From the Wedding Tip Series, providing a new piece of advice every Wednesday to help brides get the most out of their wedding photography. This Wednesday, we are proud to unveil tip three:
“Take your photographer for a ride!”
So you’ve arranged to have a limo, hummerzine, party bus, or some other specialized transportation ferry you from one location to the next on your one special day… why not have your photographer ride with you to take advantage of the awesome photo opportunities that these classy vehicles almost always have to offer? If you have already invested the extra finances into having lavish transportation, why wouldn’t you want some photos to remember it by? And photos standing in front of or NEXT to the limo just don’t cut it in my opinion… that’s almost like, “Just making sure there is a photo to record the fact that I had a limo,” versus the much better, “Let me have something to remember this great party atmosphere I experienced on my ride over to such-and-such place.”
Inviting your photographer to share your transportation is also a great way to streamline your day, especially if you are getting married in a busy city with limited parking. Imagine a scenario where your limo driver drops you off right in front of your preselected photo location, and you get to tap your toe on the floor while your photographer circles the block several times looking for parking, gets all of his or her equipment out of the car and then walks to the location from there. That’s 15-20 minutes of you standing around that you could have been taking photos, during what is almost always an EXTREMELY tight wedding day timeline.
Finally, speaking as a journalistic photographer, I can tell you that special moments can happen anytime, anywhere – not just when you plan them to – so planning to have your photographer(s) be inaccessible to you during any paid period of coverage, is nothing short of needlessly scheduling a gap in your visual memories of this once-in-a-lifetime day.
Edited to Add: In order to utilize limo time, you MUST make arrangements with the photographer well beforehand. Limo shots are not always possible, as the photographer needs a way to get back to his or her car. Please consider the following before expecting your photographer to ride in the limo with you:
1.) For a single shooter, you must either start and end your day at the same location.
2.) Your getting ready destination, where you have your photographer start, must not be more than 20 minutes from your reception venue, where the event ends, regardless of the number of shooters. You also must allot time for your photographers to meet up beforehand and combine reception equipment in one car.
3.) Option number 2 is not possible unless you have purchased a second shooter to take the primary photographer back to his or her car at the end of the night. Weddings tend to go very late, and public transportation at that time of night may not always be trusted and is a lot of extra unpaid time for the photographer.
