Alicia Clifford Photo Art: Make time for portraits on your wedding day

As you plan for your big day, keep in mind that creating a masterpiece of art takes time. I'm going to try to break down a wedding day's portrait to-do list into "sessions" so you can plan ahead. If you don't have enough time at your venue to accomplish all the portraiture prior to the ceremony (or you don't plan on doing the 1st look) don't even worry! I prefer to scout a day or two prior to the day and pick out a special location outside of the venue that fits my aesthetic and best describes what I love most about you and your groom! If you don't plan on having the "1st look" prior to the ceremony, you may wish to consider having a cocktail hour for your guests so you have time to do the family and bridal party portraits that include both bride+groom without people getting bored and leaving. You will also want to expect to have at least one hour of uninterrupted bride+groom portraiture before the sun sets and will either need to prepare your guests for a break between the ceremony and reception or plan on sneaking away from the reception for that amount of time. If this hour is unavailable I recommend booking me for a day after session where we can really capitalize on your romantic bride and groom portraits without the stress of a wedding day.

In order to accomplish very artistic but also a complete storybook in pictures from the day, I prefer a minimum of four hours for portraiture - and I require a minimum of one hour of that time reserved for oh-so-romantic and swoony bride + groom portraits. This does not include your ceremony and reception time. Here is a break-down of a wedding day portrait schedule:

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Getting ready

A wedding day is not just the event of getting married... it is an entire day filled with excitement, preparation, joy, and all-consuming fervent love. I feel your wedding pictures are not complete unless they capture this emotion and these heart-felt moments...
This doesn't count as part of the four hours of formal portraiture... If you purchased a package that allows for enough hours, I will show up at your salon (or wherever you are getting your hair & makeup done) and sneak a few of you and the girls getting beautified.

This is a nice time for me to chat with the bridal party and break the ice so that people are warmed up and comfortable with me and therefore aren't stiff in front of the camera later on. Things are usually slow and relaxing during this part of the day and I typically have time to sip on a caramel macchiato and head over to where the groom and groomsmen are getting ready for a few shots.

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Dress and Ring Portraits

I usually ask that the bride or the groom to have all the rings (freshly cleaned) and available for me to borrow for a few creative "ring shots" while I wait for everyone to finish getting ready - I will always return them directly into the hands of the person who let me borrow them. If there ends up not being time for me to get these ring shots during the getting ready time, no worries! I might borrow them right before the ceremony or sometime during the reception (if the lighting is good) when no important events are going on. I will also sneak away with your dress to a beautiful location for some dress portraits. I'm prone to hang it in a window or take it outside and hang it from a branch or an eve.... Please don't be concerned... I am very aware that this gown must stay in pristine condition! I do recommend to brides to look for a special hanger with which to showcase their dress. You might have fun browsing Etsy.com for these :) http://www.etsy.com/search/handmade?search_submit=&q=wedding+dress+hanger

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Bridal Portraits - 15 to 30 minutes

I love wedding gowns, unique flower arrangements, and big hair pieces. I love jewelry, false eyelashes, lace, satin, veils, perfume, and all things feminine. ...like a rose blossoming open to the most beautiful moment of its life... this is what I see in a bride. For all these reasons I love a bride on her wedding day ~ As beautiful as she can possibly be to gift her heart, body, and her lifetime - present and past - to her one true love. I feel so strongly honored to photograph a woman on her special day, in all her feminine glory, in the dress she's dreamed of wearing since she was a little girl.

The bridal portrait time is a special moment for a bride. Its usually bursting with joy and excitement. She is just glowing and anticipating meeting her groom to show him how breath-taking she is today to knock him off his feet and stop his heart with her beauty - on this day she gives herself to him.

Bridal portraits can take place indoors or outdoors. I will help you to relax and bask in the joy of the moment. I might direct your posing to make sure you don't look awkward and fix your hair if it gets out of place ;)

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The First Look - 10 to 15 minutes

I would love to encourage the "first look" to every bride and groom who are trying to figure out how they want to remember their special day and what's really important to them as a couple. Even before I was a photographer, on my own wedding day my husband and I chose to do the first look and I have never even slightly regretted it. We had more time for romantic pictures of just the two of us, we had time to do family pictures, and bridal party pictures without having to make our guests wait forever for us after the ceremony, but most of all we created a precious memory that will always be treasured.

The first look is a special time set aside for you two. It has many purposes of which I'll go into soon but in my opinion the most important purpose is to create an intimate and special memory for the two of you. On my own wedding day, both my husband and I cried during this very special time and I hold it in my memory as one of the most precious moments of my life.

Here's how it goes ~ Its best to start out in a place where there are not a lot of people watching (unless its your desire to have this be a public moment) that way there isn't much pressure to "act" any certain way. Unless you have a very special location chosen for this I will choose a place that is perfect for you two. I then take the groom and have him facing away and waiting for his bride to arrive. I'll go and get the bride and have her walk towards him while he is facing away. When she gets to a fairly close vantage point I'll tell the groom to go ahead and turn around. The emotions displayed in a groom's face on this moment are just priceless. One may smile so big that his mouth no longer fits on his head - another may begin wiping his eyes because he can't handle the emotion. Sometimes this is simply a quiet moment for you two to get re-acquainted as a couple... this is your wedding day and everything between you is moving together into unity. The impact of this moment is just as special and extreme for the bride as it is for the groom. I've never met a couple who did the first look and regretted it. I have met many couples who did not and wish that they had.

If the first look is not your preference and you would rather wait until the bride is walking down the aisle to see each other I am most definitely willing to work with you but please be aware that at some point in the day prior to sunset I will require at least one hour with the two of you alone in order to accomplish the quality of the bride and groom portraits that you love most about my work and if you want a bridal party portrait and family portraits that include the two of you, decent time will also have to be allotted for to provide quality work.

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Bride and Groom Portraits - at least 1 hour

This is the most important part of your day when it comes to photography. Of all the different aspects of your day and the many pictures you will receive - the images taken during this portion of your day are likely going to be your most treasured... most likely to be enlarged as a canvas wrap or large print in an ornate frame in your living room... most likely to be what you'll want to send in your Christmas cards this year and most likely what all of your family members will want a copy of.

I want to emphasize that with all the stress of your wedding day schedule, this hour is the one part of your portraiture that you will regret the most if it gets cut short, and also the most likely part for people to devalue and skim through if the schedule starts running behind. My job as your photographer is to protect this section of the day for your sakes. I cannot create a masterpiece of art with only ten minutes. Please be aware that though I can take 30 images in only a few seconds, photography is still very much like painting. Light really does act like paint in my camera. I may take several images of your pose but with each image I am adjusting one of my many settings to perfect and create the art piece that I have in mind and the image that I was working to create by taking multiple pictures is the one that you will end up with.

One thing that I make certain of during the bride and groom portrait session is that the two of you are able to take some deep breaths and relax. This session is all about your love. I like it when you two can even pretend I am not there and just bask in one another. I may let you just relax and enjoy each other and I may occasionally jump in and arrange your poses or direct your eyes. Most importantly though is the emotions you are feeling during this - everything that you are thinking and feeling will be portrayed in camera so it is very important to me that you are both relaxed and truly enjoying your love.

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Bride + Bridesmaids - 30 minutes

This is time for you and your best friends and sisters to shine! I love setting you girls up with vogue posing and capturing the emotions behind those special friendships you each have with one another. Once again - if we don't have at least 30 minutes to let the creative juices flow, you are likely to have boring images from this session but if we have enough time, we can make these amazing. Bride+bridesmaids can be taken prior to or after the 1st look, but keep in mind that if we do it before, we will have to be careful to use a location where the groom won't run into you!

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Groom + Groomsmen - 30 minutes

The groom+groomsmen portrait session tends to be the highlight of my day because they are usually into trying something cool and new and if you thought guys didn't like getting their pictures taken, guess again! When you get a group of guys together who are buddies they love showing off their bromance ;) j/k about the bromance but I've definitely taken note that guys do tend to have a lot of fun with their buddies during this session.

Grooms - if you are getting jealous of the bride for her "bridal portraits," you can expect me to pull you aside and get some "groomal portraits" during a small portion of this section ;) I always grab a few of just the groom either during this part of the day or during the bride and groom hour.

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Entire Bridal Party - 30 minutes

The size of your party will definitely affect how much time we need for this session. If the total group is very large, 30 minutes might not be quite long enough... if the entire group is extremely small, its likely we could wrap this up much faster than 30 minutes. I enjoy having the time to come up with out-of-the-box locations and posing for these often boring and typical group shots. Depending on what your bridal party is up for will also open up our options here.

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Family and Group Shots- 30 minutes to an hour

This is the part of the wedding where I like the bride to plan ahead and hand me a list. I like this list to have each image desired for example: (-bride with sister, -bride and groom with bride's mom and dad, -bride and groom with bride's immediate family, -groom and mother, -bride and groom with groom's immediate family, groom with uncle).... The actual amount of time needed depends on how many items total are on this list. I have had brides too stressed out to make this list for me who say - "oh just get good pics of the families you can decide the groupings." This is fine with me and I'm perfectly capable of doing this but if you don't end up with special individuals of you with so-and-so or a great shot of your uncle's pregnant girlfriend please don't blame me if I didn't receive a list of important people to get pictures of. Also please be aware that if someone on your list isn't ready on time and therefore not in these pictures it is out of my control.

I prefer to do this part of the day last because it is during this session that the bride and groom's smiles will start hurting and because family arriving for a wedding are most likely to be late for portraits so I like to give them as much time as possible to show up ready for pictures. If something ends up going wrong or schedule is running behind, this is the session that is likely to get bumped back into the cocktail hour. These typically are classic family portraits but don't be surprised if I have an "out of the box" idea for your group shots :) It just depends on the location we have to work with.

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...Then we can relax and just enjoy the ceremony and reception

What I love most about getting all of the portraits done prior to the ceremony and reception is that once the bride goes into "hiding" (at least a half hour prior to the ceremony starting) I won't be pulling you away from your guests or from enjoying all your hard work of planning, and you will be able to just relax and have fun with your friends and family and all the people who may have traveled from out of town to see you. (if the sunset is just breath-taking I may approach you two and see if you are interested in getting a few more romantic bride+groom images with the sun setting behind you) During this time I will be capturing images that showcase the details of your wedding that you've chosen and spent time setting up. Often a wedding day is a blur and its hard for the bride to remember everything that she worked so hard on... that's why I'm here so you can treasure it forever. I will also be capturing photo-journalistic images of you, the bridal party, your family, and your guests... images that tell the story of the day- the interactions and emotions. Photographing a ceremony and reception often feels like a rhythm of bonds and emotions as well as such an art-form. I often tell myself, "this is why I love doing what I do" during this portion of the day. From the bottom of my heart, I am fulfilled by documenting your loved ones and all the events that take place in celebration of your unity during the ceremony and reception.