Planning Appropriate Time for Creative Portraits

Feb 2

Written By Heather Olker

“Give us at least 45 mins for creative portraits on the big day. You won’t regret it!”

— Heather Olker, Owner

ADVICE FROM A NEW YORK WEDDING PHOTOGRAPHER

Your wedding day comes and goes quickly, and we will help ensure you’re dedicating adequate time for your creative portraits.

Consider doing a first look.

Not only will this save you time on the big day so that you can enjoy cocktail hour, but it kicks off your creative wedding portraits with a bang! And it easily transitions from first look into creative wedding day portraits while you’re still glowing with that first look smile.

Plan for 45 mins minimum and 75 mins as an ideal goal

Reason 1. Sometimes for unforeseen circumstances, things may run late, and if we originally only included 30 minutes for this, we certainly will not capture the variety of shots you were dreaming about. Plus, sometimes walking to and from the portrait location takes some time and we don’t want the “travel” to cut into our photography time. Every minute counts on your wedding day!

Reason 2. Artists need some time to feel and think creatively. While this may seem like a long time, for artists at work, we are thinking about a lot: the light, adjusting camera settings, moving our feet to frame your heads against the background in the best possible way, squatting down to get low and seeing how we like your heads compared to the horizon line, layering environmental textures, adjusting hair on your face, and more, and then also directing various poses and doing all these steps each and every time we change something. The more shots we take, the more likely you will wind up with more than one spectacular “money shot.” We aim to get you several photographs that are worthy of your home wall space to commemorate your most epic day.

Reason 3. The 45-minute option realistically allows us to creatively work within one location. The 75-minute option is ideal because it allows us some travel time to catch two different locations, giving you the ultimate and desireable image variety you deserve on your big day!

This is invaluable alone time for you and your future spouse

Don’t think about this as a photoshoot. This is time for you and your fiance to connect and be alone on what will otherwise be a busy day with all of your favorite people. The biggest mistake a couple can make is not including enough alone time because this is about you and your fiance after all. There will be plenty of time with your wedding party and family later on in your timeline. I always recommend the wedding party to stay back for this portion.