What I've Learned about Wedding Photography & Wedding Planning this Month

Without fail, I learn something new at every wedding. With hundreds of guests, various social situations and unique venues, it would be impossible not to.

But this month, I am concentrating on event planning.  What I mean by that, is I'm not a wedding coordinator, most of my brides are not wedding coordinators and neither are their mothers. Yet, there we are on a Saturday night, with 300 guests looking at us, ready to be entertained, fed, shown a good time and who need to be smiled at the whole time we are doing it.  Why are we doing this to ourselves?

Generally, it's because Brides and Groom's are wanting to "Save Money" by not hiring someone to take care of the details the day of.  But, what they are really doing is "Spending Money".  When a Bride is taken away from her party for even just one minute at a time, she is wasting money on an event she should be enjoying.  When the day actually arrives, the details are sorted, so let someone else make sure they get handled. Put a special Cousin (someone very responsible), a Friend, a neighbor or better yet a professional in charge of your day from the moment you arrive at the church/reception. You won't care if the cake needs to wait 10 minutes, you won't care if the champagne bottles weren't chilled quite as long as hoped, you won't care that dinner might be 5 minutes later.  You care about sitting with your husband, wedding party and family, smiling and laughing.

Let someone else handle the details. As a photographer I am always there to help a bride or coordinator who needs it, but I would rather not talk to the Bride about scheduling. It's hard enough having a camera in your vicinity for 8 hours, let alone the person behind it talking to you about table settings.

So, please ladies, trim down a guest or two, serve chilled cider instead of champagne, serve fewer appetizers, but do yourself a favor and hire a professional to help you.  That way, while we are busy doing the romantic pictures and fun pictures and family pictures you are not worried about the main course being served on time. Let someone else do it.  I guarantee from experience (and the proof is in the thousands and thousands of images I have) that brides with a helper for day of coordination enjoy themselves more, smile more and have a wider variety and quantity of images to choose from.

So, off that topic for now, it just really came home in a few weddings this month with Brides who did not get the best experience they could have from their wedding.  Don't let that be you.

I would be happy to give any specific examples for anyone interested.

Dawn Minenna, CPP

Hello!  My name is Dawn and I'm a local photographer and videographer in the Fresno and Clovis area.  I've included a few samples of our work over the past several years and from several different venues.

Are you getting married? Have you started planning? Have you asked yourself why you aren't eloping  yet?  No?  Good, then I've caught you in time.