Why you should bring your photographer
As some of you may know, I’ve just got back from Greece to cover a destination wedding on the lovely island of Santorini, complete with iconic blue domed churches and blindingly white architecture on the top of cliffs surrounding a caldera of an anciently erupted volcano.
It’s obvious why the bridal couple selected such a spot for their wedding ceremony, despite the fact they had to travel halfway around the globe to hold it! Hosting a destination wedding like this simply allows you to hold your wedding in your perfect location, and not having to settle for something mediocre by comparison.
It’s usually not a cheap exercise however and should only be contemplated by those super keen on hosting the most perfect wedding ever! Which is why I’m writing this article about why you should bring your photographer with you to your destination wedding.
Think about it, you’re hoping to host the wedding of the century in such a stunning location, and you’re willing to trust your photos and/or video to someone your wedding venue sorted for you? One of the drawbacks of hosting a destination wedding is that many venues or local wedding planners would bundle people like your wedding photographer or videographer in with the package deals they present you, meaning they are looking to make as much profit as possible.
It’s sometimes the case that they will find local ‘friends with a camera’ or cheap photographers to save themselves as much money as possible when sorting out your wedding.
If you can’t control other aspects of your wedding, at the very least try to control the one thing that will remain after the day is over – your photography and/or video, which is why you should bring your photographer with you to your destination wedding!
No wedding ever goes off without some small hitch or problem. There’s just so many things being organised and planned, it’s only natural for some small issue to arise. This is magnified when you’re hosting a destination wedding where you’ll be placing your faith in the venue or wedding planner to handle all of your vendors and set up for the most part.
Some things are definitely minor and able to get over them quickly – like the flowers being the wrong shade, or the chairs being a few short, but your photography? That’s not getting done again and is why you should use someone you trust, despite having to fly them around the world to your destination wedding!
Why you should bring your photographer with you to your destination wedding
Bringing your own photographer to your destination wedding offers you assurance of being able to research and select the exact photographer you want! You can perfectly link their style, personality, experience and packages to what you like, rather than relying on what your venue or planner say you want 🙂 Then the photos you that they capture from your day will be as memorable as you hope them to be.
As you probably know, your photographer and videographer (if you choose to have one) will be spending more time with you on your big day than anyone else; it’s important to select someone you know will do a good job on your day. This is true for any wedding, but especially true for a destination wedding – any wedding photographer that travels for destination weddings are super passionate in what they do and will go above and beyond to capture the day in a way they are sure you’ll enjoy while also being a huge opportunity for them to travel and see the world – which as being a photographer that’s pretty much our thing!
Photographers that you bring with you will most likely offer an uninterrupted full days coverage (not so with most resort photo packages) – although I do this anyway.
You may be reading this and agreeing with my points, but also in the back of your mind you’d be thinking the cost of bringing someone with you would include airfares, accomodation and then the usual rate your photographer charges so wouldn’t be overly cost effective – which to be honest would be mostly true, but hopefully the understanding and trust you have with the photographer you’ve brought would stretch beyond the cost.
Selecting a photographer for your dream wedding shouldn’t be able cost, and cutting costs on a photographer is one of the most common regrets from couples after their day.
That said however, if you love a photographer you have found and what them, and only them to travel with you to cover your wedding, much of the time they will cut a deal just for the opportunity.
For example in my case, the recent wedding I covered in Santorini, I covered in exchange for a lovely holiday – and yet another wedding I’m covering in Fiji next year I wanted to have in my portfolio, so I made my rates similar to what a local photographer would charge. Chances are bringing your own photographer could be more cost effective than you think! Another reason why you should bring your photographer with you to your destination wedding.
When it comes right down to it, planning and pulling off a destination wedding takes a lot of time, effort, money and stress – much like any wedding really, but when you hold it overseas or someplace your guests usually can’t access easily, it makes it even more so! It makes sense to surround yourself with vendors you trust, however the cake, flowers, DJ etc. will be gone… great photographs will always be there offering you a return to that special time in that amazing setting!
Odorgraphy – A new way to experience your wedding photography
I’m super pleased to announce – exclusive to SvenStudios – a new paradigm in wedding photography immersion! Odorgraphy is a patented approach to recording your photography on your wedding day while also, simultaneously recording the smell of the moment! This means you’re able to relive that moment the photograph was taken while also experiencing the most intense sensation from your sense of smell!
Experts agree that when combining your sense of smell with a visual stimuli, the memory of that moment is enhanced several fold, allowing you to relive your day in the most remarkable way! When combined with the SvenStudios guest360 virtual reality service, you’re able to relive your day using all 5 of your senses – aside from touch. The sense of smell is possibly the most underused of senses when used to record and relive an event such as a wedding, so we felt it was high time that trend was reversed. Having the odor of your day wafting from the pages of your wedding album, or from framed prints on your walls will transport you back to the time the photograph was taken and bring a flood of memories back to brighten your day!
At SvenStudios we pride ourselves in our ability to transport you back to the most important moments in your lives through our imagery, and with the development of odorgraphy, this is just another step to better fulfill that goal. In the past we have developed wedding satellite imagery, and wedding x-ray photography, and when combined with our drone and virtual reality services, you’d be hard pressed in finding another wedding photographer that is this dedicated in bringing technology to your wedding day with the sole goal of allowing you to relive your day in the most incredible way!
Preparation wedding Photography
One of my favourite times of day on a wedding day is the preparation time, the time of day when the bride and groom are getting ready for their big moment in front of family and friends, which allows for some incredible moments of emotion and nerves to show through, painting a story of the personalities of the couple through Preparation Wedding Photography. Capturing the individual moments of personality of the bride and groom before they become an ‘item’ so to speak is a primary goal of taking photos during this time of day. This is the last moments of their lives where they aren’t sharing a family with a significant other. I feel it’s important to make use of this time to paint a portrait with my photography of the lives and personality traits the bride and groom exhibit as an individual. The lovey dovey moments when they are together come later.
If you consider a wedding album as a photographic story, then the preparation photos are the beginning of the story, the coming together of these two individuals would be the ceremony, and the happily ever after the glamour photos and reception.
Groom preparation wedding photography
When photographing the preparation of the groom and his groomsmen, it’s important to recognise the atmosphere of the situation, by gauging the nerves, and/or playful (or lack of) nature of the party getting ready. One is able as a photographer to guide the party through a series of unposed photos while getting dressed, while also focussing on small things like wedding rings and shoes. When having as many weddings as I do under my belt, I’m able to read when would be appropriate to also transition into a more traditional, formal shoot after the more photojournalistic scenes.
Bridal preparation wedding photography
When heading over to the girls and the bridal party, the approach to preparation photos is largely similar. There are still nerves, emotions and drama occurring all around, with the difference being that there’s an additional process (usually) considering makeup and putting on much more complicated clothing (bridal dresses). Once again it’s important to capture the small things, like jewellery and shoes while also being photojournalistic leading up to the point where the ladies are putting on their dresses. Preparation wedding photography also tends to become highly traditional in parts with the bridal party, with shots of the bridal party fussing around the bride, and other scenes such as putting on the garter which are very traditional scenes.
I strongly believe however, particularly with preparation wedding photography that it’s far better to be as invisible as possible when being a wedding photographer as I feel that there would be nothing worse than having someone with a huge camera taking shots of you while you’re getting dresses on the most emotionally charged day of your life. As a result, I tend to stay primarily photojournalistic in having the bridal parties get ready as usual and take photos of that,m and then once they’re used to me being there, join in a little for more constructed photos. I tend to hate turning people into mannequins 😀
X-ray Wedding Photography
Since the dawn of photography, it has always been the photographer’s goal to capture the inner soul of their subject in photographic form. Capturing the emotions of the moment and telling a story as it happens in a split second of time is the essence of the goal that many wedding photographers set out to achieve – myself included. With this mindset, it’s with great excitement that I am announcing a new service I’m providing to all my wedding photography clients; X-ray Wedding Photography.
Photography has always had the goal of capturing pure emotion, beyond the outer appearance of the subject being photographed, so using x-rays I’m able to pierce the upper levels of your skin, allowing me to photograph your inner beauty and emotions – literally. My portable x-ray camera (pictured below) allows for seamless integration of X-ray wedding photography to your special day, and the result would be a highly unique keepsake.
In keeping with my mantra of keeping up with the cutting edge in photographic technology, I’m always keen on providing my clients with that absolute best technology has to offer. With my rollout of satellite wedding photography last year, and of course my drone and 360 Virtual Reality services, no other photographers in Australia offer this kind of service.
As with many of my new services, I like to roll out my new offerings for free to already booked wedding clients, and I’ve developed my X-ray Wedding Photography process over the last few months – with the amazing results pictured below. As this is still a fledgeling service, I will still be offering this service for free, at least for the foreseeable future – just because I believe every angle of a wedding should be captured at the best of my ability.
I anticipate the demand for this kind of service will inundate me with bookings for the next 5 years at least, much in the same way as my super popular satellite wedding photography rollout last year. So get in touch now in order to secure my services and you too can have a unique memento of the inside of your bodies from your wedding day!
Adelaide Photography Services
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