Cold weather means it's time to start wedding planning.When the cold air has finally penetrated the earth I find myself in a lot of little coffee shops huddled over a tiny table with a couple talking about their wedding. Often they have this beautiful dream of what's going to happen on their wedding day, sometimes that dream has fallen to the relentless press of reality and the Plaza has become the VFW Hall but the passion is still suffusing their voices.
It's rare that a bride and groom can answer the questions that a photographer would really like to know: what color are the ceilings, how is the light at the time you're planning your event, how much control do you have over the lighting? There are a thousand little details that you learn about when you're a photographer, that you just take in automatically the way that some people breathe in air (or that adept school teachers sense mischief).
Still there is at least one point where couples can really help a photographer during a meeting, so the photographer can better help the couple.
Timing is Everything
I've shot a lot of bridal preparations. Getting the hair together, the makeup, the shoes, the dress and wrangling the bridesmaids can make for a lot of great little moments and great moments are part of what makes a great photo.
Of course just because the moment is striking doesn't mean a photographer should click the shutter.
Recently a Long Island bride sued her wedding photographer because the photographer clicked when she shouldn't have (or maybe not as the case will bear out) but beyond that the studio shared those photos as part of its portfolio. The bride found those photos of her in her lingerie getting ready and was aghast claiming that she had asked the photos not be taken in the first place let alone shared with the World Wide Web.