When to shoot wedding portraits

A question that every couple wonders about when planning their wedding.

You will not find 100% correct answer in this article. Something different fits everyone. Everyone has a different idea of a wedding and wedding portraits. There are several ways to incorporate a photo shoot wedding portraits into your schedule. Let's take a look.

Wedding portraits before the ceremony

This is a great choice as long as the bride and groom don't put the emphasis on the first look until the ceremony itself. In this case, the photo shoot takes place after the photo preparations. This means that the preparations are photographed first and then it moves on to the wedding portrait shoot. If you would like to leave the magic of the first look, but the timing of the portraits fits you better before the ceremony, don't despair!!! You can still coordinate it nicely. You can have your "first look" before the actual wedding portraits are taken. It's also a very magical moment. Beautiful, magical, very personal. If you'd like to spruce it up even more. You can incorporate vows that you read to each other in private. Often clients have their bridal portraits taken before the ceremony due to "crowded" schedules, when there would be no room to take pictures after the ceremony.

Wedding portraits after the ceremony

This method is usually chosen by couples who are having their reception in a place where there is a space for portrait photography (garden, terrace, etc.). Of course, it also depends on your taste and your idea of wedding portraits. In this case, portraits are in most cases taken after dinner. Time permitting, clients are also interested in having portraits taken outside the reception venue. To give you an idea, this is a location close to the reception venue, we don't go out of sight for an hour, don't worry. However, this is a rare occurrence (at least for my weddings). Sometimes it happens that portrait photography is dealt with expeditiously, according to the current schedule or sunset/weather. It's all about the agreement with the photographer.

Wedding portraits on another day

If you don't want to stress about scheduling bridal portraits during your wedding day or they just don't fit into your schedule, this option is perfect for you. Shooting portraits on a day other than your wedding day is a great option if, for example, you want to have photos taken at a specific location that is far away from where your wedding is being held and you don't want them before the ceremony. This method is also used by brides who want their bridal portraits to have a different wedding dress than the one they wore at their wedding. Remember to bring your wedding rings with you when you have your bridal portraits taken on a different day. Are you laughing that this is a given? Sometimes it happens, trust me. 😀

I hope this article helps you in deciding how and when to shoot your wedding portraits!