I’m going to be starting two new series under Tips + Advice!! Woohoo!!! The first will be geared toward any couple prepping for their big day and the second will be geared towards my fellow photogs. Some of the best advice I’ve gotten for my business or my photography has come from other photographers, so I’m hoping some people can find little nuggets in these posts

I encourage people to read this with open hearts and minds and perhaps some humor. The tips I’m writing about are simply formed from my personal experience photographing weddings, so take them as you will!! (Side note: NONE of the photos posted are examples, just pictures to pretty up the post.)

1. Ceremony Time Matters!!! 
This is a HUGE one for me since the majority of the weddings I photograph are in the Northeast. Key word: seasons. It is so important that you choose a ceremony time appropriate for that particular season and for your wedding day timeline. For example, if you’re planning on doing a first look, I may suggest a difference ceremony time than if you choose to do all of the photos after the ceremony because I need time to create photos 🙂 As photographers, we truly, truly want to creative beautiful photographs for you to cherish, but in order to do that, we need time. And light. I can’t tell you how many times a bride has come to me saying something like, “Oh yes, so I’m getting married in December and my ceremony is at 4:30 and I want all of the photos done after.” Listen, I LOVE my clients, I’ve been blessed with some amazing couples, but most couples aren’t educated on timing for photography. It’s my job as a photographer to educate them!! So here goes a little educating… My friends, here in December? It’s dark by 5. DARK. And on top of that, when the sun starts to go down in the winter months, it goes down fast. Like…ZIP! Gone. (It’s 5PM right now as I’m typing this and it’s completely dark outside! Ha!) So my advice to all of the amazing brides and grooms is to ask your photographer for their thoughts!! It’s as easy as that 🙂 In general, photographers are freaks about knowing when the sun will rise and set, but New Englanders are even bigger freaks about it because we have to deal with four seasons and learn how the time change affects them.

2. Wear Your Shoes!!!
There have been many weddings I’ve shot where the bride had either never walked around in her shoes or she had never tried them on. Please try them on!! That’s tip one. I recently photographed an amazing bride who didn’t try her shoes on so she didn’t know how badly they would hurt her feet to wear them for so long. The dear thing couldn’t feel her toes. I felt horrible making her walk, but she assured me it was worth it for the photos. (If you know who you are, I love you!!!! You were a fabulous bride!)

Tip two would be to walk in your shoes. Especially the gents that purchase fancy dress shoes!! Those things can be super slippery!!!! Just scuff up the bottoms a little bit outside and you’ll be way better off than slipping around in the grass the whole time. And ladies, please walk around the house a little, even if it’s just once. That way you’ll at least know what they feel like. Wedding days are long, especially for the bride who has to get all gussied up and wear heels.

3. Blush-tastic. 
Obviously this tip is geared towards the brides 🙂 Ladies, I am alllll for getting dolled up for your wedding day, but the one thing I’ve found that’s always hard for me as a photographer is too much blush. I honestly can’t tell you how many hours I’ve spent editing heavy blush. So if you normally wear blush, make sure it’s blended well, otherwise it could end up looking like a harsh line across your face in photos. If that’s a look you’re in to, fantastic!! (And maybe let me know??) But if it’s not your thing, just remember to blend, blend, blend. Blending is your friend 🙂

If you don’t normally wear blush, I would suggest to either go VERY light or just skip it all together. Please keep in mind, this is just my opinion!!! I’ve noticed that brides naturally get a flushed look in their cheeks due to excitement, nerves, sometimes weather, and high emotions on their wedding days, so you don’t need tons of blush anyway. I understand that you want to look AH-MAZE-ING on your wedding day, but more times than not, too much blush distracts from your face. Just have a glass of champagne or something! Or have your makeup artist choose a blush color that best compliments your skin tone.

4. Them Brows Though…
EYEBROWS. I LOVE me some good eyebrows. Not saying I have great eyebrows though, I think I may have messed up the shape or something the first time I decided to pluck them. Sigh. Anyway… eyebrows are important in my opinion. Most girls are really good about keeping their eyebrows looking spectacular so I don’t really have much advice for ladies except maybe mess around with an eyebrow filler or something? And have them cleaned up before the wedding day, not ON the wedding day. You may get a little redness plucking them on the actual day if you have sensitive skin. Zero fun.

GUYS. Let’s just have a little tiny convo. I know the majority of guys don’t pluck or shape their eyebrows, which is completely fine. However, it would be amazing if I didn’t have to edit out those incredible little unibrow doodads. Hah!! Sorry to be so blunt, but it’s true. You know those super romantic close up shots with your new bride?? Many, many times I’ve gone in and touched up your eyebrows so that there were two brows, not one-ish. Not saying to go crazy, just maybe think about tweezing out some of the friendly little dudes in the center 🙂 Just a bit of advice for all the handsome grooms-to-be out there!!!

5. Have fun!!!
IT’S YOUR WEDDING DAY!!! HAVE FUN!!! You’ve spent months and months planning your perfect wedding, so when the day finally arrives, just relax and let the day unfold. Part of my job is helping with the timeline, so don’t freak out about every minute that passes, I’ve got your back. I will nicely let you know when we’re running late (which is most weddings) and in some cases when we’re running really late, I’ll throw some ideas at you so we can try to squeeze in all the photos you want. So don’t worry or stress, just do you and let everyone else take care of the rest 🙂