TIME TO GET HITCHED
The Ceremony.
The ceremony, be it a civil, humanist or a religious service, is pure documentation. I want to catch the looks on your faces when you first see each other, the happy smiles in the crowd, the tears and that first kiss as a married couple.
Check with whoever is conducting your ceremony that they are happy to have me around, reassure them that I never use flash during the ceremony or get in their way. I will be respectful of the space at all times but some won’t think twice about banishing me to the back of the room.
Some will put a ban on photos being taken at all and it’s definitely best to be aware of any restrictions before the day so that you’re not disappointed afterwards. If this does happen, there’s usually nothing that can be done about it. London registrars tend to be the most relaxed and friendly people I have ever come across but the further you get away from the capital, the more restrictions there seem to be. Church of England vicars can be particularly tough, but if you want to know the strictest county in the UK, it’s Warwickshire. The vicars of Warwickshire, they do NOT like photographers…
During the signing of the register, lots of registrars will take great pride in setting up a posed ‘signing of the register’ shot with a stunt pen and such. Unless you fancy hamming it up, I prefer to snap secretly whilst you’re signing for real – it’s so much more authentic. If you would like a ‘formal’ shot of this, just let me know.
After the ceremony, there’s a lot of hugging and kissing and “Oh my God, we just got
MARRIED”s. Let me know if we’re doing a confetti tunnel so that I can get everyone to throw it at the same time and get some beautiful photos. If everyone throws separately, it can be a bit underwhelming on camera. These things take a little bit of choreographing.
Some couples choose to have an `”unplugged ceremony”: when you ask you guests to down their phones, get off Instagram and watch the wedding in real time. If you’re considering an unplugged wedding might I suggest wording it like so:
Let’s unplug
Hey, you know what’s even better than watching the wedding through your screen? WATCHING IT LIVE IN THE FLESH! Just for today do us a favour and put your phones down.
We want you to be able to relax and have fun with us today, and we think that’s a lot easier without your iPhone in your hand. Or your iPad. Don’t be that person with the iPad.
We’ve hired a really clever professional photographer who is really good at taking photos, so there’s no need for you to take any. We’re happy to share our professioanl photos later on if you fancy a peek, but the best gift can give us today is just being fully here, present and enjoying the day with us.
Ok, you might want to be kinder but you get where I’m going with this. It’s your day. You don’t want phones in the corners of all the photos? Tell your guests to put it away.
Jordanna’s wedding wisdom.
Hear me out. I’ve picked up these gems after working on HUNDREDS of weddings.