Lessons

Lesson Info

Wedding Day Walkthrough

we are going to start how I approach a wedding day is I have a mental list of mine I do not have preconceived notions of what I'm shooting I just know what I need to shoot in order for me to feel like I had completed the day and so if you guys feel like I'm off track or I miss something on the on laura's wedding date which can happen totally I make mistakes full freedom I meet like justin did you get that like thank god you guys are here there's I've never shot a wedding with like three or four cameramen there as well so I will probably be flooding so if you guys wanna help me out that's totally great so um we set with the photographer rival I like to arrive ten to fifteen minutes early so I'm slated for a two p m start time I will show up around one forty five because I know that there is going to take time time will be taken away from me saying hi to the bride sake meeting her mom I haven't met the mom before collecting the items that need to be photographed so all that time cannot t...

ake time away from my shoot time so preparing yourself padding that for that particular thing right a preparation during the bride preparation as she's talking so the way that usually works when I arrive is the bride doesn't really have all of her makeup on or all of her hair on in some cases yes she doesn't have her hair done her makeup on if your bride does not have makeup done do not shoot her those pictures will not go anywhere I'm speaking as a bride myself bride's wantto look you know not completely done up they just wanna look a little bit cute you don't have the dark circles the shiny face those pictures are going anywhere don't waste time walk into the room get exactly what you need I never asked for bride for the things that I need to photograph she has so much going on the last thing she needs is me although she might like me get this what about this what this what this who I say hi how are you a teller she looks gorgeous is a good day whatever comes to mind at that time and I said can you please point me to your maid of honor I will be requesting things of her unless you them laid out just like jenny's over there talk to jenny perfect I go to jenny jenny this is what I need I need the wedding dress any the wedding shoes any jewellery I need the purse I need a veil I need a gardener that's what I started with immediately she collects all that stuff because I don't need to go one by one you have the dress thank you do the shoes thank you like hey give me what I need and let me work you know because we ii have I shoot on a really short time frame there are other photographers who shoot ten hours and that's a good amount of time but I don't know if I can get it done I can get it done so I just need to execute it quickly enough so ask for the wedding dress I was shoot a tight shot of the wedding dress of vertical pulled away shot of the wedding dress horizontal shot of the wedding dress and if there's dpd tailing that's what I get done catalog shoes I should the shoes however long I need to shoot the shoes to for me to feel like I have a shoe shop we already had that discussion but from their jewelry stylized the jewelry what happens is yes you can take a shot of her earrings and bracelet and that's nice but if you can work it way into other elements like her garter like her purse I've noticed that a lot of magazines magazine editors and balog a wedding bloggers like when you can combine elements to help tell the story because they won't publish thirteen pictures of details they might publish one detail photo that has four or five elements into it now we'll explain it on the wedding day so many times you been stylized the garter the jewelry and the purse if it all goes well blocked that out um the veil get a shot of veil I don't really like pictures that they'll just sitting there by himself under static but if you could stylized in good light it might look really interesting do that then if the okay and the bridesmaids flowers are there pull them off to the side and get shots of that I'm doing that for vendors I want to create mentor relationships because I will of course gave those vendors free images higher is whatever you want for your website I want them again what am I trying to create don king's for doesn't start I want the floors to be like jazz and we'll knock it out just as we will not get out that's exactly what I want so any time you could shoot those in advance do it um at this point in time after I've done this the brightest probably a little bit more ready she has enough makeup on to look cute maybe her hairs and curlers or pins and that's always keep I was think girls with makeup on but their hair pinned up is super cute shoot a few of those getting the hair designer and the make up artist in some of the photos why because I want to send those photos of them working behind the scenes because that'll probably end up on their website with a little credit to me come lam more marketing for what you d'oh right you're always thinking in those contexts and furthermore it's just good karma take care of people behind the scenes and they will take care of you in front of house you know I want her to make my butt look good take a little time with extra ballistic on her um anytime you can get gifts or notes that personalizes what you're doing and it also helps tell the story of the day so what happens is I create a slide show which I will do after the wedding and sometimes you need transitionary uh pictures because you can't mean to me it just doesn't make sense to go from details to a certain thing but for instance if I'm gonna transition from shooting details to the bride getting her makeup done a transitionary picture might be a shot of all the makeup brushes or the or the hand of a makeup artist grabbing a brush of grabbing let's take whatever that's is the storytelling piece so shoot that um notes or writing groom gifts always act is a really nice transitionary piece to tell the story to flip it to where it's going to go um I then get uh bridesmaid's candids the girls get the bride the girls laughed being drinking with their mom in the background I love shooting at one point two focusing on one bridesmaid and having like the other girls like in a different plane of focus and out of focus I love that she the bride when she has her makeup on um the bride gets dresses the bride gets dressed and one thing that I have to assess is I have to assess her comfortable ity with me being in the room most brides are okay with me being in the room but if I feel like she's so you have to know how to judge um body movement if I feel like she's kind of hovering and she's not like taking off her robe and she just waiting to take up a rope she clearly is not okay being photographed in her undergarments if she's one of those girls that will just take off everything and she has a key cute little like writing room like under like undergarments she wants to be photographed so I will then feel comfortable ask her do you mind if I shoot you and she'll turn around something they have like those little like bottoms like bride like embroidered or like bedazzled on the bum she wants photos of that so that I feel comfortable asking her if she's hovering like this I don't bother asking I explained I have my camera down if you hear me shooting I'm not shooting you I'm shooting other people within the room nothing will get on online say that I don't care explain to her that you're in the safe zone because so much is happening so once I assess the comfortable ity of me shooting her I will then shoot candids of the bridesmaids grabbing the dress getting her into the dress I'm focusing on where mom and I need to get a picture of mom in the photo then I flip to the back side I get the girls zipping up or buttoning her dress that's a really big important photo I get candids of the bridesmaids and the mom then of course you get candids of putting on the gardener and putting on the shoes I kind of think that those are boring photos but every so often you kind of get a wonder that you can incorporate elsewhere but again it just goes back to telling the story of the day um and expressions after the bride is fully done like putting on her jewelry and her um all the goods there's always that like moment that collected moment of and everybody collapse girls I don't know why girls like hey it's it's the girl moment but you know it's coming anticipate the moment and shoot the heck of the movement because that's like the real stuff that's the stuff that tells the story of the day in a single picture and really resonates in slide shows all right well groom preparation um I don't shoot the groom that's what my second shooter does and thankfully I call jd my little chameleon he you know chameleons do like adapt to whatever environment there in like he can hang out with like rockers and hillbilly hillbillies rockabilly and I'm just a rockabilly three so rocket billy's okay oh my god I'm gonna get myself in trouble he just whoever he is around he kind of turned into that person so people feel comfortable and I explain in advance to the bride into the groom he does not do any formal shooting he's just there to document what the guys do guys get ready in twenty fifteen twenty minutes girls take three hours right so he just kind of hangs out the guys were most likely drinking by the pool in the bar in the bedroom watching the game gets candids of those in addition to that he will get the sioux in tux suman tax untouched so get hanging because if the girl has addressed the guy might want his his tux especially if it's a custom made tops or a designer talks they want that kind of stuff and if you are thinking about publication if he's wearing like an armani or like some type of cool suit make sure get photos that um shoes cufflinks if the bright send him a gift I want all those details anything don't help tell the story and document his day if he's shooting a really cool if he's drinking a really cool drink like an expensive bottle of bourbon expensive bottle of gin make sure you get photos of it because they're drinking it for a reason it makes him feel cool and he will always resonate with that type of photo and also again tells the story of the day the guys just hanging out and a point to keep in mind is that guys want to look cool and girls wanna look beautiful at least my client's guys I mean they want to look good but they want to look more or less cool that's kind of it you know if you can make a guy like cole is he's drinking a really expensive glass of bourbon with a couple pieces of ice you're a total winner that's my my end all be all goal for that moving on we're flying how we doing okay oh good yeah I can tell time what thirty nine okay okay here we go now we're gonna shoot the first look um we arrive early to the location most men I will venture to say about eighty five percent of my client's shoes to do first look you're interested in the first look go to my vlog read about it I talk openly about how aiken how I present it to my clients how beneficial I believe it is I you have a first look myself so I am you know president and I also use it how does that go please the hair the men hair product okay anybody anywhere I feel like I'm trying to be funny it's not landing ok that one did not really good wait like you know I don't only use it on the president that one rogue eh no I don't want rogaine but anyway I know you're talking about he's please internet please first like we arrive earlier firmin well hair compliment what's the slogan what is the stinkin slogan I e kill me I'm gonna get another switch okay I'll leave you hanging I don't know oh thank you thank you remember that one shout out okay we arrived to location we find the location in advance that j d and I connect so that he knows where to meet me without constant communication being on the phone this is functioning on the assumption that the bride has not indicated to me where she wanted the first look to take place of all my weddings last year I only had one bride request where the first looks like place once I found that location told jd the first look is scheduled for three pm please have donald here at two fifty five that's the conversation we have I hope to not have to pick up a call from j d thinking where are we what are we doing we establish where the first look wilby in advance he goes to the groom I go with the bright um when it comes to the first look what I'll do in which you guys will see on the wedding day and then her web will be seen on the wedding day we have the groom stationed and set up what I do is I talk all usernames I'm gonna talk to laura believe dr laura um billy is standing out there and he's waiting for you please give me five minutes I'm gonna go say hi what I'm doing when I go say hi I was billy it's so good to see you I give me a hug how are you feeling and like do you mind if I get a shot of you just standing here by herself I already know that jd has plenty of shots of billy standing by himself what I'm doing is I'm getting a camera of where I want them so that I'm not being hit at a left field like oh good okay good okay I'm shooting it two point five awesome he looks so handsome I'm gonna go get laura I go get laura said laura follow me in ten seconds he looks beautiful he looks so handsome he can't wait to see you take a deep breath and just soak in the moment I run back I wait five to ten seconds laura comes out but I'm not I'm not nervous about where my camera settings are already know what my camera settings are jd usually focuses on the groom approaching the bride I usually focus on the bride on the groom waiting for the bride and depending on the location we're sending on either directions we don't need to be sitting next to each other even if we're using two lenses I want to get two perspectives once he turns around and sees her his back is to me so that I flipped to the side and jd rotates all the time jd is rotating away from me so if you guys are the food shooter make sure that if you're gonna be in anybody's way ladies wait I'm kind of kidding but not really just make sure that if you want even if you want to shoot behind his shoulder with a different lens totally do that too just make sure because we're in such a tight space I want to make sure that their photos are still like preserve the sanctity of the moment without like that person's back or like you know so that's it happens on the first look okay and then when they first saw each other we don't say anything I just want to leave them alone for like five minutes it's like their moment what they gave up for that moment was her walking on the aisle by him turning around and seeing her I want to give them just a moment for him to be like you look beautiful can you believe this happening I'm so excited and we just shoot the conversation let them be the minute they turn to us that means that they're ready great let's go fired off twenty five thirty minutes without reading group after that I bring in the bridal party shoot bridal party hose this is where I um I try to be creative but it just depends how much time I have you know it's like at the end of the day the bottle pretty pictures are important but what's going to go in the album is one photo so I'm not going to spend so much time trying to make his creative photo that mayor may not end up in print so what I do I simply when I start with a barter party mike a guy says it going I want to introduce myself because the guy's always the guys are always skeptical here's this little like fun sized girl like kay on they're like oh my god who is this girl the last wedding totally happened he plays a professional polo for the u s polo team and so is the best men or his groomsmen or huge there are like seven foot roger older lon like beef cakes and I'm like okay so same here same here and some of them were making fun of me I just gave it up like a care bear you're not paying out there just didn't look good so what happens bridegroom in the middle all the guys stand upon the guy on the side of the guy all the girls the girls the kids right there the front safe picture get the picture then I have everybody lean in every squeezy squeeze is in and so sometimes you laugh sometimes well lookit away kind of candid whatever on the bride and groom are look at each other the kind of squeezing like this j d's shooting tight to get their reactions is everybody scooting in I get a candid of that then I will do it create a photo whatever the creative photo lends itself to be on that time I only do three poses one traditional one everybody leaning in semi candid and then one a little bit vanity fair diva for me because I'm shooting for my clients it's a photo but I want to shoot the fund voters meet nobody really likes shooting the final photos but if you could challenge yourself to get a really cool photo that you're proud of you wen so that's it that's the entire set up then you get the guys and issue it doesn't matter just get the groom any guy come in any guy come in any guy come in any guy commit great girls should abide by results in the girls girls commit gross command girls commit thirty minutes twenty five thirty minutes super super super straightforward the pictures that get printed are the group photos that's it if the bride doesn't want to have photos with her in each of her bridesmaid awesome but you know it is what it is I'm sorry I'm staring right at you victoria that's okay you're totally taking it I was just a mentorship because they're just invited okay here we go the next one is uh okay after the bridal party photos I encourage the bride to get tucked away from early arriving guests jane and I then go and get into detail mode this is slightly before guests arrive so I'm going to go immediately to the to the ceremony location and get an overall picture of the untouched location what magazines want is an overall ceremony location untouched by people sitting in the chairs they want to know the overall vibe and the aesthetic of the day I go there that's the first time that I get because it's done by that time half hour before the ceremony it's completely finished I get that photo then I do wedding detail photos like um I'll flowers guestbook um communion um any type of sign ege anywhere all those details we get then we immediately either jd will stay there and get pictures of early arriving guests and all head over to the cocktail hour most parties like nicer weddings will have a very nice cocktail hour so what I'm going over there is I'm getting sign ege from the guest seating arrangement because what happens is I know that I have to shoot pictures after the ceremony and then people to talk to our will go and get their seating arrangements and then I can get a pretty photo that editors absolutely go bonkers you need that photo if you want to submit to a wedding so I go immediately there get that shot of those photos untouched get the cocktail hour untouched because it's already set up because the ceremony is just about a half hour away and guess we'll be there within an hour so it's done then I go back to the ceremony site and now we're ready for the ceremony that's when we shoot detailed photos of cocktail and ceremony okay here we go ceremony um this is pretty much as straightforward as it's going to be um oh one thing that I forgot to mention if the bride and groom have specialty drinks sometimes they have like a mike's mojito and stephanie strawberry dockery whenever always get sign age and always get cups like that's just another thing that you have to look forward to I'm pretty sure that warren billy will have signature drinks so happening back and take a picture of it if you were the third shooter at that time okay uh ceremony I stand up towards the front being at that yesterday I don't know if we'll be able to have the latitude it is a small space but if I can I'd like to stand behind the preacher and where billy will stand so I'm sitting behind them as much as possible I don't think you'll be able to happen in field will kind of see but I'm up at the front judy's back we get two different angles of the same situation going on that's back up um sometimes my lighting with my lighting on saturday was pretty awful as he walked in the aisle they were extraordinarily hot on the side and dark on the site I was able to salvage a few of them but jeez angle where they're all flat front light's not the best light but better because it's all continuing so I chose more of his photos that's where we stand we know what we get he knows it as the bride and her dad are the last people to come as they turn the corner he comes into the aisle and shoots him coming from behind because the bride loves that photo like that last one with her dad and I'm getting up at the front get billy's reaction I get um laura's dad giving laura way and I get the first moments as union and then we I come out from the back and then jd night just rotate final one said he's in the other and then we just do this crisscross and so where I stand at the kiss at the very end of the aisle janey's off to either one side so he gets a really tight shot of the kiss and I get a medium size and if I have enough time to zoom in on those tight shot of the guest too okay so must have shot the groom walking in with his grumman trailing behind him I'm not so concerned of getting individual shots as much as I am getting interested in getting dynamic shots of what's going on scene parents walking down the aisle father daughter walking down the aisle as the father daughter are walking on the island focusing on three main shots shots of that the bribing her dad vertical from the waist up because that's the one that magazines really like then I get a vertical of complete from head to toe with her dad and then I get a horizontal shot if possible of reactions of her like a nice tight shot of her reactions with her in her debt um father giving the bride away always focus on the hug that last hug is always emotional anytime you wanted like evoke emotions anticipate where the emotional moments were having but I always get a shot of the parents the point both parents looking at the bride and groom on the bridal party looking on both sides the bride lucky the groom the groom looking at the bride a wide and a wide angle vertical shot of the ceremony a wide angle horizontal shot of the ceremony a tight shot of the bride and groom from the end of the aisle all the way up towards the front exchanged the rings judy will get a wide shot I'll try to focus on the hands and were we standing on opposite sides of each other communion or if they do like any type of special rituals making sure that you anticipate where that's happening in the ceremony so that one photographer standing in the right location on the first kiss again j descending towards the front off the side I'm sending down the aisle or flying these are you guys okay family focus of family pictures already talked about this so all focus on the main picture judy gets the candids off to the side now for family formals I just fire these off as quick as possible I wrote about this on my blog's so if you want more information you can go there but laura talk to me about how much time she should allocate for her family pictures because I remember speaking two billion he said it he had a big irish family when I hear that I'm just like oh my god this could turn into forty five minutes for an hour ah family pictures which I'm sure are fine but we don't have the luxury to do that so I told her this is what I do this is what works and then we can adam from there so lauren billy in the front and center and then I get a bride's huge side of the family her panties uncles cousins second cousin's godparents whomever the whole king caboodle then I start peeling people away and layers I moved all of the extended family so that I just have her immediate family and grand parents then I take her grandparent's out then I just do the immediate family then I do just her siblings then I do just her grandparent's then he'd just do her and her parents then I do her parents with laura and then on the other side billy's parents done then we bring in billy's whole side of the family and we do the same thing on his side and then after that's done if we have time I do individual shots like lauren her mom lauren her dad but I'm hoping at this point in date and already had candids of this already happening I don't need to see that for the formalities if I feel good that have my back with that please people way feel good or that we can close it and then start moving on to the reception details are we okay with her if I could shoot the photos like this on both sides family I could get it in twenty five minutes okay and these are all with natural light uh it depends on the location if I could shoot it naturally yes okay if not then I'll just have my camera set up for with both flash and sometimes for family photos if I feel like it's really dark which it might be on that day because it's gonna be raining I might bring out my off camera light set up and just set it up behind me and I'll trigger that instead of using my own camera flash because it recycles faster okay um okay if we feel like we didn't get enough time because of the rain on friday I will hopefully have about twenty minutes with a couple to see if it's not raining afterward that is already petted into the timeline if we don't if I feel good about it because laura decided to wear her wedding dress tomorrow she was and where a different dress for the pictures tomorrow but she decided because of light the rain she's gonna wear her wedding dress which it's um it's bittersweet I didn't want her wedding her wedding dress because I wanted the first look to be as first look ish as possible but at the same time maybe it's a total blessing in disguise if it totally rained on her wedding day she's gonna be that's socks like we can't do what we want to do so hey if this works out it totally works out to our benefit if we feel we have enough pictures on that day awesome we're done with all formalities now party central for laura and billy and I tell them that no going party normal formalities then I go to the reception location I start shooting the reception details I have that off carmelite set of j d will do that then he goes to cocteau our does a quick soup of cocktail hour I don't really think cocktail hour pictures are important what a lot of people do and I'm gonna err on the side of being careful janey just throws on his twenty eight and just gets hey six people come here gather together for a picture together to get your picture and it was a quick super party then he comes back and helps me now what are we're so we didn't have okay so we went through family photos sunset photos of the bride and groom if applicable cocteau our and reception details okay so this is where we hear um okay detailed photos I need an overall room shot with everybody cleared out that's the one that magazines always want to see so if it's in your possibility that happens at the beginning when you start shooting because people will start trailing in for cocktail hour I need a tight shot of the centerpiece I need a wider shot of the centerpiece in relation to the table scape I need the overall table scape note please remove the salt shakers and the sugar hanging those will never get published and even if it's a beautiful table and you have some like equal or sweet and low cheap take it off the table I always salads table I think butter salt pepper sugar packets take it off it's cheap to cheap money leave it on there and it's too easy to remove stylized your shoot even if you're shooting the ghetto fab weddings collect what you can on a table and shoot it in such a manner that it looks like it's really full and nice don't leave it's farce that's the thing that always like cheap is cheap dies she buys is whatever your photos ok I also need menu cards I need the name placards I need the settings need plates and specialty glassware are there multiple tables that are style differently not every table that you shoot at a reception nowadays especially are all the same centerpieces if there are three times the table is being set up you need three different um overall shots of those centerpieces and the overall table scapes um cake I need a tight vertical shot they need a wider vertical shot including the stanton in which it's on I need a micro detail of any type of stuff on top if you have a cute husband groom thing or just like a tight shot of the upper part of the cake then they need a horizontal shot if there is specialty lighting like a gobo if they have like their logo or anything that you need to get a shot of the go bo I need to get a bar shot if they have like a specialty bar and the band playing softly as people enter I also need to get shots with a sweetheart table if they have a sweetheart table I don't think they have one tomorrow but if there was always get a shot of the bride's me this is the first time she sees her name as her mary name you doing the sweetheart table last week she was uh erica our billy is and on saturday she became erika alexander that's the first time she sees her name as alexander I need to get a photo of that because that means something to her um great oh and also if you have toasting glasses and my flying too fast these were all the things that I just think for those people who are not from a shooting extensive things great entrance I usually shoot the grand entrance with a fifty millimeter I know I should probably zoom lens but I don't like the way that it looks and I like the light that I get with my fifty I move according to what I do I probably can get two photos of each couple coming in and then j d gets two photos between the two of us we might be able to salvage two photos of each come well coming in from different locations perfect awesome um I then use my off camera flash I'm eating the food thing against the wall and the lighting for the background okay oh and also talk to the coordinator to see where those people what door there's multiple doors no one advance where your party's air coming because there's nothing worse than getting caught offguard the first dance we spoke about this earlier but my lighting set up I rotate around the dance floor and I try to make sure that wherever or did he try to make sure that wherever he is he's not in relation to where I am and always finding good light in relation to what you're available light is and see if you can meet a ring for ambient lighting okay oh and I only ever shoot the first dance with uh fifteen eighty five eighty five was just like uh you just get riel deep deep thick rich beautiful buttery photos with eighty five um formal dances the parents same set up as the first dance same thing same setting saying lighting set up the whole nine toasts what I usually do is I will get it I try to shoot the wedding as if I am the first shooter and I'm the only shooter and you can't ever trust what the other person will get nothing he don't trust judy but god forbid anything happens I need to know that I have my back entirely so on the toast I'm shooting um two or three shots safe shots of the person giving the toast then jd just focusses entirely on the person even toast then I wrote it over to the writing room to get the reactions and then I stayed with the bridegroom the whole time the next person to come up and give the toast I get the safe shot of the person giving the toast I come over that I get their reactions boom done okay um dancing shots I told you I talked to earlier about what I do for dancing shots I used ambient lighting I throw on the twenty four get crazy and you want to make sure that you get people's reactions to what is going on the dance floor formal reception events one thing about dancing to is if you feel like your bride and groom aren't dancing for me that's how I close my slide shows it's about for me it's about the slide show and about the wedding album if I am not getting the photos that I need sometimes I will ask my bride and groom sometimes I feel like she wants it and and he doesn't move is like hey you know johnny do you think you can go out there and take a quick spin on the dance floor then I tell duty like I give him the look this is the ohmygod they're gonna dance you need to fire off as many pictures as we can to get the photo look he goes of their former balloon we shoot them we just need to shoot them for one dance in order to get thirteen photos of them dancing thank you we're done no more formalities formal reception events this is the bouquet and garter toss and the cake cutting jd and I now know where he stands if I'm shooting with the fifty he's gonna be shooting with the twenty eight to get a wide angle of what's going on the storytelling and I'm shooting the details I'm actually cutting the cake him feeding her her feeding him then we move over to the booking garter most likely we're both shooting wide because it's about the story for the bouquet and writer and I focus on the group I focus in the room he focuses on the guy's eye focuses on the eye focuses I focus on the bride he focuses on the single girls slam bam departure always with the departure you want to make sure and you say I know it sounds stupid but I didn't do this from the first couple weddings sorry I didn't say goodbye to like the coordinator I just like left you know and it was bad because I got gratuity and because I didn't see her at the end she she knew clearly that like I left without saying goodbye because just like I need your address because they stayed a gratuity and I was like well that was bad safe be formal say goodbyes and even if it's annoying because you're staying past to find that person it's just the polite thing to do oh my god it's four fifty nine weii how about we take just a couple questions I knew I blew you a couple questions and you know everybody needs a breather another I know everybody's like oh my god I totally like spit it out I am so sorry but again we will talk about this briefly tomorrow but I just want to make sure that I'm on the record letting guys know what is going on in my mind what shots are going to get this is what I need to get like if you guys see me stressed out you guys now know that little list that I have in my mind my mind every wedding that a shoot I shoot it as if it's going to be published again goes back to the zacarias thing I will shoot every wedding if I am getting paid a dollar or ten thousand a million dollars I will shoot it and give it my all every single time it's a benefit of the clients did you have yes I was just seeing how I was just wondering how many times you take the bride and groom are because I could see like first look and then uh sunset really quickly and then maybe after formals but how long is each session the first look is twenty five minutes a half hour and sunset photos are usually ten minutes okay so all together you have roughly about thirty to forty minutes to do all your portrait's in the fun shots yeah harmony and that's on a good day like I haven't given twenty five minutes and you just got it you just got to do it you have to date you I mean what what options do you have and in those cases um you do really honestly your second shooter like I turned the radio like we have to work some magic right now like I know what we need to get and we need to fire it and I tell my clients like there's no this fluff stuff I'm like way have twenty minutes can you guys give me your best in twenty minutes if you give me your best I swear I will get you the best pictures when you if somebody says that to you would you not be like all right I'm ready dio you know so yeah and again they are investing money in me so to be honest with them you can't be like warm and fluffy like all so happy and inside you're like dying no keep it really let them know she can't let go teo several kind of locations and do a bit of scarring stuff that would have all been done before and then yeah it really quickly and then you have to have executed timeline of what you're doing because you're literally under the gun so yeah can we talk about the editorial shots or the magazines people are kind of wondering how you get your shots in magazines questions like would you ever let jd shot he put in the magazines and shots are always picked up her mind for magazines always his shot because what happens is I will pose them so that I think that the funky crazy cool but it doesn't sell magazines that doesn't because what happens when bride looks the magazines she wants the warm and fuzzy feeling she doesn't want the hoca tour because she could look in vogue in g q and vanity fair for that she wants to look to the girl who's doing what you want to do slightly better that's jay's angle he always gets the candid her looking back at him editors love that stuff so how do you get your photos and I have three four five posts on my block dedicated to just getting featured in magazines and getting featured in blocks I've interviewed three editors from national magazines the knot inside weddings and uh got publishing brides and I was able to talk to them and they put all that information on the web and I also had the opportunity to interview abbie was style me pretty about she has the she she's like the godmother of wedding blog's stanley pretties like the grand supreme oh my god does anybody watch on toddlers and terrorist eyes in the tractor show you know oh my god you guys hate me you guys just hating I repelled half my audience I'm watch it shone like it's a train wreck I'm like no oh my god it's so good anyway so um abby larson was pretty is like the grandson rain she was the biggest crown and so when I asked my case can you like help share with my audience what makes a great mission so she did she answered a ton of questions there's a ton of information on the line um online on my block and I definitely think people could look it up there because it's just too much to get into a good school and the russians oh yeah I already um another question how do you deal with guests with cameras and especially during formals I let them have their moment so um aunties and uncles will always want to shoot the immediate family so step back and be like I'll say okay family look at everybody here look at these cameras I'm extending control the situation please look at these cameras every reason to shooting pictures oh great this could be a facebook everybody smile look good thank you guys so much I turn I look everybody thank you so much I totally appreciate it and I have every day look at me I look at everybody and I say everybody look at my camera I will have my camera over my face and I'm talking state and control the situation everybody look here no blanketing every smiling with your oh my god he looks so great grandma don't look so q snap snap snap snap snap good we're done move on just yet how do you get the videographers sometimes here are in your way because like we've done a few weddings and like they're in the way then you're like oh you know what sometimes you're kind of too close and keeping out for me please because you know you kind of get in the way and then they still don't hadi managed I've been lucky enough to just try to like be in control of the situation on a lot of times people will sit on you if you love them to step on you like clearly I don't know I have a strong personality right well okay what you like you're the videographer nice to meet you miss jasmine statement all always always always move things that any time there's a little somebody will step in to do what they want to do because they need a shot as well but there's nothing nicer than you getting what you need is feeling good and be like hey you know what why don't you take him to do what you want to do because then you become the second shooter for the videographer and I let the last time we had this wedding like I had my photos and he's like do you think I could unlike my gosh like that was rude of me I'm like I was really I'm so sorry please take them for five minutes we have five minutes it is a great I became his second photographer j d became the third photographer and I got some really cool pictures that were not my style but I think benefited the bride and groom so they appreciate you just going to write and then letting him have their turn and then you getting in control again yes yes all right you don't have one um has your schedule haven't bean screwed up by a vendor yes whether ugo yes what do you do like tim gone and project runway make it work you know I watch a lot tv oh you got it sound like I want to want me I don't I'm such a reader I swear I am I read books um no I know I just I watch reality television when I'm at the gym I'm always about multitasking I'm not like okay so tim gunn make it work people will screw up with your timeline the on ly person who pays for it is a photographer nobody else says it is your responsibility it is I always feel like it is my responsibility to get that timeline back on track because I know the ceremony is going to start come hell or high water at five thirty no other option you better make it work better turn to your second shooter and be like help me get something ten minutes explain to your clients we got a little bit of a late start I will honestly openly announce like if I feel like we're running too far behind and the makeup and the hair artist or not work on my side okay laura we're running about ten minutes behind do you think that you could be reading about five minutes what's she gonna do she not say yes just turn to her makeup artist and be like you think I'll be ready what does that make a parson no I need twenty more minutes so we're gonna try move it along state control be on their side and be like don't worry I promise if you hurry up I will get you some awesome photos you could tell you some website and block on facebook on whatever I'll take care of let them know that you're on their team and then they help you like move where you need to know okay oh from twitter at photo flowing twitter has said uh we've talked a lot about pretty shoes and see what advice would you give to male photographers when dealing with brides I think you need to approach it as a business as a business thing like this is richard sterne development if you don't know who christian lobaton is you need to google it right now like you need to know what you do I'm not even like you need to know who like you need to know how you need to know what your bride likes you just do I don't think it's an inherent advantage to be a girl I just happen to be interested in a lot of things my brides are but if you're a guy like you know um nike spends millions figuring out who their target market iss they just don't make a shoe and hope it works they're researching if you are dating a girl and you're a guy ask her like who is this christian lulu god what is the difference between gucci and diane von furstenberg talk to me about vera wang know your designers because if you know that a girl has a priscilla of boston dress you know she dropped some time on that she's a little it's a sweet you need a photograph it like it's a vintage dress like all those types of things you need to take into consideration get busy don't just hope for the best you got to make the best you got to make it work and I think the question was not just about the shoe right but also like say for example that getting ready shots and you know how do you approach it differently when you're a male dealing with bride research research for your girlfriends talk to girlfriends asked what they're comfortable with and I had a male photographer I was super comfortable with him but I'll say this to his face he's diva you know like he he knows he dresses he dresses well I like I like that about him but again he might repel people it doesn't matter I was attracted to that I felt comfortable with that when I got into my dress he asked me what are you comfortable with and I said well I just want to get into my dress so if you could just wait into the bathroom and then my my dress was undone from the back so he got me getting you know most of the dress up and he came back out and my mom and my sisters at me and he got me from behind and he she went around to the front and shot me I was very comfortable him but I think he was because he was comfortable in his own skin if guys are like oh what is this stool daddy sparkly shoe if somebody was like that trying to eat my shoes that I had spent eight hundred dollars on I would be like those duties for a bit be educated about what you're doing and care because your client cares very much about how much you spend so um speaking of your photographer just ask one more question where you said you contacted him and said you know you could afford him but he said he would work it out with you does that happen with you will you well you know you negotiate the short answer is no I don't I really don't because I know that I don't want to shoot fifty weddings I just want to shoot twenty two twenty eight twenty twenty five twenty three is like that nice little golden number twenty three twenty four is where I need to be and um people I want people to make that investment I want them to do want me to be there so if people ask what do you discount for friends or family while my sister's getting married and what kind of leak sure what I believe I told my sister I mean like that's like family fights right there so I come from the school thought like if I'm close enough to you I will shoot your wedding as my gift to you and if I'm not that close to you I will send you my pride my collection menu okay so yeah do we have more questions in the audio on that know where do you draw the line between like somebody that your sister and someone who's like your sister's best friend or somebody that you knew in high school or somebody that you worked with at an old job like is it just sort of like your family so you're it's free and you're not family so everybody's everybody's different for me people think that I'm very very very open and perhaps I am but for the people who really know me people know I'm fiercely private fiercely I guard my privacy like to no degree so the people who are in my little circle and that circle is tiny I will shoot it free no questions asked anyone who's not in that is there is not it's not even a question from anymore like I you're paying me for what I do and I want you to value that so let's not end on that a woman's question wave reality show e reality show there's too many the list I love project runway I love jersey shore I love I mean like how different um I love toddlers tiara I like oh my gosh I used to actually I hated it I used to watch on the people's eight I used teo awful right I don't have kids total hot mass tragic train wreck I don't watch keep liz ate any more um I don't know I watch a lot like I even watched cake boss every once in a while I mean sample what to think no you want you want occasionally I want to but there's too much drama with like roaches ingo and like all those other girls in the house yeah I know I know enough about ochocinco to know exactly what you're talking about yeah the bachelorette I wanted that okay I have another question yes someone has said that the bridal party usually wants you to drink and dance at the wedding the photographer is that true I'm rory have you ever danced wedding her well the larger answer is no but last october I had a bride who was wedding we shot in syracuse and the deejay stopped everything and he said uh the bride would like to play a special song for her wedding photographer it was california dreamin and she took me out on the dance floor and what am I going to do like s so you have a kind of dance a little bit and I was just like oh my god oh my god we got into the bridal party came out and then every star dancing I was like okay give me my camera back so yeah that was a little bit but no they're not paying me to dance you know you didn't dance away from it okay you don't drink cause I'm sure know has people to keep drinking they keep asking you get yeah I know I know you're also not a farewell drink either like I am very much very much working but teach his own I know other photographers that enjoy a glass of wine with your meal that's totally fine I'm just not gonna I'm not gonna try to party of my vendor mia you know like you know like my sander to my glass of merlot no thankyou water sign my camel nous comes out yes when you're doing a family or friends sweating how are you still being a guest or are you not well this is I don't know you haven't answered the questions my friends I love a mall and they're all single okay my sister is like the first one of us to like god and do it so we created a hybrid of sorts and oh my gosh if you can believe this so this is my bride I a door this girl I adore her she's from phoenix arizona excuse me scottsdale arizona I shut her wedding in scottsdale last october we hit it off and she's a photographer I simply adore her trust her implicitly on my sister also was looking for photographers to help me on the wedding day because jd will not be shooting with me I want him I wanted him specifically to relax so I will be the first sugar for the day except for the ceremony I asked you to come along and shoot the ceremony for us because our styles are similar enough but there's this thing about her that implicitly trust and she's also my bride she knows how I work and I trust that about her so I'm excited but after the first and I tell my sister after the first dances over my camera is down and I am posting and having falling with everybody else so it'll be a hybrid of sorts so we'll see how it goes yes what percentage of your photography jobs are there in orange county where you are and that you travel out for destination okay that's a really good question so the thing about southern california is that it's really widespread but it's really really small in sorts because like my market theoretically reaches from san diego to santa barbara because I could drive to them in just two hours either way from where I live so that's my market but I will say that I do about forty percent in orange county forty percent in los angeles there's like hi cross over it is just a simple drive so forty in orange county forty percent from l a and twenty percent destination I like it makes you sound like a rough life people always say like how exciting it is to travel for destination and it is it soaks and what it's also very stressful I'm not going on a vacation I'm taking my entire business in a backpack and I'm taking a red eye to location getting a rental car all groggy and and like krusty getting to the hotel checking in and if you don't have early check in jd and I have to go and do some things will get a bite to eat still feeling completely out of sorts go back to the hotel room take a nap get back up connected the bride and groom see if they want us to document the rehearsal dinner if they paid us for that orgy and I will go out on date because friday night is date night we'll go out and see a movie somewhere we go back to the hotel where we wake up we shoot the wedding we party until like midnight we come back the hotel room and leave on the first flight home like it's very like business go go go so I'm there to do a job wait once when he pays me to go there I'm going there focus on just what it is to dio so it's nice but it's a lot of work tio a lot a lot of work so craig we're good we're gonna wrap it up how do I wrap things up I've never done this before I think it's a good question good question is annie yeah does anyone else want to ask me a warm and fuzzy no pressure ok I think that's it I think it's been totally today I totally appreciate guys hang out with me everybody on the web cameras on camera nobody's filming there like we're done with this girl anyway okay okay well everybody watching on the internet you so much for tuning in you guys thank you for being here I promised tomorrow will be a lot more get up and go but just want to tell you the foundation so thank you guys