Wedding Day Weather Worries

I know how much Brides worry about the weather on their very special day. Over the many years that I have been covering weddings it's not very often that I have not been able to get outside shots of the Bride & Groom. It's not very often in this country that you will have rain all day long. Quite often, especially summer, it will rain on and off during the day. You may not have your wedding pictures taken when planned but most of the time you will have some pictures taken outside at some point in the day.

I have taken couples outside during the wedding breakfast when the rain has stopped or even late in the evening when the rain stops and the most amazing sunsets start to appear.

Please try not to worry about rain on the day, you will have to be really unlucky to have rain all day.

If you are still worried about the weather and really want fantastic pictures of yourself, try to book a venue with indoor areas that are good for photography and talk to your photographer about this. If you book a good photographer then you should still have lovely wedding pictures rain or shine.

Below are some shots I have taken inside venues. They can be as good as the pictures taken outside.

Traditional Wedding Album or Story Book?

Traditional wedding albums are slowly dying out. They are being taken over by Story Books. I supply very few traditional albums these days.

What are Story Books?

Story Books are very versatile with the layout of the pictures. You can have 1 picture a page or multiple pictures a page. This means you can have your favourite pictures made large and the less important pictures made smaller in the book. Traditional albums are very bulky and heavy and restrictive with layout but Story Books are more manageable in size and will contain many more pictures from your wedding. Story Book are now a ‘must have’ for most brides today.

Here is a link to my website so you can see examples of Story Books I have designed.

www.colinmasonphotography.co.uk

And here is a link to the website of Graphi Studio who make the Story Books I have designed.

www.graphistudio.com

How to choose a wedding photographer.

There are so many wedding photographers out there so I how do I decide which photographer to choose?

The first thing you should do is look on the internet, which you have probably done already. You will find there’s thousands of photographers out there so look at photographers websites to try to find three photographers which you like the style of and which are close to your budget. If a photographer is slightly over your budget do not rule them out at this stage.

The style of the photographs are the most important thing to find first. Your wedding photographs will only be taken once so if you like the style of a more expensive photographer ask them what they can provide for your budget. They may be willing to leave out the price of the album until after the wedding. Most couple take over a year to decide which photographs go into their album so you could defer the album payment until you have chosen the pictures for your album. You will have saved more money by then and you may wish to buy a better album. This is why I say the picture style must come first because you can always save for the extras at a later date but you cannot have your wedding photographs taken again!

Once you have made a shortlist send them an email asking these important questions below. This list will help you decide whether they are worth meeting:

1-Are you a full-time wedding photographer?
2-Are you insured?
3-Will VAT be added to your prices?
4-Do you charge for travel expenses?
5-If my wedding overruns will there be any extra charges?
6-Do you shoot Raw files or jpgs?
7-Do you have sample albums of a whole wedding from start to finish?
8-Do we choose the pictures that go into our album?
9-Are there any hidden extras that are not on your price list?
10-Could you send me your terms & conditions.

Here is an explanation as to why you should ask these questions:

Q1-There are many photographer out there who work during the week at another job and shoot weddings at the weekend to make some extra cash. This can cause problems with the amount of time it takes to see your wedding pictures. It can take months to get your photographs back because they don’t have the time to work on them. A full time photographer will have your pictures ready much quicker.

Q2- An insured photographer will be able to compensate you if anything happens to go wrong. You will also find that a bad photographer will not be able to get insurance. Ask to see a copy of the policy.

Q3-VAT can obviously inflate a quote.

Q4-Make sure there are no hidden travel expenses or hotel expenses. If they do charge for these as extras make sure you have a quote before you book them.

Q5-Many photographers will charge by the hour if a wedding overruns. Most weddings overrun and this could easily add hundreds of pounds of unexpected costs or missed photo opportunities if you don’t want to pay the extra.

Q6-Professional photographers will only shoot Raw files as these give a much better quality to the final print. If they only shoot jpegs they are not giving you the best quality and it will show their inexperience with digital photography.

Q7- Looking at sample wedding albums of single weddings from start to finish gives you a better indication of the consistency of their work throughout the day. If they only supply 1 or 2 pictures from each wedding this will not give you an idea of their consistency through a whole wedding so rule them out.

Q8-Some photographers will choose the pictures that go into your album without you having a say. You may end up with pictures in your album that you dislike. Make sure you choose the pictures for your album.

Q9-Make sure there are no hidden costs that are not on the price list.

Q10- Carefully read the terms and conditions. See how much you will be charged if you have to cancel or postpone your wedding.


Once you have made a shortlist of three photographers make appointments to see them to look at their portfolios. It is very important to get on with your photographer because you will spend most of your wedding day with them. If you feel uncomfortable with your photographer at the meeting you will feel much more uncomfortable with them on your wedding day.

Make sure you know what you are getting on your wedding day and what is supplied after like albums, prints, online gallery and CD’s of images

Once you have done all of the above you are in a much better position to make your decision.

I hope this has been of some help to you. Please ask any other question by leaving a message in the comments section below or send me an eamil and I will reply to your question.

Good luck,

Colin Mason
cmp.info@btinternet.com

Trash The Dress

Are there any brides out there who would like to trash their dress. This is a fairly new phenomenon where brides trash their wedding dress after the wedding. This can be done by running into the sea or playing in a muddy field. I would love to photograph a mass trashing session and publish the pictures in a magazine. Please email me if you would like to do this.

Regards,

Colin

Answer your questions

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