"You have until 3:30 PM to get your photos done before we kick you out of the church. It's now 3:20 PM."
You wouldn't believe how often I've heard this from various ministers and priests over the years.
Even with the best laid plans, sometimes wedding ceremonies start late and finish late as well. What does that mean to your formal photos? Well, it means you may not get them done, at least not at the church.
Ten minutes is not enough time to do formal photos of the bride, the groom, the wedding party and of the family members. But that's exactly the amount of time I had to work with this past Saturday. The church had a service right after the wedding and they had allowed only 1/2 hour for the formals before people were scheduled to come in for Mass. One half hour should be enough time, right? Maybe. But when the ceremony starts late and the ceremony runs past the estimated time... plus having the traditional limo ride around the block... time can easily run out.
This is why some brides decide to get some of the formal photos done BEFORE the ceremony instead. Taking as many photos without family members before the ceremony really does ease the potential problems. But many brides want to follow the tradition of not having the groom see her before the ceremony... or at least not having him see her with the wedding dress!
Who made up this "tradition" anyway? Perhaps it was made up BEFORE the invention of photography!
My advice for those who want the absolute best photography and also do not want to be rushed during their wedding is to get the formal photos of the bride, groom and bridal party done before the ceremony. While this is not a popular thing for a wedding photographer to write on his blog, I want to at least let you all know that this really does make a huge difference.
Another thing that you may not know is that many churches and ministers really don't like photographers! While many photographers follow the rules set forth by the church regarding photography (like no flash during the ceremony, or shooting only allowed from the back of the church) some photographers don't follow the rules and so they have set a bad impression with the church and the ministers and priests. So all photographers suffer admonishments going forward at that church. Rules are laid out in advance and sometimes a document is forced upon the photographer to sign stating that he will follow the rules or risk being kicked out of the church during the wedding ceremony! Hard as that is to believe, it happens!
The point is, working around the time restraints given by the church sometimes is the best way to avoid potential problems with running out of time. So I'd like to urge brides to at least consider getting some photos done before the ceremony. If your photography is important to you, check with your photographer and your church before following the tradition of not seeing each other before the ceremony.
Oh, in case you are wondering... I did finish the vast majority of the formal photos for my clients in ten minutes! That has to be some kind of record. But when everyone realized we had only ten minutes to do it, it was amazing to see how cooperative everyone was! And yes, I was giving a countdown as we approached the final minutes!
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