Perhaps it was my three or four years as a Boy Scout, or maybe I was just out in the cold without gloves too many times, but I’ve long believed it is always better to be prepared. So when it comes to your wedding, we gather a lot of information in order to better visualize how we’ll cover everything you want.
Because the planning details are often changing dramatically up until a couple months before the wedding, we usually won’t ask you for extensive details until about 6 weeks beforehand. Still, to understand what the experience of working with us is like and to feel prepared yourself, it’s helpful to know what information we’ll be asking for, and how we’ll be using that information to make the best images we can.
Emergency Contact Numbers
When you fill out the form you’ll provide phone numbers for two people who will be near you and your fiancee most of the day. We’ll use these numbers in the unlikely event that something catastrophic has happened. We may also use these numbers if we are having difficulty finding or accessing your venue or hotel room. These numbers keep us from having to bother you directly on your wedding day, should there be some emergency.
Social Media & Instagram Information
We love to share our favorite images on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter, and our audience is excited to see them. By default we’ll keep your identity private, but if you supply us with your wedding hashtag, we’ll be sure to use it when we post images. And likewise, if you include your Instagram account names, we’ll tag you in the photos so your friends and family will see them!
Location Addresses & Hotel Room Numbers
For obvious reasons, we will ask you to provide us with the exact addresses for all the locations your photographer will need to visit. If one of those locations is a hotel, you’ll also be asked to provide a hotel room number. When arriving at a hotel, gaining access to your room via the front desk or a phone call to one of the emergency contact numbers can eat a lot of time and cause either missed images or a delay in the timeline.
Key Timeframes
We’ll ask you to provide the expected start and end times for the ceremony and reception. Much of the timeline for your wedding day will float. The time that you get your hair and makeup done, when you step into your dress, what time wedding formals happen, can all be adjusted based on the over all needs of the day. The times for the ceremony and reception, however, are usually pretty firmly set. So as we’re designing coverage, we’ll use that information to know what times we really can’t disrupt.
Names of the Family & Wedding Party
We’ll ask you to provide first and last names for everyone in your wedding party, as well as your family members. Keeping people’s name’s straight on your wedding day is challenging, but having the names in advance helps tremendously. With out these details, we’ll resort to calling people “hey you” more often. Unfortunately, while we usually get the wedding party’s name’s straight, we’re less likely to learn all of your family members names, even if you’ve provided them. However, their names are important because when your photographer is taking family formals, they, or their assistant, will attempt to call family members to the arrangement by name which will make the process much smoother.
A list of anything you DIY’d
Your photographer will try to capture images of all the interesting details they see, however, when you’ve put time and energy into something specific, we’d like to give it a little special attention. Providing a list of DIY stuff will help your photographer spend more time on the special things and less on the incidental ones.
Lots of Information About Your Other Vendors
We will ask you to provide us all the information you can about your other wedding vendors. This information is used in a variety of ways. Prior to your wedding, sometimes it’s necessary to coordinate with your other vendors. For example, your photographer and videographer may need to coordinate their coverage so they aren’t in each other’s way. By giving us their information, we’re able to interact with them directly, without always making you the middleman. Vendors information is also used after your wedding to make sure that when we post previews, we can tag everyone who put in the hard work to make it happen. And also, once you’ve received your images, we’ll invite your other vendors to take a look at them too.