So you are prepping for your wedding day! There are a few things that make a photographers job go super smoothly, and a big one is having all of your details together and ready to be photographed upon arrival. You don't have to style them, that's my job! Just have them all in a pile!
As an added bonus, leave a few special elements there too. For instance, if you are having a rustic wedding, leaving a piece of wood that could be used to shoot details on would be great. Or having a few extra flowers to style with can really make a big difference!
For the background of the first wedding shown, there were not extra elements handy, so I grabbed one of the bridesmaid dresses, and when it's made into an album means everything will flow nicely from one spread to the other!
Here is the checklist to have handy for your wedding detail shots:
And as you can see below, each of the weddings have a different feel to them, so I place and style them where they will coordinate with that. The first wedding was a wedding at The Jefferson in Richmond Virginia, if I had taken those gorgeous Kate Spades outside next to a brick wall, it would not have made any cohesive sense to the wedding day, so they were placed on a white mantel in the getting ready suite.
The second wedding reception was at Lewis Ginter, so I styled that around the wood elements (since it was going to be an outdoor reception) that I could find in the room. She got ready at her parents house so I walked around the house and eventually found a pretty old wooden chair that would work perfectly, so I grabbed that and took it to the room with the best lighting.
The third was at The Mill at Fine Creek using lots of natural elements, so the dress was hung in a window with full outdoor view and we used the invitation and extra greenery to style the earrings on butcher block.
The last wedding shown here was at the Wyndham Virginia Crossings Hotel & Conference Center, and the bride loves classy (and classic!) shots, so I made sure a few hints of the gold frames were around the room while I was working with the details.
Having everything together means when I arrive you can continue with hair and makeup and not have to jump up and rush around and try to find all of the things I will ask you for. But don't worry, I always send the check list before the wedding to remind you!