We'll send you our welcome questionnaire & this guide. Your answers will help us to start the engagement process! You can go here to find out when to schedule. You will receive your images back 4-6 weeks after our shoot.
We'll help you get the bones of your timeline together and make our recommendation for ceremony time. If you have all day or weekend coverage, we'll schedule our venue walkthrough together - which is usually done before setting the ceremony time or with your planner at your final walkthrough about 4-6 weeks out.
We have questionnaires we’ll be sending to you throughout the process (mostly 6-8 weeks out) asking about all the details of the day, including timeline, family photos list, vendors, etc.! All those details will be used to perfect the timeline. Your final payment is due 14 days out, and is also the final date to add coverage to your package.
We, Kelsey & Talon, arrive on your wedding day ready to document the art that is your wedding day. We don’t take it lightly that you’ve trusted us to document one of the most pivotal moments in your life, and love getting to capture our couples on their big day.
We'll send you over a small preview gallery 1-4 weeks after your wedding day and you'll receive your fully edited image collection 10-12 weeks after your wedding! You will receive the high-res images on an online gallery (image downloads & a print release are included), as well as have an heirloom box & USB drive mailed to your home.
You’ll look back through your wedding photos 5, 10, 20+ years down the road and be transported back to the way it felt to live in those little moments. The butterflies of walking down the aisle, seeing your parent’s tear up with pride, the hugs, the silly dance moves. All of the little, tiny details come together to create this full vision of your beautiful wedding day.
We recommend scheduling hair & makeup as well as a trial bouquet with your wedding florist. You'll want to check in with your alterations person before scheduling this.
A hair & makeup trial is essential. You can schedule it for your engagement session or a bridal session so you're utilizing it in your photos (and can see how it photographs).
If you love a bold lip, just remember the brighter the color, the more you see where it's rubbed off (i.e. your hubby's face after the first kiss, your upper lip or chin, cheek kisses, teeth, etc). Personally, we recommend going with a more neutral color.
The question we get asked the most is, "how is it for ya'll working with a videographer?". It's obvious that we work most closely with the videographers on the day of - often being the ones that are controlling the most micro aspects of the wedding day. My best piece of advice is to hire a videographer you really love who has a similar philosophy of documentarian coverage with a hint of editorial. I would also consider the experience with the amount of people you want to be documenting you, some videographers are a team of one which makes for a really seamless integration without a big production feel, and some bring a team of up to 3 and artificial lighting for each section of the day which can definitely feel more like a production! We are highly specific about who goes on our videographer referral list, and only include videographers who we've had a positive, seamless working experience with - so you can't go wrong with any of those teams!
We'll send you a questionnaire for your family list 4-6 weeks out from the wedding day. You are going to list out each posted family photo you would like to take, with each combo you know you're going to want in your album and on your walls. Every family dynamic is different, this makes sure nobody is left out and to expedite the formal photo time. For pre-ceremony family photos, stick to immediate family. For post-ceremony photos, we'll start with the biggest grouping and pair down from there. Be sure to consider if you any family members that have special mobility requirements and need their photos grouped together to avoid having to wait between shots.
When making your starting timeline, you'll want to budget about 30 minutes for each photo section of the day. At least 30 minutes for flat lay details (scroll here to find out more about this), 30 minutes to get dressed, 30 minutes first look, 30 minutes wedding party, 30 minutes pre-ceremony family. Some things won't take that full time, but that allows us to have a little buffer time added in if something runs behind at the beginning of the day. For Post Ceremony - 30 minutes family photos, 30 minutes wedding party (if no first look), 30 minutes couple photos.
We recommend starting your ceremony no less than 90 minutes before sundown. You'll need to budget 30 minutes for your ceremony, and that ensures that your full cocktail hour happens during daylight. If it's cloudy, you could lose up to 30 minutes of light towards the sunset time and we don't want you to be taking all of your photos in the dark. There are reasons to push earlier than that (all outdoor reception, more daylight time after the ceremony, no first look), but the only time you could push later than that would be if we had at least 4 hours of pre-ceremony time and were taking ALL of your photos beforehand. If you're not 100% sure what time to do, please reach out and we can help!
We are pretty much always team first look. We feel that instead of one moment, it gives you two separate and distinct moments that are beautiful for their own reasons. Here are some practical things to consider:
1. Will your guests be filling all of your favorite parts of the venue when they arrive? If yes, then a first look would allow you to get photos in those spots before guests arrive.
2. Do you want to enter in to Cocktail Hour? It's almost impossible to get our couples to cocktail hour without a first look. With no first look, factoring in family photos and wedding party photos, that only gives us max 15-20 minutes of couple portraits. If you budget for sunset photos during your reception, that can add a bit more portrait time. We usually like to have at least 30 minutes.
3. Do you have a large wedding party (over 6 people each)? Without a first look, we can only do separates beforehand, which means that all of your wedding party friends will need to wait by the ceremony for us to get through your family photo list before we can take the big group photo.
We don't recommend having your toasts happen during dinner for photos' sake. We can't really get guest reactions and candids if everyone is eating, plus you won't want your toast images of you to be mid-bite! It's better to have them before dinner starts or at the very end of dinner.
Wedding Day Styling
We'll need you to have these things together & ready to go for us at our first photo location when we arrive so we can start shooting your details as soon as possible!
ALL WEDDING RINGS (INCLUDING ENGAGEMENT RING)
BRIDAL ACCESSORIES (SHOES, JEWELRY, VEIL, DRESS, HAIRPIECES)
SPECIAL ACCESSORIES (HEIRLOOMS, LIPSTICK, OR PERFUME)
GROOM ACCESSORIES (IF YOU WANT PHOTOGRAPHED - SHOES, CUFF LINKS, TIE/BOWTIE, JEWELRY, ETC)
INVITATION SUITE (FULL SUITE, WITH DUPLICATES IF THEY'RE TWO SIDED PIECES)
Unfortunately, we just can't control the weather for your wedding day. We wish this was possible and if we could pick any super power, this would be it. Ultimately, we are 100% okay with shooting in the rain if we need to! Here are some tips to help make it a little better: