frequently asked Wedding questions
In my almost 18 years of being a wedding photographer, I have been asked so many questions by brides and grooms. I have created this page to show the most frequently asked Wedding questions and their answers.
If there are any questions you feel haven’t been answered here, as always, just get in touch and I will get back to you as soon as possible.
i’ve split them into 3 sections to make things easier to find:
You are not alone. 95% of my clients and many others feel the same way, myself included!
I purposely keep my approach to capturing your wedding day relaxed and fun to help you feel at ease. I help out where I can, become part of the party and try not to hide behind the camera so you see me instead of hearing loads of clicking coming from a single eye looking straight at you!
Most of the photos you will enjoy looking at won’t be details, or the photos of the venue, it will be the candid photos of the interactions of you both and your guests. This is where my main focus (sorry, had to put that in there) is, and I also bring that approach into my couple’s portrait sessions. There won’t be much look at the camera, it will be more about you and your partner enjoying some time together, be it all loveee dovee or all the silly in jokes you have had for years!
You don’t have to be natural with the camera, just be natural with each other! That will shine through in the photos.
I travel all over the country shooting weddings, I have also had the opportunity to photograph weddings in Europe and even North Africa. Anything within 2 hours from Leicester is included in the quote price, anything further may require overnight accommodation (but may also add additional coverage). This would be agreed at the time of booking.
The booking fee is £350 and is required to book your date. The balance payment is required 2 weeks before the wedding. Any printed products are paid for when they go to print.
Whilst I don’t put a limit on what you will receive, I tend to deliver between 500 and 1000 images from a wedding. These are all the images that tell the story and really showcase your day.
Firstly, don’t worry, if it is a postponement then keep in touch, work with me on the new date, and I will just transfer the booking fee over to the new booking.
If you are having to cancel your wedding for whatever reason, just let me know. I will then look at rebooking your date. If I get a new booking on your wedding date, I will refund your booking fee.
Not at all. I specialise in winter weddings, so dark days and dark venues are not uncommon. I have experience with adding flash and constant light to the scene whilst not spoiling the ambiance/feel that you’ve created.
Yes I will. A few weeks before your wedding day, I will send you a questionnaire to read and fill out. This should cover most of what I need to know. We would then arrange a time to chat and go through a plan for the day.
I’m a big believer that the most important thing is that the two of you have an awesome time. The last thing I want to do is bother you with loads of questions when you could be celebrating with your guests. So we get all the organisation bits out of the way before the wedding day. Then on the day, I know when things need to happen so can work with others, we can do it all the boring bits for you and you can enjoy your time with your invited family and friends!
I am a strong believer in do what you do best and focus on it. My style of photographer does involve a lot of interaction with others which doesn’t necessarily work well for video.
I do, however, have lots of amazing videographers I can recommend that would do an amazing job for you and leave you in floods of happy tears as you watch the video over and over again.
Just let me know your wedding venue and a rough budget and I can recommend the best videographers for you
To date, I’ve photographed over 500 weddings and have only had to have 1 covered and that was due to having COVID and legally not being allowed to leave the house!
Luckily, I am part of a wide community of wedding photographers, many of whom are just lovely people and have a similar approach and style to me. If something did stop me from photographing your wedding, I would use my network to find a suitable replacement.
If you have booked a second photographer, they will be up to speed with all the plans for the day, would step in straight away and absolutely smash it. You will be in safe hands! We would then source another second photographer to take their place.
100% yes. I don’t show many on my website or social media as these are personal pictures that only really mean something to the people at that wedding, however, I do take them and actively encourage you to put aside the time to take them.
I hear a lot that they take a long time, but with some pre-planning and a helpful groomsman/bridesmaid or two, they can be done really quickly and we can get you back to mingling with your guests where you should be.
In the questionnaire that I send to you to fill out, there is a section for you to fill me in on any family politics or details I might not know. Please let me know if there are any tricky family dynamics to be aware of, I’d hate to commit a faux pas (again!)
On the day I typically communicate with the groomsmen/bridesmaids to make rounding up people nice and easy, but I’ve also got a loud voice when needed, so announcing to the crowd is easy. However, I try to keep this to a minimum to allow for a more relaxed approach!
If you can provide food on the day, then it would be very much appreciated, but it is not required. All I ask is to let me know at least 48 hours before your wedding day so I can arrange an alternative if needed. If you are providing food, a hot meal would be great and I don’t have any dietary requirements.
Nothing changes! We can deal with whatever the weather throws at us. I have been shooting weddings for 17 years and have had to deal with some very interesting situations. Don’t worry, I can adapt to any situation and your day will still be incredible.
All my couples receive their wedding gallery within 6-8 weeks of their wedding date. You will also received some previews within 72 hours of your wedding for you to share around.
You will receive your photos on a secure password protected online gallery. You can view and download your photos from there at any time. This gallery can be shared with all your friends and family by sharing the link and password with them. Whoever you want to show your photos off to!
Yes you can. It doesn’t matter if you ordered one when you booked, you can add an album and/or prints to your booking at any time! Even years down the line! Just let me know your favourite photos and I will get on with the first design draft!
Whoever owns the copyright of a photo owns that photo and the right to do with it as they wish. As with the majority of professional photographers in the UK, I own the copyright of the photos I take at your wedding.
You will be provided with a licence to use the photos for unlimited personal use. This means you can post them on social media, share them with friends and family, and get albums and prints made as you wish. You can pretty much do as you please with them. The only limitation is using the photos for commercial/business use.
For example if your cousin owned a wedding planning business and wanted to use some of the photos I took at your wedding for their website, the personal licence wouldn’t cover this. You or your cousin would need to contact me to ask permission to use them for this purpose (in this, and most, examples I’d most probably would say yes). I like to keep track of where my (and your) photographs are being used.
Once you have have received your gallery link, using a PC/Mac (not a phone or tablet in this case), log in as you normally would. On the main screen that opens, you will see 3 options in the top right had corner; Slideshow / Compare Photos / Download All. Click on Download All.
A pop up will appear, on there it will say ‘Have a pin? Enter it to see additional download sizes.’ Click on the ‘Enter it’ and type in the PIN I sent to you in the email with the link and password for your gallery. Click ‘Apply PIN’.
You will be presented with the options of ‘Original Size’ or ‘Social Media’, choose ‘Original Size’ and click the button that says ‘My Device’. A new tab will open asking for you to enter your email address, do this, tick the ‘Terms of use’ box and then click ‘Download’.
The screen will change and you will see a folder image with your names underneath it followed by .zip. Click on this and the photos will download. If you have any issues uncompressing the .zip, follow the appropriate instructions on that screen.
