Despite the issues my husband and I faced during our wedding planning, (because getting married during a global pandemic is every gals dream!) the one thing I felt like I had control over was the planning of choreographed moments. I know, planning moments seems so disingenuous, but on your wedding day, there are certain things you simply must plan for. And for me–it was my must-have wedding photos.
Before I shared Pinterest boards and photos from friends’ weddings, I had a very honest conversation with my photographer (Selena Garzio Photography–bless you for all you do!) about our COVID-19 safety plans. Obviously, you want your guests and bridal party to feel safe, but your vendors also deserve to have that feeling, too!
So, once we established what we would be doing to protect everyone to the best of our ability, I was able to establish my must-have wedding photos. Before I share those, I want to give you some tips to ensure you don’t forget any (though trust me, you will and that’s okay!) and you can have one less stressor on your mind for your big day.
Wedding Prep Tips: Photo Must-Have Edition
I wanted the Pinterest-esque photos that most every bride-to-be has plastered all over her mood boards for her big day. But I also needed to ensure that I got all critical family members in photos. My husband’s parents are divorced, so in order to make sure I had all parents accounted for, I came up with family lists.
After the ceremony, our photos began in the church. I started with my parents, my brother and sister-in-law, grandparents, etc. Then I moved on to his dad’s family, his mom’s etc.
Though my list is now crumbled somewhere, it basically looked like this–and feel free to copy and paste this into your own wedding planning documents to fill-in your own details!
LAST NAME (BRIDE/GROOM FAMILY)
Poses-Family
- Parents with bride/groom: This pose was just to ensure that the parents had a photo with their son/daughter. We did mine in the morning, and our photographer was able to grab Bernie (that’s the husband, BTW) before the ceremony.
- Parents with the couple.
- Couple with siblings.
- Couple with parents and siblings.
- Couple with grandparents.
- Couple with the entire group.
This helped me know we had covered our bases, and I will admit, not all of these photos were exact–We were on a time crunch at our church so they could sanitize before the afternoon mass so we got what we could!
Of course, if you are only dealing with two families, the lists may not need to be so detailed–for me, it was just so I had an idea of who we needed photos of within that church. (Oh! And don’t forget to snag a few posed shots with your bridal party!)
After church photos, we then went to our photo location, a local state park. Here, I wasn’t very worried of who was in the photos since this is where my Pinterest dreams came to life! While my lovely groom thought they were ridiculous, they are now some of my favorites!
Sarah’s Wedding Photos
While these are only 10 of my must-have photos (and don’t even count my Pinterest-worthy pics!) there were literally hundreds more! Take a look at these snapshots from our wedding day!
From left to right, first row:
- All in the details. I have always loved my Bible which was given to me at birth by my great aunt. My father-in-law also got me a beautiful set of Rosary beads for a previous gift-giving event which just paired beautifully. I knew I needed a wedding photo showing the details of these items and my wedding day shoes, perfume, etc.
- Family moment. My mom had a photo ( on the dresser) of her and my grandmother on her wedding day. We wanted to recreate that moment so we too would have that family snapshot.
- Dress up. I purchased my dress three years, THREE years before my actual wedding (God bless, Slim Fast and the free Chloe Ting workouts to get me in shape.). But I loved that dress! and I wanted to make sure it was documented from every angle.
Second row:
- Puppy-poses. Our family dog, Winnie, is the love of my life. Who could resist that little underbite! But I can’t lie, when our pup took a little lay-down on my dress, I was a bit panicked… But it did make a cute photo!
- Little bit of primping. I wasn’t able to have getting-ready photos taken because of our tight-COVID schedule to get to church but our photographer was able to stage some photos for me.
- Grip-and-grin. I know, I know. It’s about the couple. But, to be fair, I was more excited about the excitement of getting married than my husband who did not let a day go by to remind me, “It’s about the sacrament, Sarah.” I know. But it was also about me being pretty, and the dress, and the dancing! So get that photo of yourself girl. You’ll be glad you have it!
Third row:
- Up close. Did I mention I loved my dress? And my rings? The detail shots. Ugh. Could not get enough!
- Let them eat cake! You’ll naturally have those wedding photos of smashing cake in each others face, but you’ll also want pictures of the cake itself! We thrifted our topper (which was then sanitized) from an estate sale. I loved that it was vintage and reminded me of my grandparents wedding topper, too.
- Stop and smell the flowers. Fun fact, my wedding bouquets were actually from the grocery store florist! The colors popped and made a nice background for my engagement ring.
Fourth row:
- Dance, dance. We have dozens of photos from our first dance, the dollar-dance (if you’re NEPA Polish you know what that means!) and other moments from our reception. But having that special shot of all of our bridal party and guests watching us was such a fun touch and one I’m so glad our photographer captured.
Wedding photos are one of those things you’ll have for a lifetime–and then some! Knowing that you were prepared with what you wanted will make you feel ready for your day!
I hope this must-have wedding photo guide serves you well in your wedding plans!
