Brides have SO many resources nowadays when it comes to wedding planning. Sites like Loverly, The Knot and of course Pinterest have now made wedding planning feel less chaotic and overwhelming and a lot more organized and enjoyable. Yet there’s one thing I always see sites like that recommend to Brides that I think, for a Bride with an experienced and seasoned photographer, is not something that is necessarily required and that is Shot Lists! You know what I’m talking about, the “must have” shots from your wedding day that you give to your photographer before your wedding day and ask they capture for you. This is NOT something I require my Brides to give me in anyway and though in the past some have, today I’m going to explain to Brides why we don’t require or need a shot list from you for your wedding day!

I’ve shot over 60 weddings in the past 5 years of my business and I know there are certain things EVERY Bride wants a photo of. She wants a photo of her bouquet, her centerpieces and favors, her rings, her dress alone, her dad walking her down the aisle, the groom’s face as she walks down the aisle, their first dances and their parents watching their first dance, the toasts, the cake cutting, the cake… ALL of the special elements and moments of a wedding day that you always want to remember. These are moments and details we have trained ourselves to capture no matter what. We WILL capture this. So I do not require my Bride’s to tell me to capture her ring or bouquet or shoes… I am going to do that no matter what. In fact, if I had every Bride of mine give me a shot-list it would only DISTRACT me from doing my job. I would constantly be looking at my list, making sure I got every shot she wanted. But most of the time, the shots the Bride wants are the shots I will already be getting! I WILL get shots of your Groom getting dressed and I WILL get shots of your dress all alone. That’s why we do not require shot-lists from our Brides 🙂 However – there are some things that I do NEED my Bride to tell me.

Is your groom wearing a special cuff link you gifted him? I need to know that! Does your gown have a blue stitch in it or does your bouquet have your grandmothers wedding lace wrapped around it? I need to know that! Do you absolutely want a photo of just you and your father or the groom and his grandmother? Or do you want a photo with your two best friends from high school that aren’t bridesmaids?? THESE are the things I need to know. The little things that I may NOT automatically think to capture! While every wedding day will have a lot of the same elements and events, there are little things that will make your day unique or different and that’s what I need to know to capture. THAT is my shot list! So how do I get this information from my Brides? In my wedding worksheet! I send this to all of my couples a month before their wedding day and in it I completely break down your day from getting ready to ceremony to family photos and reception – asking where and when each event will happen and what you ABSOLUTELY must have photos of at that part of the day! This is where my Bride’s can tell me all the special details of their day. This makes things SO much easier for my couples! They don’t have to worry about creating shot lists – they can simply fill out the worksheet and it’s all in one spot for me to access and study leading up to their wedding day, when I create their timeline and the morning of their wedding 🙂 (Yes, I DRILL the info from the worksheets into my head so I don’t miss anything!) It’s also something I make sure to include in every unique timeline that I create for every wedding day. Any special photos to capture automatically go into the timeline so both Jose and I know what to capture. It’s handy because anytime I may have forgotten to capture something, Jose will double check with me to make sure that I captured it. What a team 😉

Something else I like to do with my Brides is follow them on Pinterest! A lot of Bride’s pin any photo ideas or poses they like to boards and when I follow my Bride’s wedding boards, it is an EASY way for me to make sure their photographs live up to the expectations they have and also, it let’s me know what I can expect when I arrive on their wedding day as far as colors are concerned. I’m a visual person and this actually helps me A LOT!

The best advice I can give my Bride’s is to have faith in the photographer you chose to hire for your wedding day, especially if they are a seasoned pro! I can only speak for myself here and tell you – we’ve shot countless wedding days and know there will be special moments, as well as candid moments, that you’d like captured to always remember this special day. We will do our very best to ensure it is all captured for you and to make sure when you look at your wedding photos, you get butterflies in your stomach when you see them and can relive that day time and time again 🙂

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