Designing your day for Maximum Photographic Impact

Ok – I just want to preface all of this by saying ‘you are enough’ – your wedding celebration is enough. It could be the two of you in a cardboard box and it would still be wonderful and amazing and beautiful and the photos would document so much real emotion. Designing your day for photographic impact also includes things like making sure you have enough time to get the photos you want and considering the impact of the natural light on you timings – i.e. when sunset is etc. I’ve covered these topics in more detail in their relevant sections.

Some of the weddings I photograph, especially the shorter coverage ones, will find this less relevant; and I did ummm and ahhhh about including it at all, but I think it will be helpful for some weddings, so take from it what you need. It’s not intended to add any pressure to having the ‘perfect day’.

This all said, I know my couples will often plan the florals and other decor so that the space looks incredible for all their guests, but with a few careful considerations you can ensure that is equally impactful for photos. Obviously there will be images of everything you’ve carefully curated as part of your day, but with a few tweaks these things can also work overtime creating pretty backgrounds or helping your images look stronger. 

There are a few things you can do too that cost nothing – how you position your tables for instance in relation to walls/fire exit signs etc can make a big impact on how the photos look.

Obviously please don’t sweat this too much – as photographers it’s our job to use our expertise, our knowledge of angles and lighting etc, to make the photos look as good as we possibly can. I guess part of that extends to giving some advice to you, or that you can cascade to your wedding venue.

Getting the most out of your florals

Work with your florist so that any pieces can be repurposed throughout the day – pieces that decorate the ceremony space. 

If you have an arch or other ceremony backdrop/decoration – you might want to consider it’s portability and how it can be used throughout the day. As per my piece about how I document your ceremony, if you have a beautiful floral arch behind you from your guest’s POV, because of where I’m likely to be positioned, it might not be in the photos like that beautiful inspo image you saw on Pinterest – especially if your venue isn’t big enough for me tosneak round and get a few wide shots from the back. 

If you can use it later in the day, maybe as the background for couple photos, or behind you at dinner, or even as a Photo Booth backdrop, that’s cool.

If not it might be worth considering switching that ceremony arch out to make more effective use of your floral budget. This is because you are, in most cases, going to be spending a lot of time looking towards your celebrant (that’s the person conducting your ceremony in non wedding speak) and I want to be behind them again to get the best look at your faces. 

Here’s a little diagram to show you what I mean – I’m the red figure, you’re both the two grey figures, the registrars are in black.

If you’re having an outdoor ceremony or a ceremony led by a humanist celebrant, there’s usually more flexibility.

Move that table….

Lots of venues like to put out a table with a plan white table cloth just in front of where you’re going to stand for the ceremony. This is usually for the registrars, but they will also have a table to the side that they’ll use for the paperwork. I’m going to assume you’re not going to need a table in the centre of the space too. Tell your venue you don’t need it. 

Back lighting

When really bright light comes in through a window or door, and you’re sat in front of it, we call it back lighting. This can be really effective for cool silhouetted photos, but depending on the strength and intensity of the light, one can start loosing details, so if you’re sat in front of a bright window with your back to it during the speeches, or during the ceremony; it doesn’t give you the lovely illumination that it would do if these things were flipped around and the window light was falling on you instead.

Venues are often quite fond of putting the top table in front of a huge picture window, which can look very pretty, but would certainly make you look better if you had that light falling onto you instead by having the tables side on to the light.

Fire exit signs and other stuff

Obviously very important life saving stuff – but ideally not right behind you as you’re giving your speeches! If there’s a way you can design the layout of the room so that these aren’t directly behind you then it’s going to make a huge difference.

Fairies and festoons

These make a huge difference and look so pretty in photos – ditto candles, and can really help create a sense of perspective in a big space, and add some depth into the image too.

I’d definitely encourage you to consider allocating some of the budget towards these, as they do make a big impact! 

Dark corners

When planning out where you’re going to put key items at your reception venue – like your cake, or a carefully curated collage of pictures of you two throughout your relationship – don’t let the venue suggest putting it out in the darkest corner of the room. Some venues will suggest bringing it out later in the day but my feeling is, if you’ve paid for a gorgeous cake (or if someone you know has slavishly baked it for you) then make it part of the decor.

I this helps you think about how you can make the most of the some of the details that you will have no doubt spent both time and money pulling together for the wedding – so that your photos of every part of the day can be awesome.