Gorgeous Wedding Photos

Photos to Remember

As a lasting picture memory of your wedding, wedding photos are essential. My tips will help you to get your wedding photos right first time.

Don’ts

Don’t forget the details. Wedding favours, flowers, table crystals and confetti, boutonnieres, even your shoes! You’ve spent all this money and time to create a beautiful wedding, remember to get some photos of them!

Soul Bird Photo

I Met Some Photographers

I recently went to my friend’s gorgeous wedding and the photographers for the day were fantastic!

They were really professional, really discrete and friendly. I was chatting to one of the photographers, Asia Werbel, talking about lens envy.

The company is called Soul Bird Photo.

As well as photographing the wedding and reception, the photographers were also running the photo booth. It was a very popular feature of the wedding, visited by every guest.

I definitely recommend Soul Bird Photo, they were fantastic for my friends wedding. All the key shots were captured and the photographers stayed until the end of the night.

If you look on their website, you will see tonnes of beautiful photos of different weddings. I love the different angles and the captured details which they photograph professionally.

Soul Bird Photo are definitely worth checking out!

Confidence is Beautiful

Looking Great in Wedding Photos

Many people don’t like having their photo taken but that’s usually down to a belief that they don’t look good in photos. With more confidence, it’s easier to relax and take better pictures.

Love Yourself!

Take a photo of yourself and focus on the elements of your features that you do like.

I definitely focus on elements of the pictures that I don’t like, but by focusing on what you do like, it’s easier to boost your confidence.

Ask h2b to help you see which parts of the photos he likes.

Do the T Pose!

If you stand with your feet turned to a T shape and stand slightly to the side of the camera it will add a bit of pow to your photos. Put your weight on your back leg and stand with a straight front leg. This will make you look taller and slimmer, which we all love.

Avoid the Claw

When you’re nervous, you can tend to tense up your hands. Either place them on your hip or hold your bouquet to keep yourself relaxed.

You could place your hand on your hip to keep your arms away from your body and keep your hands looking soft and feminine.

H2b could hold a glass of champagne to help him look relaxed.

No Slouching!

Good posture is essential for good wedding photos. Role your shoulders back and down to elongate your neck and help yourself to look thinner. Hold your tummy in and use your core muscles to make yourself look taller and thinner.

Fuller Lips

Dab some peppermint oil on your lips to stimulate blood flow and make your lips look fuller in the pictures.

The Bouquet

As this is probably the only time we will hold a wedding bouquet, brides often don’t now how to hold their bouquet.

For the best impact, carry your bridal bouquet at waist height. This will best show off your dress without making your arms look too chubby. At the waist, your arms will look open and you will look slimmer.

Purse Your Lips

If you don’t want to show your teeth when you smile, and want to keep your mouth closed, remember to slightly purse your lips so that the smile looks relaxed and beautiful.

The Most Important List of Your Wedding

Your Wedding Photos

In a You and Your Wedding photo special, they kindly listed a lot of the photos you will need for your wedding.

The day will fly by, and the last thing you want on your special day is to be fussing about photos. Compiling a list will make things easier for you and your photographer. The list in You and Your Wedding is invaluable! Copy this list into word and print it out asap!

At Home

• Your dress on the hanger
• You getting ready
• You in your dress
• Your shoes

Bride Style

What’s Your Photography Style?

There are lots of different ways to have your wedding photos taken: informal, formal, reportage, documentary, traditional, modern, artistic. Before choosing your photographer, you need to decide which style you want.

How to Tell the Difference

You will be able to see in a lot of wedding albums what the styles are. Many photographers take informal posed shots, or take artistic, formal pictures. Your photographer will be able to tell you what style s/he uses which will help you get a better idea of what you want.

Documentary Photography

They tend not to have the traditional posed shots and instead opt for capturing the day using action shots and interesting little moments. You may be completely unaware of your photographer taking any photos until you see how fantastic they look in your album!

Reportage Photography

A lot of photographers use this phrase to mean 'unobtrusive’. It actually means being a bit of a fly on the wall. Your photographer may blend into the crowd of guests but you will find the shots stunning.

Traditional Posed Shots

To ensure you capture all the important people in your wedding photos (parents, siblings, bridesmaids, best friends), you could mix a few posed shots in with your reportage photography. Posed shots don’t have to be a chore, your photographer can make them fun and informal.

Vintage

It’s becoming more and more popular for wedding photos to have a vintage yellow tinge to photos. Is this your style? Speak to your photographer!

Retouching

Some photographers touch up photos as standard, some will charge extra for it. Think carefully if you want to naturally capture your day without the touch ups or if you want to remember your wedding as perfect as it is in your memory.

More Wedding Photos

More Must Have Shots!

In a previous post, I said that some of your must have shots are the following:

• Establishing shot, setting the scene and mood of the album
• The details of your wedding, which are usually things you’ve slaved over with a glue gun!
• The getting ready shots, wonderfully animated and full of excitement
• The lads! Remember, h2b is there too!
• Your family, a photo with your dad or whomever is giving you away

Well, here are some more shots that shouldn’t be forgotten!

The Grand Entrance

One of the moments the guests will be waiting for at a wedding is in the church or civil ceremony venue when the music begins to play, they all turn around and the bride walks down the aisle, arm in arm with her giver away-er, or even walking on her own. 

The excitement on your face, the bouquet, the dress! Everyone will want to remember this moment as you walk down the aisle to your h2b!

Hopefully your photographer will snap this picture without you even noticing! This shot should be natural and relaxed and full of all the emotions you’re feeling at that moment!

The Groom’s First Look

My personal favourite shot is of the groom turning around to look at his bride for the first time as she walks down the aisle.

I think the groom’s first look is the most romantic, touching photo. It’s a photograph filled with love and anticipation. If your photographer can quickly snap this photo while your groom isn’t look so that it looks natural and as relaxed as a man can while his bride is approaching, it’ll make a fantastic addition to your wedding album!

The Reception Room

Once everyone has settled in the room and moved things, the reception room will never look the same again. To get the best image of the reception room, ask your photographer to nip inside and snap a few untouched shots.

I like these shots as they show all the effort that went into dressing the reception room. Even if you have minimal decoration, the elegance and style of the room will be something you will want to remember in years to come. A fantastic addition to any wedding album.

The Cake!

With wedding cakes costing in excess of £400, asking your photographer to take a few snaps of the cake is essential!

Edible items of your wedding will either be eaten or perish, so having a few photos of these items to remember them are crucial wedding album shots.

Try to capture the details on the cake, the ribbon and the little details. If you have a cake topper, it would be nice to snap a few shots. You could try standing behind the cake toppers to show how they look like you!

 

The First Dance

The first dance is often the last photo in an album. It’s actually quite difficult to take a good photo of a first dance as you’re both looking in different directions and the lighting is low. However, it’s a very romantic shot and ideal for any wedding album.

The DJ’s choice of lighting can often add an interesting atmosphere to any first dance and if your photographer can capture the lighting it will look fantastic in your wedding album.

But the best first dance pictures are when the couple are relaxed and happy.

Top Tips

One of my top tips for wedding photos is to make a list of all the shots you want taken on the day. If you have some special friends or family members who you really want to have photos with, make sure you make a list to give your photographer so that no one is missed.

More photo blog posts coming soon!

Top Tips

How to Pose for Your Wedding Photos

You are most likely going to keep your wedding photos for the rest of your life. You want them to be memorable, beautiful and filled with all your friends and family. You may also want to look your absolute best! Here are some tips on how to look your completely amazing in all your photos!

1. Stick out your chin!
   To avoid double chins in pictures find a natural pose where you can extend your chin or tilt it to the side.
   
2. Have good posture!
   While you don’t want to look stiff, you want to show your figure off at it’s best. If you slouch it will make you look saggy, keep your shoulders back but relaxed to make you look more perky.
   
3. Find your perfect angle.
   If you notice, on the red carpet actresses never look straight down the camera.  They always stand at an angle to have their picture taken. Do some experimenting either in the mirror or with a camera to find your perfect angel. Stand at about a quarter turn from the camera. Put one foot forward, straight ahead of you. The other foot should be turned to the side so that your body is at an angle.
   
4. Avoid the closed eye look.
   If you’re anything like me, you will blink when the flash goes off. To avoid this, ask the photographer to count to ‘three’ before he takes the picture. If take in a breath when he says ‘three’ then you won’t blink. Crazy but ezinearticles.com say it’s true!
   
5. Idol hands
   Make sure you do something with your hands. It needs to be a relaxed pose. A lot of the time when I’m posing for photos, I put my hand on my hips in a vain attempt to look thinner. You could vogue with your hands or hold hands with your hubby. Your hands may be hidden under your bouquet.
   
6. Smile or no smile?
   Don’t force a smile. You will probably feel like smiling lots and lots and lots! I feel like  smiling just thinking about it! There may be times during the day when you don’t feel like smiling and if your photographer snaps a picture of you during those times they can look lovely and peaceful.
   
7. Interact with your guests
   Some of the best photos are of people hugging or talking or being natural in pictures. Make sure you forget your photographer is there and talk to your guests. They are there for you and these natural photos will look fantastic in your album.

If you have any tips for posing for photos please let me know and I will include them in my post. Have you had your photos taken for your wedding? What would you advise?