Maui Wedding Photographer

Wedding Planning: A Countdown Guide To Your Big Day

For some, a wedding planning guide is just what you will need to help you stay organized for a perfect big day. Below is just the guide that help you stay on track and not so stressed about missing anything.

Months Before

· Decide upon your wedding date and budget.

· Meet with your local minister or registrar.

· Start looking for your wedding dress.

· Decide on your bridal party.

· Make a guest list.

· Book the wedding reception.

· Book the band or DJ and/or other wedding entertainment if any.

· Book the caterers, the florists, photographer and/or videographer.

· Book transportation if required.

· Book the honeymoon. If needed, apply for a new passport (the bride may wish to travel under her married name, but be prepared to be unable to travel until your wedding date, as your old passport will be invalid).

· Order the cake.

· Book an over-night stay in a hotel room/bridal suit if needed.

· Confirm all bookings in writing.

6 Months Before

· Get initial fitting for the wedding dress. Choose wedding shoes and accessories.

· Choose attire for the groom, best man, bridesmaids, fathers, mothers and ushers.

· Choose the wedding rings.

· Order your wedding favors.

· Notify your bank, building society and relevant authorities that you intend on changing your name and the date it will take affect.

· Order the invitations and other stationary.

· Take out wedding insurance, if required.

· See your hairdresser about the hairstyle that you want. Brides should bring a picture of the dress, veil or headdress and other accessories to help the hairdresser create a hairstyle that will complimentary.

3 Months Before

· Buy your marriage license from the registrar.

· Send out the invitations.

· Decide upon your wedding list. Make it available to all your wedding guests.

· Advise your guests to book any overnight accommodations now while there is still availability.

· Confirm your ceremony details with either the registrar or the minister.

· Decide your wedding music or hymns.

· Arrange for the wedding program to be printed.

· Buy gifts for the best man, ushers and bridesmaids.

· Discuss the seating plan with the caterer.

· Arrange to have any vaccinations done, if required.

· Start to plan your bachelor/bachelorette parties.

· If you have a Will, get it updated to ensure it remains active after your wedding.

1 Month Before

· Arrange for a final fitting of your wedding dress.

· Reconfirm the wedding arrangements with the reception venue, caterer, florist, photographer, videographer, transportation and all entertainment.

· Reconfirm the honeymoon arrangements.

· Have bachelor/bachelorette night.

· Finalize the seating plan with the caterer.

· Arrange a date for a wedding rehearsal, if required.

· Send out thank you cards to all guests who have responded to your invitation.

· Telephone any guests who have not yet responded to your invitation.

· Organize a date when you can pick up your wedding outfits.

· Write any wedding day speeches.

7 Days Before

· Have the wedding rehearsal.

· Pack for your honeymoon.

· Wear-in your wedding shoes. Allows brides to practice walking in high heels.

· Organize an emergency wedding kit just for the bride. Containing makeup and repair kit for the dress, so you can be ready for any minor hiccups through the day.

· Give your wedding program to the minister.

· Order your foreign currency and/or travelers cheques.

· Give rings to the best man.

· Give best man a list of all the wedding services involved in your wedding day, in case they need to be contacted.

The Day Before

· Take the day off from work.

· Brides and grooms have your nails manicured.

· Grooms have your hair tidied up around the back and sides.

· Spend the rest of the day relaxing and try and get an early night.

The Day of the Wedding

Based on a 2pm wedding, the bride’s timetable should run like this:

08:00 Take a relaxing shower/bath.

08:30 Have breakfast, but don’t have anything too heavy that may upset your stomach.

09:00 Polish your nails.

09:30 Have hairdresser style your hair. See if they will come to you instead of you going to them.

11:00 Best man arrives to collect any cards and luggage, if needed.

11:30 Bridesmaids and pageboys arrive.

12:00 Have your makeover.

12:30 Bride and bridesmaids get dressed.

13:00 Photographer arrives. Takes pre-arranged photos.

13:30 First wedding car will take mother and bridesmaids to the church.

13:45 Second wedding car will take the bride and her father to the church.

13:58 The bride and her father will stand at the entrance of the church, with the bridesmaids lined up behind you. The verger will greet you.

14:00 Ceremony begins. Good luck and congratulations.

Wedding Photography Careers And What

You Need To Know

Part Four

In my final part of the four part series, I will round off the final steps of advice for starting your wedding photography career.

1. If you have shaky hands, you may want to consider using a tripod. Other reasons to use a tripod include, but are not limited to: you’re using a very large, as well as slow, telephoto lenses, if you’re attempting to shoot photos in low light, if you have the need to take several consecutive identical shots (such as with HDR photography), in the event you are taking panoramic shots, then using a tripod is highly suggested. For real long exposures (usually lasting more than a second or more), I would recommend a cable release (especially for older film cameras) or a remote control. This would be a great use of the self-timer feature.

Of course there are disadvantages to the use of a tripod. A tripod prohibits your ability to move around and therefore not allowing for a quick change framing your shot. In addition, the additional weight you would have to carry around. As a general guideline, a tripod is only needed if your shutter speed is either equal to or is slower than the reciprocal in your focal length. If you are able to avoid the use of a tripod, usually by using faster ISO speeds and faster shutter speeds, or using image stabilization features on your camera, or just moving to a location that has better lighting, I would suggest doing that.

2. Remain calm and relaxed when you go to push the shutter button. Also, try not holding your camera up for too long of a time. This may cause your arms and hands to become heavier, thus causing them to be prone to shaking. A good idea is to practice bringing your camera up towards your eye, while focusing and metering, then taking the shot in one smooth and swift motion.

3. Be aware of the “red-eye” effect. Red-eye is caused when the eyes dilate in lower level lighting. When your pupils are enlarged, the flash actually will light up the blood vessels on the back wall of your eyeballs, which cause it to look red. If you feel that you need to use a flash in poor lighting, try getting the person you are photographing to not look directly towards the camera or maybe consider using a “bounce flash”. If you aim your flash above your subject’s heads, especially if the surrounding walls are light, allows the avoidance of the red-eye effect. If you don’t have the use of a separate flash gun, which can be adjustable, use the red-eye reduction feature on your camera (if available). It may flash a couple of times prior to opening the shutter, which usually is the cause of your subject’s pupils to contract, therefore minimizing the red-eye.

4. Use your flash only when you have to. A flash in poor lighting can quite often create ugly reflections or give the photo the appearance of your subject with a “washed out” look. However, a flash can be very useful for filling in the shadows and eliminating the “raccoon eye” or the “bags under the eyes” effect you may get in bright midday light. Of course, that will depend on whether or not your flash sync speed is fast enough.

5. Go through your photographs and decide on which ones are your the best ones. Decide on what makes the best photos. Then continue to use that method that gave you your best shots. Don’t be afraid to delete or throw away photos. You need to be brutally honest with yourself to move forward; be critical, as it will only make you better. If you’re shooting with a digital camera, then it won’t cost you anything other than your time. However, before you delete your photos, what can you take away from looking at your worst pictures.

6. Practice, practice and practice some more. Take as many photos as you can. The more photos you take the more comfortable and better you will become. Not to mention, the more you (and everyone) will enjoy looking at your photos. Shoot from various angles, as well as new or different subjects and keep working at it. You can even take the most boring of subjects and turn into something amazing. Get to know the ins and outs of your camera and its limitations. Also, how well it performs with different forms of lighting, how well the auto-focus performs at a variety of distances, as well as how it shoots moving subjects, and so on.

So as you can see, there’s much more in becoming a successful wedding photographer than just getting a new camera. I hope you enjoyed and learned from this Four Part Series. If you become an expert in all these above steps, along with staying focused and determined, and soon you will reap the benefits of this exciting career field.

Are you planning a intimate Maui beach wedding? We can assist you with the details of your day. Photography, minister, cake and dinner plans.  www. BehindTheLensMaui.com

808 205-2366