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5 TIPS FOR A STRESS-FREE WALK DOWN THE AISLE | PLAQUEMINE WEDDING PHOTOGRAPHER
As a photographer, I spend more time with the bride and her bridesmaids on the wedding day. On the wedding day, I arrive extra early and notice many things which can be avoided with proper planning. Here are five (5) tips to help you have a stress-free wedding day and help your “walk down the aisle” one you can truly enjoy!
1- Hire a Wedding Planner: In my opinion, some couples underestimate the number of puzzle pieces that must come together for a flawless wedding day. And it’s hard to estimate how many little delays can lead to BIG delays. Your wedding planner can handle family members and wedding vendors professionally if necessary to eliminate stress and prevent unnecessary disagreements.
2- Ask Wedding Party Members to Arrive Early: Let’s face it, while some people plan for unexpected circumstances some don’t. As the bride, it’s okay to automatically build in buffer time into your day to allow for traffic, accidents, weather, or forgotten items to be retrieved.
3- Allow More Time for Hair and Make-Up: Often times, this is an area where the bridal party can tend to run late. (Not bashing MUA or hair stylist) Even though artists have done a great job, bridesmaids may decide to change or want a retouch, taking away time from the next person in line. What wedding professional wants to send out less than their best work? So if the make-up artist tells you it usually takes 45 minutes per face, please allow an additional 30 minutes. It may require you to move your wedding day activities to an earlier start time, but I’ve never seen a bride stress out about being ready 30 minutes before the wedding started. In fact, that gave her more photo opportunities with her bridesmaids before the celebration gets underway.
In addition to hair and make-up timing, often times the bride thinks she should go last when getting her make-up done. It’s the bride and groom’s day, so when the schedule gets behind, everyone begins to speed up naturally, which means the time spent on the first bridesmaid is not the same timing spent on the bride. It’s disheartening to see a bride panicking because she’s worried about being late for her own wedding. My recommendation is for the bride to have her make-up applied earlier on and have retouches applied later if time permits.
4- Have You Wedding Attire Prepared. As a photographer, it’s my job to capture all of your beautiful details of your day- the dress before you put it on, your jewelry, the rings, your shoes and any special heirlooms. It’s best to have these items already in the bridal suite so that no one has to spend time gathering them. Also, just as important as it is to have the items gathered, it’s a great idea to already have the dresses steamed. If we are waiting for the dresses to be steamed, that’s time away from photographing those details and depending upon the length of time it takes to get the wrinkles out, those details may miss being photographed. Also, keep in mind that steaming many dresses at one time may cause the smoke detector to think there is a fire and the alarm could start sounding, loudly!
5- Get Dressed Early: If you’re doing a First Look, it will be necessary to be dressed about 2 hours before the start of the ceremony in order to see your groom, take photos and be hidden away before guests start arriving. If you have decided against a First Look, please consider the timing it will take to get into your dress. This is such a beautiful moment when the mother, maid or matron of honor or other special persons are helping you and it’s sometimes difficult to capture these precious moments when the bride is rushing and fussing. This is the time that I see the most mistakes happen as well (i.e. make-up getting on the dress, forgetting or leaving items, etc.). It is in your best interest to plan ahead to allow yourself time to enjoy this moment.
I Know that many of the things that can cause stress on the wedding day can be eliminated with the proper planning. Cheers to a stress-free walk down the aisle and a flawless wedding day!
Perhaps somebody, ANYBODY, should have told my classmates about practicing before making their debut and Philadelphia, Pennsylvania American musical group, Sister Sledge, was known for this “HIT” song “We Are Family.” Not to mention Sister Sledge’s group consisted of four (4) sisters: Debbie, Kim, Kathy, and Joni and NOT five members? Or was Morticia trying to pull the entire class up to sing? Okay, I can hear Morticia saying I’m blaming her. Well Morticia, I’m only telling you what I saw -YOU pulling people to the floor to sing with “SPOONS” in their hands for their microphone – and I “ain’t” one to talk so I “ain’t” calling no names.
Just joking, we had fun. Whoever said "time flies when you having fun" certainly must have been speaking from experience. SERIOUSLY, no practice was needed especially when we only had less than three weeks to plan this event. I’m proud of my classmates for coming together after 30 years and ONLY concentrating on having fun. We use to have talents shows where we sang, danced, and dressed the part. I got a chance to see my dreams come to fruition. I suggested singing and Carolyn Rivers immediately was happy to help with the song selection. She saw this through, canceled her previous engagement and decided to come to dinner with us. Morticia decided to bring the music and Antoinette was ready to sing. Although I will admit, Antoinette was ready to sing, had her dance steps down with hand movement and all – WHEN I PUT MY CAMERA down.
Thanks to everyone for coming out and help make memories for your future generation and thanks for allowing me to capture them.
April and I had some much fun with these beautiful young ladies today. Although they were getting ready to be sassy attendants in Sara’s wedding, it almost felt like prom day watching April do hair and make-up. Their smiles and happiness are genuine and that’s what we pride ourselves on achieving for every client.
What's a B-d Shower? - An evening of fun & entertainment with family and friends - a definite way to celebrate your day!
Last Friday evening, Ralph & Kakoos was the setting for KK Karyzma's special day. With family, friends, gifts, games, prizes, and food - she's sure to remember her 33rd birthday.
Just ask, we can help you prepare for your special occasion too. Just imagine how you can feel knowing your color scheme matches from every angle-satisfied! An AWESOME way make your GRAND entrance!
Have you heard the BUZZ? a perfect little honey is on her way! And family and friends were a part of Mom-to-BEE's special day. They honored Sierra at her sister's home on Sunday, June 9th. The theme for the evening was "Baby Buzz."
Another gorgeous family to share today! I photographed this fabulous family of four and truly loved how comfortable they were in front of the camera. I adore the family togetherness I captured of them (my favorite shots to take!) and little Justice was sweet, full of smiles, but asked me “Is this the last pictures?” They were so much fun; their clothes were sun-shinny perfect for summer time sessions. Even though it was late evening and cloudy, their smiles shined through!
I had the pleasure of meeting such a wonderful young lady and captured her at her best: pretty smiles, awesome personality, and highly photogenic. She attends Plaquemine Senior High School and will be graduating May 17, 2013.
If you're looking for an easy, fun way to learn how to take better pictures, how to pose your subject and shoot in manual mode, then our hands on training is for you! This hands-on class allows you to learn and work at your own pace and skill level.
Learn about camera settings, aperture priority, shutter priority, manual mode, and ISO, rule of 3rds, and composition. If this sounds like a lot to learn, you will in “NO TIME” be taking better pictures with a better understanding. Let me help you get started.
The fee is $275 and includes camera equipment to use, take home study guide, and lunch at a local restaurant.
All images below have not been retouched. Students captured these images on the first day of class. Images will be available on this blog so they can gauge their progression.
