The two hours nobody plans for
Every timeline we are sent accounts for the ceremony to the minute and gives getting-ready a vague ninety minutes. Then the day arrives and getting-ready is where half the good photographs live, because it is the only stretch where nobody is performing.
Ask for a room with a window
Not a big room. A window. We would rather shoot a small bedroom with north light than a hotel suite lit by four ceiling cans and a ring light, and we will spend the first ten minutes moving your bags out of frame either way.
Get dressed early
Not for us — for you. Every couple who has finished getting ready thirty minutes ahead has spent those thirty minutes sitting with the people they love, and every one of them has told us afterwards it was their favourite part of the day.
We built in a spare half hour on your advice and ended up drinking a beer with my brother. That is the photo I look at.
- One window, curtains open, overhead lights off.
- Hangers, tags and dry-cleaning bags gone before we arrive.
- Thirty minutes of slack you do not intend to use.