1. Consider your entire day.  Photography is very dependent on your locations.  In order to have a consistent look and feel to your photography, think about your entire day and how the locations flow together.  Everything from where you get ready in the morning to your ceremony, photo and reception locations should have a similar look if possible.  Having a beautiful cathedral church for your ceremony and getting ready in a small, cluttered home is a difficult match.  Consider getting ready in a hotel suite with plenty of room and natural light.  Keep the room clean from clutter.  Everything comes into play.  If you have questions, ask your photographer.
2. Great makeup and hair is a must.  When we shoot, we are often using commercial lighting.  Uneven makeup or poorly done hair show up immediately.  We encourage our couples to hire professionals with some commercial/fashion experience.  We then coordinate with the makeup artists/hair stylist to make sure we are getting what we need.  You very well may be wearing more makeup than you are used to.  This is common.  Don’t be alarmed.  On camera, you’ll look great.
3. Work together before the wedding being comfortable with each other.  During the wedding day, your photographer is going to be asking you to interact with your spouse.  If you aren’t used to being close to each other and are uncomfortable kissing with others around, you are going to struggle.  Work together ahead of time being close to each other without laughing…  Show affection in public leading up to the time of your wedding.  You want to look like you do this type of thing all the time when you are photographed.  Practice makes perfect.  Come on – you are getting married.  Enjoy it!
4. Allocate enough time.  Rushing around doesn’t make for great photography.  We recommend at least an hour and a half for couple/bridal party photographs.  Two hours is better.  This does not include drive times.  People often forget transit time and the time it takes to get everyone to transportation.  We’ve seen it take 45 minutes just to get everyone out of a church and onto a limo bus.  Plan ahead and build in extra time.  For family portraits, work with your photographer for a realistic estimate on how long family portraits will take.
5. Don’t allocate too much time.  Three plus hours of photography makes even models and trained professionals tired.  You and your bridal party will get to the point where nobody wants additional pictures.  Push past this and you have diminishing returns and a crabby bridal party.  Keep it to a reasonable amount of time.  This is still your wedding day, and although your photographs are important, your spouse, friends and family are the top priority.
6. Don’t go crazy on family portraits.  We recommend immediate family portraits only.  We understand the desire some families have for extended family and friend photographs.   If these are required, make sure to allocate enough time without skimping on couple and bridal party photos.
7. Hire a professional.  This may seem like a simple tip, but you want the best photography that fits within your budget.  A good target figure is 8% – 10% of your total wedding expenditures.  Photography prices vary wildly.  In many cases, you simply get what you pay for.  If you want phenomenal photography, you are going to pay more.  Do your research and meet in person (if possible) or speak via phone with at least 3 photographers.  Don’t overdo it either.  We’ve had clients review 20+ photographers only to book us.  Don’t drive yourself crazy.  Pay particular attention to referrals from friends and family members.  Nearly 70% of our business comes from past client referrals.  Its very simple to set up a slick website and have a few good images.  Its something completely different to have the experience and breadth of work to produce consistently good results.  The more experience and talent a photographer has, the more in-demand and expensive they are going to be.  Its simple supply and demand.  Since a photographer only has so many weekends a year they can work and so many weddings they can do, they are going to be more expensive if they are popular.  Don’t skimp.  You’ll kick yourself later.
8. Be realistic.  Just because you hire a great photographer doesn’t mean your wedding is going to photograph like other weddings you may see in a magazine.  There are a lot of determining factors including your locations, how comfortable you are with the camera and what your timeline looks like.  Your wedding is unique to you.  Allow your photographer to capture your wedding day and experiences.  Give them room to breath.  We personally don’t work from shot lists or attempt to duplicate other styles.  Its too restricting on the day of the wedding and we end up missing moments that we would have otherwise captured when we are running around trying to check off a list.

A wedding can be an elaborate and costly event.  As with any other large expenditure, you need to set a budget and plan accordingly.  Even the wealthiest families we’ve worked with have a budget.  Expenses can spiral out of control quickly if you don’t know what your overall budget is going to be and what percentage you can spend on each section of your wedding.  One trend that we have seen recently is cutting the number of invited guests while going all out on quality.  Its amazing what you can do when you only invite 150 people instead of 250.

There are fantastic tools available online to help you with your wedding budget including the Knot and many other resources.  Better yet, hire a wedding planner to help you put together these details.  There is always a give and take between your category spending, and a planner can help you make those decisions.

Book a planner  -

We realize budgets are tight.  Hiring a wedding planner may seem like a luxury, but a planner can help you maximize the bang for your wedding buck.  They can also help you provide a truly memorable event.  Keep in mind that planners do this day in and day out.  They know the vendors.  They know the locations.   They know the current trends and how to weave together all of these aspects to help you create a wedding that is uniquely you.  On your wedding day, they help remove stress by taking on the role of a coordinator.  They help keep you on time and help to shield you from the things that inevitably go wrong.  We rarely see a wedding day where everything goes perfectly.  Best to have a planner handling these issues instead of stressing yourself or other family members.  Let them sweat the details.

Hire wedding professionals -

As the economy has changed, there has been a huge influx of new vendors into the wedding market.  People have lost jobs and decided that now is a great time to start their own business.  As you search for wedding vendors, look for experience and a solid portfolio of work.  Remember that you get what you pay for.  This is never more true than on your wedding day.  Quality does cost.

Identify areas that are important to you -

Every couple we work with has prioritized certain aspects of their wedding day that are more important to them.  For some, its photography, for others it may be a unique location or floral.  Still others may want an incredible wedding cake.  Realize that some areas are going to cost more than what you’ve got in your budget.  You’ll need to cut in other areas to accommodate these priorities.

Hair and Make-up -

Hire professional hair and make-up stylists.  You preferably want someone with experience doing commercial photography.  Why?  Because they understand what is necessary to look good on camera.  A simple tip is that you need more makeup than you may typically wear.  A smooth, even texture to your skin makes for great photos and video.

Choose the right dress and have proper alterations -

Many of the brides we see are in dresses that just don’t fit properly.  You need to be honest with yourself.  What are your strengths?  What are your weaknesses and problem areas?  Bring people with you dress shopping that have a fashion style and sense.  Don’t get talked into something that isn’t right for you.  This may mean that you may not end up with the dress you thought you’d look great in.  Magazine ads are great at making people think they’ll look fantastic in a certain dress.  The reality may be quite different.  When a bride is in the right dress and it is altered to fit her properly, the results can be stunning.

Consider the entire day -

Simply put, your wedding day should flow together seamlessly.  Think of your wedding day as a movie.  There should be a consistent look and feel.  Everything should be considered.  Where you get ready, your church or ceremony location, your photo locations and your reception venue should all fit together just like a motion picture.  For example – if you have a grand cathedral for your ceremony, you won’t want to get ready in a small home.  Look into booking a hotel suite that looks the part.   Everything from your dress, flowers, accessories, hair, makeup – everything should create a harmonious feel.