Many couples ask whether they should do a first look. While it’s a little “untraditional,” it can be one of the best decisions you make for a calmer wedding day. A first look lets you handle key portraits before the ceremony (while hair and makeup are fresh), creates breathing room in the timeline, and gives you a quiet, meaningful moment together before everything begins.
Getting ready shouldn’t feel like a sprint. A few smart choices ahead of time can help you look your best and keep the morning calm: even tanning (no surprise lines), a hair/makeup trial, accessories decided early, shoes broken in, and a simple plan to eat and hydrate.
An unplugged wedding means guests put phones and cameras away during the ceremony, no exceptions, no one filming from the aisle. It sounds like a small request. It changes more than people expect. You get your own aisle back. Nothing ruins a walk-down-the-aisle photo like a sea of raised phones blocking guests’ faces, or a…
A second photographer isn’t a luxury add-on. It’s coverage insurance for a day that happens in more than one place at once. Two locations, one moment. While the groom’s getting ready across town, the bride’s getting ready somewhere else. A second photographer means both stories get told, not just one while the other happens completely…
Every couple planning a wedding hits the moment where they’re staring at a budget spreadsheet, wondering where to cut. Photography often ends up on that list. Here’s the case for why it shouldn’t be first. Everything else from the day is temporary. The flowers die within a week. The cake is gone by the end…
Wedding photographers throw around terms like they’re common knowledge. They’re not. Here’s what actually matters, in plain language. First look. A private moment where you and your partner see each other before the ceremony, instead of at the altar. Some couples want the aisle moment. Others want the quiet one, just the two of you,…
People planning weddings elsewhere sometimes overlook St. Louis. That’s a mistake, and not just because I live here. The light. The Arch grounds, Forest Park, the old brick warehouses in Lafayette Square, they all give you something different depending on the hour. Golden hour off the river has a color to it that’s hard to…
Everyone tells you to “find someone whose style you love.” True, but useless on its own. Plenty of photographers have a beautiful portfolio and terrible follow-through, and you won’t find that out from a gallery of their best twenty images. Here’s what actually separates a good hire from a regretted one. Look at a full…
Fair question, and one that deserves a straight answer instead of the vague “a few weeks” you get from a lot of photographers. You’ll see a sneak peek within days. A handful of images, chosen fast, so you have something to post and something to look at while the excitement’s still fresh. That’s not the…
