HERE!

Wedding Photography

HOW WE’RE DIFFERENT

 

1. WEDDING PHOTOGRAPHY TIMELINE:

Many photographers only take on a limited number of weddings each year, so we take time to carefully develop a photo timeline, based on your wedding personally. You may be provided a timeline by your coordinator and/or DJ but, we like to add to the organization of your day by detailing a timeline that will work perfectly with your entire day! This helps us ensure that nothing is overlooked and that things run flawlessly, from start to finish!

2. DEVELOPMENT:

Every single photo is fully and carefully hand developed…Yes, every single photo! This takes a lot of patience and effort but it’s well worth the results. We look at skin tones, color correction, highlights and shadows, and so much more, which enhancing clarity and brilliance.

– Even though we take the time to hand develop every image from your wedding day, our turnaround time is still among the best in the state, generally around 3 weeks.

3. DELIVERY:

You will be proud to share your photography with friends and family! Therefore, we made the presentation absolutely stunning. With a beautiful layout, cover image and your names displayed on the top, you can hide photos, heart your favorite photos, download your images individually or in their entirety, order prints with the click of a button, and share to social media! Everyone is going to love your gallery!

4. LIMITATIONS:

There are none! We provide full printing and sharing rights. We view these photos as yours not ours. Let’s be honest, this is your wedding, these are your moments, and we’re your photographer, why should we concern ourselves with what you would like to do with YOUR photos. Other photographers can be very strict about this and we’ll never understand why. Print, share, and love Your photos any way you would like!

5. PROFESSIONALISM & EXPERIENCE2. DEVELOPMENT:

Every engagement session and wedding collection comes with 2 Professional Photographers. Selecting the perfect wedding photographer is crucial, and we ensure this by providing two primary, professional photographers every time. Generally, photographers hire another person as a “second shooter”, allowing the “primary” shooter or the professional to pay less out of pocket while still providing two photographers (which is necessary for a wedding). The “second shooter” is always inexperienced and attempting to build a portfolio for themselves through working your wedding, all the while hoping to break into the wedding industry themselves.

6. PHOTOGRAPHY STYLE & DESIGN:

We love inspiration photos for your engagement session and planning your wedding portraits, especially when they reflect your preferred photography style! We also have a questionnaire that we will send over in order to make sure that your photography is captured per your exact expectations. We’re good at what we do but knowing you and your expectations helps us be the best!

7. PRICING

Our collections are carefully designed to be exactly what you need for every possibility. We have taken the time to carefully create our collections over the years, after witnessing hundreds of weddings we have come pretty close to perfect. However, we are highly flexible and love to help you create the perfect layout. We do offer hourly rates which you can add to any collection. Engagement sessions are discounted when booking a bridal collection! We don’t include engagement sessions in our collections because in some instances couples might have already had it done or are having them done in another state, etc. So, rather than build the price of an engagement session into the price of your wedding, we leave it out so that you have the freedom to build your own experience. This helps us keep our pricing lower than most who share in our experience level. – We will send you out a quote with our system, where you will be able to select the options you would like to include, such as; Engagement sessions, Wedding Collections, Boudoir, RAW Images, & Albums. This makes things simple for you to build your collection and not be over charged!

It is essential to book your dream photographer early to ensure they match your vision and style perfectly.

8. WE DO NOT CHARGE PER HOUR FOR SESSIONS:

We do not charge hourly for engagement sessions (we are there to capture the perfect moment and create beautiful images, however long that takes is how long it will take). Generally engagement sessions run about an hour to an hour and a half but sometimes we have limited control over the environment, lighting, and background distractions which may make the session last a little longer in order to ensure the best possible session!

9. PRINTING:

We do not up charge on our luxury prints, we offer them as a courtesy. This is not something that any other photographer does, in fact many charge between 5-9 times what they purchase the product.

– We pay an annual premium to a luxury manufacturer in-order to pass the savings on to you. We then make sure that your photos are printed in the best quality possible. We want you to love living with your photography. The better your prints look, the better we look.

10. WE STICK AROUND:

Once your photos are delivered we aren’t going anywhere. We will always be here for you! Next month for questions and next year as a married couple! Many of our wedding clients like to stay in touch and prefer to use us for all of life’s little moments; from their Engagement session to Maternity, New Born, and beyond. It is a support that never comes and goes, it remains dependable!

 

Questions and Answers

• Should I do an Engagement session: Engagement sessions are a great way to get comfortable with posing and shooting, as well as a great opportunity for us to spend some time together. During your engagement session, we will teach you how to look your best, which will help on the wedding day. Sessions should be fun and enjoyable and they can be! – View our blog post about Engagement Sessions HERE

• Have you worked with my venue: It highly is likely that we have worked with the venue that you have chosen. However, if for some reason that is not the case, we are confident in our ability to make anywhere shine! At their core, weddings tend to have a straightforward format and we are always prepared for any situation. Regardless if we have worked at a venue several times or never been there at all, we always scout lighting and location, ensuring that your photos are everything you’ve been looking forward to. Our experience as a wedding photographer ensures we can adapt to any venue and capture the essence of your special day.

• Why choose us as your wedding photographer: Our commitment to quality, creativity, and professionalism sets us apart. We understand the importance of capturing not just images but the emotions and moments that define your wedding day. Our experience as a wedding photographer allows us to seamlessly blend into your day, capturing candid moments and posed portraits with equal skill.

• How much experience do you have: We have been shooting weddings full-time for 15 years at the time of writing this. We are full-time professional photographers so you can always expect the best quality, the quickest turn around, and fast responses. This is what we love to do, so it always gets our full attention!

• What other Photography do you offer: We will custom design your engagement session including location, theme, and style. Day After sessions are a great way to extend your wedding portraits and get more of the photos that you were looking for. Boudoir sessions are held in a luxury hotel. Why not look your absolute best and have fun doing it?! After 15 years of focusing in our talent, there truly is nothing that we can’t do. We just enjoy capturing love more than most.

• How do you make sure my day runs smoothly and I get the Photos I want: Prior to your wedding we will create a fully comprehensive time-line specific to your big day. This will allow things to stay on schedule and help us plan accordingly. We can also utilize Pinterest to get a specific idea of what style and poses you are attracted to you. We also have a carefully developed questionnaire that we provide, which will cover any opportunity for you to pass on your expectations and maybe even shed some light on several ideas that you hadn’t thought of. Choosing the right wedding photographer can make all the difference in capturing your special moments.

• What makes you special, compared to other photographers: We have never lost our touch or the dedication to our clients that we are known for. Commonly you will find two possibilities within the wedding industry; those who are learning and not yet experienced enough for this important occasion, and the professionals who have the experience but have lost interest along the way. It was clear to us when we started our brand of wedding photography that we absolutely loved what we do. It became unquestionable when we still had the same passion and intentions, after 15 years of being a wedding photographer in Arizona and all over the world.

• What if an emergency occurs and you can’t make my wedding: We do have other professional photographers if something should happen to us. The photographers that we use are skilled professionals with many years of experience. The selection process to become a part of the Lovelee team is rigorous and highly selective. We always demand the same level quality and insist upon professionalism. The photographers on our team can all individually run an entire wedding by themselves and will ensure that your day runs smoothly and is enjoyable. There is absolutely no shortage of everything that we aim to deliver on every occasion! None-the-less, we will be handling your editing personally, no matter what, ensuring that you receive the exact same style that you’ve come to us for.

• How does editing work: This is another aspect where you will receive so much more than typically offered. We carefully hand develop every image that is delivered to you; that’s right, every single image – seriously! We are always looking at skin tones, highlights, white balance, clarity and so much more. It is a difference that you will see when you open your gallery for the first time, it’s a brilliance that reveals itself quickly. Some ask if we can retouch or alter photos for them, which we are fully capable of doing! This part of editing does come with an additional cost. However, the best thing to do is to trust your professional wedding photographer with any retouching, not someone who is not emotionally attached to your photos like we are. Luckily, we are highly skilled at creating alterations that are undetectable.

• What about the photos that you don’t deliver: There’s really nothing we have not thought of, after many years of providing beautiful memories. While most, if not all other photographers, will never allow all of your original photos to be delivered, we do. We are always here for your benefit, not our own. You have trusted us with your important moments, invested a significant amount of time and money and have patiently looked forward to delivery. It sounds almost disrespectful to not allow you the opportunity to obtain your photos, or your memories. We hold nothing back, if there is a way that we can make these moments greater, we are always going to deliver!

• Will you provide two photographers on my wedding: On your wedding day you will receive two experienced wedding professionals who know exactly how to work with each other, as opposed to one (hopefully) experienced photographer which will likely hire an inexperienced photographer to “second shoot” alongside the professional. The “second shooter” is there being paid to gain experience in wedding photography while adding you to their portfolio. We have a team of the most highly trained professionals, ensuring that every moment that is captured, is captured perfectly. No one wants to receive half of their photos looking the way they wanted and the other half looking like a hired hand shot them. Weddings are fast-paced and demand a certain level of experience and ability. While it is possible that I could handle a wedding entirely by myself, why not have double the coverage?! This allows us to focus in much closer to the details and timeline management, while capturing every moment exactly how it should be captured.

• How many of my images will you hand develop: All of your images are hand-developed in our studio! We develop all of your photos to replicate film (to this day it is still the most beautiful format), true tone but brilliant. We focus on the striking nature of that timeless film look that brings out true color and a beautiful bright finish; without being overly saturated. Color correction and balance allow for all of your photos to be consistent throughout your entire gallery, lighting and exposure will change dramatically throughout your wedding day. Therefore, it is important to hand develop every photo, not just a portion. You can expect about 70-100 photos per hour from your wedding day!

• How many photos can I expect: A good expectation is 70-100 photos per hour invested. However, this is just a guideline and often times we deliver more than that. Every photographer goes through a culling process, which eliminates the photos that do not display well. Our culling process only eliminates the photos that were blurry, where someones eyes were closed, or if it did not come out at all. Even still, fear not! We always take several shots of literally every moment throughout the day, making sure that the perfect photo is in there somewhere!

• **Will you allow me rights to print, share, and use my photos:**You have the full rights to your images. Again, you have trusted us for your important life moments, so we hold nothing back. You are free to print them any where you prefer (while others insist that you use their printing service). You can post them on social media and/or share them however you please. We do not believe in the idea that “these photos are our property because we created them”. We believe that these photos are yours, this day is yours and we are your photographers. It really shouldn’t be any different than that and we’ll never understand why that practice started in the photography industry.

• Do you offer printing: Yes, and what’s more, we offer it at a wholesale price! By now, you’ve seen it enough, that we’re here for you and your precious moments. This holds true across the board. Unlike others who multiply the original cost of printing by 5-10 times, we provide the same pricing that we are offered through our annual membership with the best professional lab that we have found. Your gallery is linked directly to our professional printing lab so that you can conveniently print your favorite photos, receive the best pricing, and have them shipped right to your door. You’re going to love the gallery shop that we’ve created! What’s more? We have coordinated with our printing lab to print with the same color profile that we use in the studio. So all of that extra effort of making your photos perfect won’t be wasted by printing randomly.

• How will I receive my photos once they’re finished: You will receive your final product in a digital online gallery which is downloadable for you and anyone you want to share it with. The gallery is beautifully displayed and offers a multitude of options such as; creating a favorites list, downloading any or all photos, and more. Here is where you can order prints with the touch of a button and even share them on social media.

• What if I decide last minute that I want more photos with my session: We do not charge hourly for your engagement session (we are there to capture the perfect moment and create beautiful images, however long that takes). Everyone warms up at different times, sometimes lighting is not cooperating, other times we have to wait for the background to change, etc. It just doesn’t seem right to be watching the clock, instead of focusing on your portraits and posing. Generally, engagement sessions run about an hour but sometimes we have limited control over the environment which may make the session last a little longer in order to ensure the best possible engagement photos! For wedding photography, it is very rare to shoot a wedding that needed us longer than the collection selected. This comes into play during the planning before your wedding and the careful development of the packages that we offer. We never want to sell you more hours than you’ll truly need however, should your wedding last longer than you have anticipated and booked us for we will always stay to capture these all too important moments!

• How long will it take for me to get my Photos: Generally, the development of your wedding images will be about 3 weeks. It really depends on how many weddings/sessions we are currently developing, we never want to rush the development of your wedding photos. Quality is always the top priority! Given this, we still have one of the fastest turnaround times in the business! Most say that they will deliver inside of a month and actually deliver between 3-6 months.

• What happens if I lose my precious wedding photos: We try to keep your images on file for years to come. Digital files are delicate in that they can become corrupt or lost. There is nothing more disappointing than realizing you’ve lost your wedding photos! Don’t worry, we make every effort to keep them safe in our dual backup network at our office. We cannot make any promises but we currently have 3 years of weddings stored just in case! If something happens let us know and we will do our best to recover your photos and then reload them to an online gallery for you!

• What makes you special, compared to other photographers: We have never lost our touch or the dedication to our clients that we are known for. Commonly you will find two possibilities within the wedding industry; those who are learning and not yet experienced enough for this important occasion, and the professionals who have the experience but have lost interest along the way. It was clear to us when we started our brand of wedding photography that we absolutely loved what we do. It became unquestionable when we still had the same passion and intentions, after 15 years of being a wedding photographer in Arizona and all over the world.

From the experience of shooting your wedding day to the development process, we have a plan. This allows us to be precise, professional, efficient, and most of all helps us provide a perfect product. Our team is well crafted, carefully managed, and led by a wealth of experience that many are unable to last long enough to acquire. With this, we are able to focus in on other perspectives of your wedding, ensuring that every angle, detail, and element is captured with true emotion and with a timeless style!

Ultimately, we have always treated every client as a friend with experience, rather than an experienced wedding photographer. This is your wedding day, you should have fun with your photographer and be able to enjoy their company. Using referrals from friends or wedding planners can help you find a wedding photographer. You’ll be with them planning your wedding long before the big day, side by side with them throughout your wedding day, and in touch with them well after the day is over! Making sure that we are comfortable and enjoy being around your wedding photographer is something that many couples overlook the importance of, and it is part of what makes us special.

– We also focus our efforts on capturing the special details of your wedding day. You put a lot of planning and effort into the details of your wedding design and we’re going to make sure that it is captured and remembered! Documentary-style photography captures candid and spontaneous moments throughout the wedding event. Candid photos often emphasize the natural emotions and interactions of the couple and guests. Every photographer has a unique style that reflects their artistic approach, ours is “timeless”.

– There are few things worse than a photo that looks staged. We style and pose in such a way that you’ll look comfortable and natural. Having fun along the way does not merely make the experience better, it allows you to look genuinely happy with the love of your life. In addition to styled photography, we are particularly experienced in capturing true emotion through candid photography. There is nothing more beautiful than candid photos filled with emotion that are sharp, bright, and captivating!

• Why are wedding photos more than just images: Wedding photos are not just images; they are tangible memories of your special day. These photos will be cherished for years and shared with future generations. It’s crucial to find a photographer whose style aligns with your vision, as these photos play a significant role in how your wedding day is remembered.

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Let’s create timeless photos that capture your true love. Contact us to book your dream photography session!