Whether or not a wedding day goes smoothly can come down to a lot of different factors. Is it raining, is everyone stressed, or did someone drop the cake? The key is to control the controllable by setting expectations with your couples so that the wedding photography goes as smoothly as possible.
You can’t promise sunshine but you can help your couple understand how you work. You can teach them what to expect and what your priorities are by sharing them during every touch point. From when they discover your website, through the engagement shoot and wedding consult, you can focus on building trust that leads to a successful day.
This article will walk you through how and when you build that trust as well as explain how it makes wedding photography go smoother. Essentially, a great wedding day will produce great wedding photos and that sounds like a great goal to me.
How Do You Work as a Wedding Photographer?
One of the best ways to ensure that wedding photography goes smoothly is to help your couple understand how you work. Your couple may have been to a handful of weddings at this point and they might have expectations about what photographers are like. You can help them understand what to expect by showing them how you might be similar to or different from what they anticipate.
I like to make sure my couple knows what my priorities are and what my shooting style is, that way they aren’t surprised by how I interact on the wedding day or what I spend my time shooting. On that note, it’s also important to me that I understand my clients’ priorities to make sure that our priorities align and that everyone is going to be happy.
If your couple wants you to be super charismatic and directive but you’re more laid back and go with the flow, that could be a problem. Or if your couple expected to spend an hour on a large variety of bridal party pictures and you spend ten minutes, you’ll leave them dissatisfied. It starts with what you show on your website and continues with the expectations you set during the various interactions you have with your couples.
What About the Engagement Shoot?
I personally love engagement sessions not only because they’re fun low-pressure shoots as compared with the wedding but because they also help ensure success on the wedding day. An engagement shoot is so beneficial to the success of a wedding that I include them in my packages when I build my packages. As I’ve gained more experience, I’ve found that I can handle most things thrown at me on a wedding day but I still find that an engagement shoot can have a big positive impact.
The importance of the engagement session comes down to familiarity and trust. Once I’ve had the opportunity to work with a couple, they have a better idea of how I work which sets me up for success on the wedding day. If I walk in on the wedding morning and they are already comfortable with me, I know getting great shots will be easier.
If a couple has already been in front of my camera, things like portraits go quickly and efficiently because we’re already familiar with each other. My couple also has a certain level of trust and familiarity that helps them follow my lead when necessary or tell me when they need help with something. They’ve also seen that they’re actually much more photogenic than they thought so they’ll know I’m going to make them look good, suddenly photography is an aspect of the wedding day that they don’t have to stress about.
Consider the Importance of Wedding Consults
Another key touch point is a pre-wedding consult when we literally talk through the timeline, family pictures, and expectations for the wedding day. During a pre-wedding consult, I can find out what things are important to my couple that I might not already be aware of. I can also talk them through how certain aspects of the day might go.
Additionally, I can remind them of anything they need to remember such as telling the family when family pictures are. Often I end up helping my clients build a photo timeline, this shows them my experience and expertise which is another thing that can relieve stress on the day. Helping build the timeline is also to my advantage because I know how long I usually need for different aspects of the wedding day.
If there’s a wedding planner, the planner will often make a timeline too but even the wedding planner doesn’t necessarily know how much time you need or how you usually work. Don’t hesitate to make adjustments or suggestions in order to set yourself up for success. For example, I often give everyone a heads up that sunset photos are important because if everyone’s expecting them they’ll be in the timeline rather than a stressful thing to try to make happen on the day of.
Trust is Everything in the Client-Photographer Relationship
In the end, a wedding day is a success if my client trusted me enough to do my job. If everyone is stressed and on edge, it doesn’t benefit anyone, I end up using my energy to keep everyone happy rather than on something creative. If things are starting to fall apart it’s usually because someone isn’t letting me do my job and sometimes that’s because I didn’t set expectations properly ahead of time.
Even if your couple trusts you and makes your job easier, there might be some Aunt or friend telling you what to do. Luckily, your client is the couple and most of your time is focused on them anyway. Take the time upfront to build trust so that everything goes smoothly.
Things will go wrong on a wedding day, that’s to be expected. Your clients should be able to trust you to help them handle it while capturing awesome photos along the way. Sometimes various wedding vendors act like they’re in competition or opposition, trying to build an atmosphere where we’re all on the same team.
The Importance of Setting Expectations as a Wedding Photographer
As a wedding photographer, you’ll attend a lot of weddings every season. Therefore, you more than likely have more experience than the couples that you’re working with. Use your experience to help them by sharing with them the things they can expect.
If your couple knows what to expect the wedding day will go more smoothly which will result in better photos as well as a better photography experience. You can show them starting with what you present on your website and what you produce from an engagement shoot. And you can tell them both in that initial meeting and a pre-wedding consult.
It’s hard to be creative on demand, but that’s kind of our job. It’s even harder to be creative on demand when things aren’t going smoothly. Set expectations and build trust so that you can keep stress at bay and focus on what you do best!
About the author: Brenda Bergreen is a Colorado wedding photographer, videographer, yoga teacher, and writer who works alongside her husband at Bergreen Photography. With their mission and mantra “love. adventurously.” they are dedicated to telling adventurous stories in beautiful places.
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