As a wedding photographer I think it’s safe to say I’ve been to my share of weddings. I know how a lot of things run leading up to and on the wedding day, and I always tell my brides that I am here to help them in anyway I can. My brides can ask me any question, even if it’s non-photography related, and I love helping them out. There’s a lot of work in planning a wedding and if you don’t have the budget or just don’t feel that hiring a wedding planner is the right thing for you, there’s a lot of elements to the wedding planning process many couples just don’t know.
Now even though I offer to help my bride’s there are somethings I myself don’t know. So I thought recently what a good idea it would be to look up parts of wedding planning I either get asked often or don’t know myself, and occasionally blog about them. However, I don’t want to just stick to weddings so I will also touch base on other helpful hints that will hopefully relate to other areas of photography I shoot.
Today’s topic is “when to take engagement pictures?/save-the-date cards.”
One of my most common questions is, “when should we take our engagement pictures.” I usually reply with a question back, “well what would you like to use them for.” One of the first things you need to decide is just that. Do you want to use your pictures for save-the-date cards? Do you want to use the pictures for a guestbook, or just have pictures for your wall? Is Christmas or a Birthday coming up that you want to gift them for? Do you need the picture for the newspaper announcement? All good questions you need to decide.
First and foremost if you want the pictures for save-the-date cards you need to know when you want to send your cards out. Which leads to another question I get asked, when do we send save-the-date cards out. I have to admit I honestly didn’t know the answer to that one. So I pulled out my REAL SIMPLE WEDDINGS (guide to planning a beautiful and stress-free celebration) and found that 6 months prior to the day you say “I-do” is recommended. Meaning that you need your engagement pictures taken prior and you must allow for the photographer’s gallery turn-around time as well as time for design work and the card order placement.
Now if you aren’t sending out save-the-dates or you choose not to use your pictures, are you ordering a guestbook? If so you just need to make sure you know your photographer turn-around times for the pictures themselves and guestbook design and ordering. Give yourself and your photographer ample time to get this all done, as you never know what could come up. Heck what if there is a problem with the book and it has to be sent back and re-printed. You don’t want to pay for a guestbook and not get to use it as a guestbook.
Announcement? You don’t need the pictures taken too far in advance if you just need them for a newspaper announcement. However, if you are submitting the picture to a local magazine, you need to be aware of their deadlines.
Now if you just want your engagement pictures for the wall or other random reasons, just pick when you’d like the pictures done at your leisure. Some things you might consider are:
what time of year do you like best?
what did you want to do in the pictures or where do you want to go?
what colors are in your house, and what seasons colors compliment those the best?
etc. etc. etc. talk to your photographer. The more open you are about who you are as a person and what you want your images to look like, the more likely they will be able to execute both your and their own vision. .jpg "Sharp_201")
Well I hope that was helpful. You can also click here if you want to check out THE KNOT’S online information regarding FAQ for save-the-date cards. Also make sure to check out some of my favorite wedding blogs for fun ideas regarding engagement sessions and save-the-dates.
– Once Wed
