6 top tips for great destination wedding photography
If you're considering a destination wedding somewhere beautiful overseas, it's more important than ever to choose a great destination wedding photographer who can capture every detail of this unforgettable experience. Whether you choose a local photographer in your chosen country or a destination photographer who will travel out to meet you there, take time to find someone you bond and whose work you love. So once you've found your person, how else can you ensure you get gorgeous imagery? We asked South African wedding photographer and Fine Art Curation member, By Bhavika to share her top tips for great destination wedding photography.
1. Don't skip the engagement shoot
An engagement session is a perfect prelude to a destination wedding and one of the first mile markers in your journey ahead. With all the wedding planning in motion, your engagement session will also turn into a unique experience to build a sincere and crucial bond with your wedding photographer.
Your engagement shoot will allow them to discover how you interact, find out what makes your love shine and most importantly create outstanding imagery that embraces this changing of the season and your private-world adventure. Wish to take it a step further? Ante up your escapist vision with a luxurious & romantic engagement moon, perhaps in South Africa, Italy, Paris, New York, Italy, Bali… (some of our favourite frequent destinations, though the options are endless).
2. Choose your wedding vendor team carefully
A perfectly curated wedding requires tons of insider knowledge, from taking responsibilities off your plate to exposing you to new ideas, from complementing and rounding off your vision to paying close attention to critical details down to the placement of an escort card.
Working closely with a well-versed team of planners, your wedding photographer will have the opportunity to strategically place themselves, capture every element and part of your wedding celebrations with grace, and focus on becoming the valuable asset you deserve so much.
Simply put, if you pick an amazing location and surround yourself with a stellar team (all while being driven by a magnificent vision), you’re set for gold and a stress-free destination wedding!
3. A wedding day timeline is essential
While it might seem that it is only location and sublime fashion that makes a wedding look so incredible in images, there is one key factor to take under serious consideration. A wedding day timeline is well worth the effort to keep your special day streamlined and utterly memorable, keep vendors on track, prevent preparation delays, and have every person in the right place at the right time.
Additionally, knowing the sunset time is essential to ensuring we capture those beautiful golden hour images of you and your beloved after the ceremony. While we always ensure to communicate with your wedding planning team, I highly recommend you converse with your vendors about their requirements and advance times, keep your party members informed about the portraits they are expected to be present for, consult with your wedding photographer to create VIP and who is who portrait lists, and allow yourself some extra time to breathe and be in the moment.
4. Choose a picturesque place to get ready
Fancy playing out your bridal fantasies inside the suite of an Italian villa on the shores of Lake Como enjoying, prepping, preening, and gathering your thoughts? Getting ready in a place you absolutely adore is not only about stunning architectural details, but beautiful natural light (preparation images are always enhanced when the room comes with large non-west facing windows) and generous space to accommodate your photographer, videographer, make-up artists and hair stylists, and bridesmaids. An adjoining sitting room may also accommodate members of your family awaiting their portraits with you once you have completed your bridal preparations.
5. Allow time to capture the details
There is magic in detail of all the beautifully curated elements that form part of your wedding trousseau. These may include your entire paper suite, bouquet, bridal shoes, precious gems, veil, accessories, gift bags, heirloom pieces, dresses and rings, as well as stamps, calligraphed love notes, vow booklets and special textiles that will come together in carefully curated and artful compositions. These meaningful stills are the opening suite to your special day imagery. I love to get creative and direct these opulent details when shooting, so you might wish to ask your florist to deliver some extra stems to cast a spotlight on your blooms and theme.
6. Relax and trust your vendor team
Enjoying your wedding day is about more than appreciating the beauty of each individual detail you have so carefully planned. It is learning to take time and foster all the great emotions of the experience, thanking your family and friends, spending some alone time with your spouse, and taking in the fact that a new and exciting chapter is beginning.
With so many tasks to be completed in the days leading up to the wedding, set the tone with a calm and relaxing week prior to the day that will put you in the right mindset. Enjoy healthy meals, hug plenty, and trust the great team you have hired to do the rest for you. Relax, laugh lots, have the best time and allow your wedding photographs to tell your story.
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