Let’s face it, we all know the one thing that’s in brutally short supply on the big day – TIME! It’s no one’s fault, there’s just a lot happening, and a lot to accomplish. And though there’s always the best of intentions, the one area that seems to suffer more than the others due to the time crunch is the creative session. Usually falling between the ceremony and the reception, there’s never an overabundance of time (to put it mildly) for the creative wedding portraits. The guests are hungry and waiting, the newlyweds still need to be introduced, we’ve got to cut the cake, have the first dance, etc. etc. Like I said, there’s a lot going on! It can be a little disheartening for the bride who values choices when it comes to art prints\canvas for her home, because as available time shortens, so too does the number of setups you can shoot for creative portraits. So, what’s an art conscious bride to do?
Though I’ll freely admit that this option doesn’t work for everyone, as wedding photographers, we’ve found that one of the best ways to get around this conundrum is to simply shift the bulk of the creative portraits to an alternate day. Whether it’s the day before, as we recently did with Cissy and Michael, or the following day, which would probably be the day that works best for most people, it really is the ‘have your cake and eat it too’ option for these types of wedding images! Not only does it give you exponentially more time for creatives, obviously, but it also reduces time strain on the wedding day itself, simply because it’s one less thing to worry about. Personally, we do still like to get a few creatives on the wedding day, because our couples are more ‘in the moment’, but even still, it’s a huge time saver.
As I mentioned above, due to their post-wedding day travel plans, Cissy and Michael opted to do a day before first look and shoot, and it worked out great! Starting at about nine that morning, we simply moved at a leisurely pace from one location to the next, until just before lunch time. We started at Riverwalk Bridge, on Jack Warner Pkwy for the first look, made a short move to Manderson Landing after that, then we shifted gears to an urban setting in Downtown Tuscaloosa, and finished up at Capital Park. All told, we shot four separate locations, with dozens of smaller moves and setups therein! You don’t have to be a wedding photographer to see that, even with the most of lax of timelines, this kind of coverage would simply be impossible on the actual wedding day.
All that said, it certainly doesn’t make this the ‘right way’ to do things, it’s just yet another option. There are a plethora of different ways to schedule and plan a wedding, and the only truly ‘right way’ among them is the one that works best for you and your particular vision. Never settle, and never compromise on what’s most important to you!
