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4 Questions to Ask During Last-Minute Wedding Planning

  • Grooms watch on ties

 

Last-Minute Wedding Planning

Let’s face it: love can be a whirlwind experience. One day, you may just go out on a date, then tomorrow you find yourself walking down the aisle because your heart is ready to say “I do”. Because of this, you are forced to go through last-minute wedding planning, which can easily be pulled off if you know what you need and find the right people to help you.

To get started, consider the following questions you and your soon-to-be spouse should ask yourselves:

4 Questions to Ask During Last-Minute Wedding Planning

  • Do you have the necessary itinerary for your friends and family for your wedding? 

If you plan to do a destination wedding, which means holding a wedding in a beautiful location of your choosing, you have to ensure that everyone you care about is there to watch you get married, like your friends and family. While it may be fun to think everyone is available, that is always not the case. particularly with travel restrictions due to COVID.

Since time is of the essence here, you first need to check who can make it to your big day, include them in your group travel plans, have the necessary accommodations ready, and coordinate with them about the fine details. This part of wedding planning can be the most exciting yet tedious, so ensure you get the help you need from either your partner or a planner. 

It’s been a common occurrence – particularly in the past year for couples to have a tiny ceremony, and perhaps plan for a family celebration later

Santorini Couple Shoot

  • What do you want to eat during your reception? 

The reception is what your guests would look forward to the most on your day, since you and your guests get to mingle and meet your partner. You do have to take note of the activities, like who will perform or give their speech, but the highlight of the reception will always be the food. It’s a way to entertain your guests and showcase your tastes as a couple by selecting the menu options you want. 

Eating the food

  • Have you bought the rings yet? 

As surprising as it might be, many people overlook the need to purchase rings when last-minute wedding planning! It’s just something that is taken for granted and as it doesn’t effect anyone but yourselves, is something people forget.

The rings are a reflection of your tender bond as a married couple, so it’s not something that you should ever forget to shop for when you are planning your big day at the last minute. Luckily, you can always purchase them online and find favourable options within your budget. You don’t necessarily have to go for luxury-looking pieces; it really boils down to your preferences as a couple. 

Wedding rings on tie 2

  • Did you hire a wedding photographer and plan your photo ops already? 

Ok, as a wedding photographer this may be a little biased, but your photos are the only thing you will have to document this whirlwind portion of your life after the big moment! Your wedding photography costs tend to be on the high side so it’s super important that you are happy with your photgorapher and what they offer you adn your wedding day!

The best way to do so and document every lovely moment is to hire a wedding photographer right away! Also, you may want to set up your photo ops, like the creative shot or group shot, which are the quintessential wedding photos to have. These pictures can serve as gifts for your guests while reminding them of your special day and how they were a huge part of it! 

The fun thing about last-minute wedding planning is that you may have to plan for a smaller wedding – which means you can have all the time in the world to travel to some funky spot for your photos. this cannot always be done on a typical wedding day.

bride and groom in the water

Wedding planning traditionally takes months or even years to accomplish, but who’s to say you can’t say do so in a few days? After all, if your heart is in the right place and you have your life partner by your side, who else is there to stop you? Thus, ensure you start now, consider the following questions mentioned above, and tick off “find a wedding photographer” from your list because we’ve got you covered!

Sven Studios can provide you with the best wedding photography Adelaide has to offer, allowing you, your partner, and your guests to have picture-perfect moments worth revisiting. Our team of professional photographers can take you through different creative shots and produce high-resolution wedding photos. Download our price list and determine which option fits best for your big day! 

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4 Tips to Get The Best Engagement Photos

  • OMG it's an engagement ring

 

Get The Best Engagement Photos

As a soon-to-be bride or husband, you may be wondering whether it’s essential to have an engagement photoshoot before your wedding. You may tend to overlook it, especially with how overwhelming the wedding planning and preparation can be, but your engagement photos can be just as important as your wedding photos. 

Getting your engagement photos taken is a great way to meet your wedding photographer and establish a connection with them. Remember that they will be with you for much of the day on your wedding day, which is one of the most intimate days of your life, so it’s important that you feel comfortable around them as soon as possible. 

4 Tips to Get The Best Engagement Photos

Your engagement photoshoot can also serve as your test run for your big day. This is especially important if you get anxious in front of the camera and start wondering if your photos will turn out great. To ease all your worries and get the best engagement photos possible, here are some tips you can follow:

  • Have your pets join in

Your pet may be a part of your life to the point that they are now considered one of your family members. To make your engagement photos more exciting and add more personality to your photos, you can ask for your cat, dog, or other pets to join your photoshoot. Just make sure the spot where you’re planning on having your photos done allow for pets!

Dog running in the Ekhidna WInes vineyards

  • Use unique and fun props

The conventional bouquets and balloons may now be out of style as props for engagement photos, but other unique and fun items are welcome additions to your photoshoot. For instance, you can use props that signify your passions. If you are a music buff, show off your guitar as you pose to serenade your significant other. You may also use books as props if you love reading. 

To have romantic, creative engagement photos, you can share one ice cream, use Scrabble letter pieces as titles, or ride cars or motorcycles. Just make sure to use those that help you create your desired theme and photography style.

Balloon man

  • Choose a memorable destination

While you can capture stunning engagement photos anywhere, you can make your pictures look more appealing and heart-warming by choosing a place that holds a special place in your hearts. Pick a spot that represents a big part of your history or relationship story. For example, the destination could be a restaurant where you first met together or a tourist attraction where you proposed.

You can even shoot inside the home you grew up in, or your future home. This way, you are assured there will be fewer distractions. You can simply focus on posing and getting your best photos taken without worrying about the weather or the people outside.

Consider your personalities or wedding theme too; for example – it would be a bit odd to have a fairy themed wedding, only to have a photo shoot in a modern hotel.

Tiwi Islands Sunrise

  • Shoot during the best time of the day

The best time of the day for photoshoots is the golden hour. It usually takes place just an hour before sunset, and it is when the natural lighting is at its best. It lets you have effortlessly breath-taking and romantic-looking photos. However, you can still choose any time slot according to your preference and convenience.

Sunset proposal

An engagement photo session is a fun and memorable way to be better prepared for being photographed on your wedding day. To ensure you get the best engagement photos taken and bring home unforgettable memories that you will cherish forever, follow the tips listed above.

Don’t forget to hire professional photographers who are skilled and have the necessary equipment to take high-quality photos and have a chat with them as they are sure to have further ideas to get the best engagement photos beyond what’s in this short list.

Capture your love story in the best way possible by hiring SvenStudios. Our team specialises in wedding photography and offers wedding videography, engagement photography, and photo booths for hire in Adelaide. Contact us to book your session!

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Planning a Wedding – What Your Photographer Needs to Know

Groom leading bride along cliff

Planning a Perfect Wedding – What Your Photographer Needs to Know

A wedding is an important event in a couple’s life. It is a day where a couple publicly shares their vows and enters into the lifelong contract of marriage. Moreover, it is a day wherein they proclaim their never-ending love and appreciation for each other. 

Since a wedding is one of the beautiful moments in a couple’s life, it must be cherished and documented properly. To make sure that you capture every important moment on your special day, talk to your photographer beforehand to set your big day up for success!

While it is best to let your photographer have artistic licence over what they are doing, as you chose them for a reason – it can’t hurt to communicate to them the images and setup you envisioned so that they will come in prepared to deliver you the best photos of one of the most important days of your life. 

Your photographer may have other ideas to better capture the moment, so it’s best to set a meeting with them to iron out the details. In this way, there is a clear goal for both of you! Photographers hate it when they don’t meet the expectations of their clients, so it’s best to set all the goals before the day of the wedding and figure out what your photographer needs to know.

Gallop bridge Wedding photo

What Your Photographer Needs to Know

Since there are a lot of things to communicate to your wedding photographer, it can get a bit overwhelming; in fact, you may even miss out on some of the most crucial details! That’s why we created this list of a couple of important things you need to talk about to ensure the success of the shots. 

  • Give them a list of names of family and friends 

One of the parts during a wedding ceremony is when you need to take family photos. It can be difficult to manage, especially when there are a lot of people whom you don’t know just milling around aimlessly! Beyond that, a lot of guests often want to enjoy the cocktail hours, so you need to be as quick as possible to ensure that it goes according to plan. 

Having a list will keep this part as smooth and efficient as possible. It will be easier on your part to just call the names instead of asking around who they are! To streamline this effort, help your photographer by writing it like this: bride’s parents with bride and groom, groom’s parents with bride and groom, etc. Don’t just list individual names.

Your photographer does not know who anyone in your group photos are, or how they relate to one another, it’s the one period of the day where they completely rely on your direction in order to produce what you expect, so I cannot understate the importance of this!

Bridal party group shot infront of Hobart Harbour

  • Give them a schedule of your wedding day

Having a copy of the timeline helps photographers keep track of the event as well. In this way, you both are on the same page on your wedding day and what your photographer needs to know! They will know what to expect and when to expect it—allowing them as much leeway to prepare for their shots as possible.

However, you both must understand that weddings don’t often go as planned! They usually run so late that some of the parts must be rushed. There are even times where 10 minutes were allotted to taking bridal photos; however, it ended up as 30 minutes because of all the retakes and requests! If you don’t give enough time or adjustment, you and your photographer may be stressed out due to the lack of time. 

Best way to avoid this is talk to an experienced wedding photographer and glean some insight from their experience form the hundreds of weddings they had covered beforehand.

Group shot

  • Give them a list of important shots you want 

You can always give your photographers a list of important shots that you want them to take. May it be the first dance, the cake cutting, or family photo, these need to be addressed to ensure that you get them at the end of the day! 

As I mentioned before, giving your photographer complete autonomy with their own artistic eye is the best way to let them create the best photographs for you – however photographers are not mind readers. if you have a certain set of shots you expect from your final set of images, make sure you communicate this with your photographer!

cutting the wedding cake at Mollydooker wines

A professional wedding photographer can capture the beautiful and important moments in your wedding. But, to ensure that both of your goals are met, you need to communicate to them what you expect during the wedding! May the list above give you a basic understanding of what your photographer needs to know to help ease the process along. 

If you’re looking for wedding photography services in Adelaide, SvenStudios is the one to call! Allow us to craft the precious memories of your wedding day in a fun and relaxed way that you’ll be proud to look at forevermore! Get in touch with us today to find out more about our services.

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Wedding Photography – Our Guide to Taking Family Photos

  • Guests table group shot

 

Our Guide to Taking Family Photos

Wedding photos primarily focus on the newly wedded couple, and rightly so. It’s their special day, after all! But no couple can stand on their own—they got to this joyful phase in their lives with the care, support, and love from their dear families.

Aside from your vows, first dance, bouquet toss, and other couple-centric wedding moments, your family photos will give you some of your most treasured lifelong memories. The best thing about professional wedding photography is that you are promised high-quality results that you can share as much as you want—you can send digital copies off to family members, print them as souvenirs; the options are endless!

With this in mind, heres a short guide to taking family photos on your big day!

Guide to Taking Family Photos

Family Photos You Shouldn’t Miss

Before the ceremony – Make sure to prioritise family moments as you prepare for your wedding day. Candid photo sessions with parents and siblings can be fun and a little bit teary.

Mum looking on proudly

After the ceremony – You can take group family shots around the altar or another scenic space in the ceremony venue. It’s best to prepare these locations before your wedding day.

group photo at Ekhidna Winery

During the reception – A popular choice for wedding couples is to take group photos with each table at the reception. You can set up family portrait sessions at your reception venue, too!

boys group shot

Besides the general photo-taking guidelines, rounding up family members for photos can be a challenge on top of an already hectic wedding day. Read on for a simple guide to to taking family photos as easy as possible.

 

  1. Set Your Priorities

If you grew up closely with certain cousins, a family member who helped raise you, or someone who has been very special to you all these years, prioritise their presence in your photos. This is your day, and you should be able to share all of your memories with the people closest to you.

For many families, it’s usually a given that parents, grandparents, and siblings are the main members included in family portrait sessions. To make things more efficient, you should make a list of group shots  in advance.

group photo at Alru Farm wedding

  1. Send a List to Your Photographer

Professional photographers work better with a specific shot list—this helps them prioritise and watch out for specific moments during your wedding day. Once you have a list of your family photo priorities, send them on to your photographer. This will make the photo session go much more smoothly.

 This is incredibly important – your wedding photographer works best when they have artistic freedom – however they do not know who are in your family and who belongs in a group shot. Out of all the opportunities for photos on a wedding day, your wedding photorgapher relies 100% on your direction with this. As a bonus, if your photographer knows which family members are extra special to you, they will keep an eye out for candid photo opportunities during the reception and beyond.

Guest group shot

  1. Put it on Your Schedule

For maximum efficiency and little hassle, it’s best to set a specific time for family portraits. Many couples decide to take family photos at the end of the ceremony, before everyone moves on to the reception venue. However, this is a very narrow window of time, especially if you want to change before the reception or if you have other special plans.

Another option is to get the portraits done before the ceremony starts. This will give you ample time to get all the shots you want without infringing on the ceremony and reception schedule. Just make sure that all family members are told so they can arrive on time!

St Francis Winery Wedding

Your wedding is a once-in-a-lifetime milestone, and the feelings of love and belonging are not limited to your partner; these emotions include your family, too. Make sure to set aside time and locations for your wedding photographer to capture moments with your closest family members. These are lasting memories that will stay with you forever.

Hopefully this guide to taking family photos on your wedding day helps out slightly in your planning!

If you’re looking for wedding photography services Sven Studios is the best choice for you. We have a variety of customisable wedding photography packages that will deliver all the high-quality products you need. Contact our award-winning photographers about our services today! 

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Mount Torrens Hotel Wedding – Clare & Craig

  • Clare & Craig

    Mount Torrens Hotel Wedding

    bride and groom amongst young trees

Clare and Craig’s Mount Torren’s Hotel wedding took place in lieu of a larger wedding they had planned right back before all this COVID stuff happened. Instead of having dozens of friends and family members in attendance, they opted to hold a tiny little ceremony at the delightful new Mount Torrens Hotel wedding venue in late August, with the plan of holding a large reception once everyone is able to travel again.

Mount Torrens Hotel Wedding Ceremony

The Mount Torrens Hotel wedding spot is an old, rustic little barn which according to Craig they had only just emptied of trash ready for their wedding ceremony! The Hotel boasts a delightful rustic vibe with old-world charm within and without the hotel itself, while also being surrounded by a beautiful little town, and a grassy area that would be suited for a large marquee – should the need arise.

Clare and Craig were drawn to this simple little corner of the world as they said they enjoy seeking out the simple beauty in smaller locations like this – which I felt made this wedding that much more intimate.

Around 10 witnesses were in attendance, those which could not attend made use of my 360 virtual reality recording I produce for all the weddings I cover, which makes the fact that not being able to attend that much more bareable.

Clare walked down the aisle to some very untraditional heavy metal, while the area was also decorated with fluffy dinosaurs and other things which made the space uniquely theirs.

Groom waiting patiently
Mount Torrens Hotel wedding decor
Bride arriving in gown
Bride arriving at Mount Torrens hotel wedding
Groom seeing his bride for the first time
bride arrival at Mount Torrens hotel wedding
Holding hands during ceremony at Mount Torrens hotel wedding
Groom looking at his bride
Wedding Ceremony at the Mt Torrens Hotel barn
Wedding Ceremony at the Mt Torrens Hotel
Smiling bride looking at her groom at the ceremony
Bride and groom holding hands during the ceremony
Mount Torrens Hotel wedding
Exchanging wedding rings during the wedding ceremony
Mount Torrens Hotel wedding ceremony
First kiss at Mount Torrens Hotel wedding ceremony
Groom thanking guests
Bride hugging guests

Glamour Photos

After the group photos which we took in front of the barn’s brick wall behind the Mount Torrens Hotel wedding venue, we head off to a nearby farm which Clare and Craig had found online after a bit of a shout out on social media, simply looking for someplace nice to take photos in.

The farmstead boasted a lovely curated garden, somplete with walkways and little wooden brides and huts which we made use of, before also making use of the natural Australian bush land in the dying sun of the day. I really enjoyed myself here as the sun was shining through the foliage in the most delightful way!

Clare and Craig told me that they had chosen me as their wedding photographer as they liked the way I managed to capture not only a bridal couple, but also the simple elegance of the landscape around them without drawing too much attention away from the subject of the image.

Getting comments like this is really what being a photographer was all about and it really made me smile! Not only because these lovely people enjoyed my work, but also the fact that I was with them on such a delightful day in which it was super easy to produce such wonderful work!

Bride and groom together at their Mount Torrens Hotel Wedding
Mount Torrens Hotel wedding photo
groomsmen
bride and groom under little hut
bride and groom under little hut traditional portrait
bride and groom through flowers
Bride and groom amongst the foliage
Bridal party together on the road
Together on the road surrounded by gum trees
Groomsmen cufflinks
bride ad groom in between two trees
bride ad groom in between two large trees
Bridal party amongst tree plantation
Bridal party amongst trees
Bride and groom backdropped by sunlight
Bride and groom with sun peeking through
Bride and groom in tree plantation
bride and groom amongst young trees
bride and groom together

I had an absolute blast photographing Clare and Craig’s wedding day, doubly so as I wanted to help them out as much as possible as Clare is a member of the CFS, who battled the huge fires at the beginning of 2019 – and are just lovely people all round. I wanted to do my part in putting some smiles on Clare and Craig’s faces and I hope they weren’t too dissapointed in not holding their large wedding, and having to postpone to a later date!