Wedding Photos and Video

Photo by Aubree Lee Photography

Weddings are a time for family and friends of the bride and groom to come together and celebrate the union of two people who are deeply in love. It’s a day full of memories and everyone wants to make sure they capture their memories, whether it’s with their own camera or phone. I can’t speak for all photographers or videographers, but there always seems to be that one aunt or uncle that is a “professional” photographer and often gets in the way or holds up a shot because they jump in and take over.

The bride and groom spend thousands of dollars on hiring a professional photographer and videographer, and you want to get your money's worth right? It’s okay to let your family know you’ve hired someone to take care of pictures and video, especially at the critical times. Here are those critical times for both an LDS (aka Mormon) Wedding and a Traditional Wedding.

At LDS weddings the exit from the temple, the temple steps (Salt Lake Temple) or the group pictures, the cake cutting, first dance, and the garter and bouquet toss are those important moments that you want to make sure your photographer/videographer are able to get without interruptions.

At a Traditional Wedding there is nothing worse, especially for a videographer, than a family member standing up in the middle of the aisle during the ceremony. Most videographers place 1 or 2 cameras center aisle and if someone steps out in front of the camera they are blocking the view of bride and groom. At the beginning of the ceremony it's also okay to have the officiator make an announcement asking family and friends to remain seated and to keep the aisle ways free for the photographer and videographer. I think it's awesome for family and friends wanting to take pictures during the ceremony as long as they stay seated and leave the capturing of those special moments to the paid professionals. In addition to the ceremony for traditional weddings, it's similar to LDS weddings in that the other critical moments are the cake cutting, first dance, and the bouquet and garter toss.

I would even suggest having a few dedicated family members assigned to keep an eye out for those rogue "professional" photographers and have them politely ask them to steer clear of the photographer and videographer, or even ask them not to take pictures during certain points.

If you do want your guests to feel a part of wedding in the picture game a great idea is to have Polaroid cameras at your reception and let your guests go crazy. Maybe even have a book where some of the Polaroids could be placed so you can have some memories from moments at the wedding you may not have even known about.

Remember, a wedding only lasts a day but the memories captures in photos and videos last a lifetime.