Welcome, thanks for booking Alex as your wedding photographer on your big day. Over the years of doing wedding photography the same questions from couples seem to keep croppping up. As such I’ve put together this little FAQ to try and answer a few of them. If you have more please don’t hesitate to ask them!

Payments/Packages:
Okay yes I know it’s the thing we all hate to talk about so I thought I’d best get it out of the way now. When you send in the contract I need your first deposit payment. If you haven’t done it already best to get it in now since I can’t mark your day off until I receive it. The front of the contract should tell you the exact amount you owe.
Two weeks before your ceremony the remainder of the wedding coverage fee is payable. I should remind you before then but if I haven’t feel free to take the initiative and send it in! I work slightly differently to other photographers in that I don’t ask for any payment for print packages until after the wedding when you’ve had time to decide what you want. If you want to pay in advance thought that’s fine, I’ll just chalk it up as a credit!
After the wedding once you’ve had a chance to look through all the photos from the day, decide upon the print package you require and send in the details along with the balance for it. You can buy things outside the print package and prices for these should be listed on your individual website. If something you’re interested in isn’t listed feel free to ask!

How many formals should I have?
Well ideally I reccomend one big group shot of everybody, lots of you guys, some fun ones of the bridal party/brides/stags then some family ones. Please please please think hard about the family ones though. A lot of couples go ask their parents about this and come back with a list of 20 photographs. The main reason for this is that a lot of parents think back to their wedding and expect these to be the only photographs we take, but this isn’t true! We’re there throughout the day getting candids and people have to be pretty ninja to avoid getting snapped at some point. I digress. Generally I recommend one of the entirety of each side of the family and then one of immediate family. If you’re starting to have a list which includes ‘Photo of family with Uncle Bob’ and then ‘Photo of family without Uncle Bob’, chances are you’ve gone too far! Whatever happens try and keep the total number of groups below 8. Remember the less you have the more fun we can have with them and the quicker you can get back to your special day!

Food:
We’re normally flying around at the wedding and don’t get much of a chance to stop. Generally during the meal though we put our cameras down (nobody looks good stuffing their face with cake). As such if you could lay us a place at the table that would be grand!

A place to stay:
I’ll probably have talked to you about this in the meeting but just in case I didn’t, my general rule is that if the wedding is going to take longer than 12 hours door to door for me then I need a room for the night. From previous experience it’s silly to try and drive home after a day that long and, well, having a place makes your photographers so much happier! If the reception is being held in a hotel and most of the guests are staying there it usually makes sense to get us a room as well. If you’re in any doubt give me a call and we can talk it all over.

Uncle Bob wants to take photos too, is that OK?
Yes of course! Everybody has to start somewhere and if nothing else it gives us somebody to geek talk cameras with! Saying that there are a few things to be aware of… Get Bob to come talk to us before the ceremony, you can even give him my email address if you want. It’s always better to chat about these things in advance and figure out what we’re doing. The only times I really ask Bob to put the camera down are during the service and the formals – I’ve had some bad experiences in the past I’d rather not repeat! But later in the day when we have more time I often chat, give tips to and even lend gear to like-minded photographers.

Great Aunt Mildred is flying in from Down Under, can you make sure you get a photo of her?
Of course. Like I said people have to be quite ninja to avoid being snapped at some point. If you do have an important guest at the wedding though make sure you point them out to us on the day. We also always come and say hi before we head off, that’s a great point to remind us of Mildred just in case things got the better of us during the rest of the day. If you really want to be sure, remind her as well and make sure she comes and finds us before leaving!

Times, locations and all that jazz:
Usually a week or two prior to the wedding I’ll give you a call. If I haven’t feel free to email me! At that point what I’ll generally require is a running order of the day, a list of formals you require (if any!), addresses of all the places including postcodes and anything which might get google maps confused and a list of important people/their phone numbers. Google docs usually makes a good place for this as it’s probably something you’ll want to share with other members of the wedding party. Set out the time line including where you’ll be from the hair/makeup in the morning, through any travel, the ceremony and then the food, speeches and dancing. Remember to leave time for formal photographs in the schedule. A good time for this is usually around the drinks reception.