What goes wrong on wedding days

I don’t look very often at other wedding photographers websites. Personally, I find they are filled with alot of sentimentality and not much substance. You know what I mean… the CONGRATS YOU JUST GOT ENGAGED! And the ‘I have the luckiest job in the world’ etc. I am sure that some of this is genuine, but mostly it feels a little contrived to me.

Perhaps that’s because I am a more practical, down to earth person. It doesnt mean that I haven’t shed the odd tear myself during a wedding ceremony though, and I certainly care very much about the expererience I provide for my couples.

But my approach is to provide a rock-solid, dependable, honest, predictable and ‘best possible’ outcome on your wedding day in terms of capturing as many moments as possible, utilisting the best possible scenes and light to tell the story of the day - with as little disruption.

As a wedding photographer I am literally in the thick of things the whole entire day from getting ready, to the very end and priveliged to see things from both the bride, grooms and guests perspective,

I hope that these tips (which you probably won’t find on many other wedding photography websites) will help you plan your wedding day, and to honestly tell you where I see some frustrations from couples (to mitigate these at your wedding).

In no particular order, here is what can go pear-shaped on a wedding day in terms of both photography and the whole day itself (at least from a Brisbane wedding photographers perspective!):

Getting Ready Space is Unsuitable, Messy OR CROWDED

Some of the best getting ready spaces in Brisbane are either 5 Star Hotels such as W Hotel (due to the amazing rooms with shear curtains, and lots of photo friendly spaces downstairs). The same doesn’t apply to Calile Hotel unfortunately as they don’t allow photographers to take photos in their public spaces unless there is a wedding booked there. The W Hotel on the other hand, does not have such a policy, and the backdrops there are gorgeous and varied indoors too, just in case it rains.

Other places that work really well for ‘Getting Ready’ photos are private homes with gardens (front or back) and lots of abundant natural light.

What doesn’t work so well for Getting Ready photos are small, poky or dark apartments, hotel rooms or units which provide very little variation in terms of backdrops.

Regardless of the space you use for Getting Ready, if the space is messy or cluttered then it also really doesn’t work without some decluttering and cleaning, which takes up precious time.

Finally, the worst nightmare for a wedding photographer is when the getting ready space is both unsuitable, is messy and cluttered and to make matters worse has way too many people there.

It’s not that I can’t shoot around people that are there or ask them politely to move out of the frame, it just seems to be that it creates all this extra unneccesary stress, distractions and drama for the couple. It also raises the temperature considerably in summer with all those extra bodies.

So the perfect getting ready location is easy to describe in terms of an example. It’s a room at the W Hotel with a few people only present who you can trust to actually help you, in a clean room where the bed is made up ;)

LARGE BRIDAL PARTY

From a chilled out day perspective, I can assure you that the less people in your bridal party, the less frustrations you will have (for both the bride and groom). It will also mean less time required for bridal party and couples portraits, leaving more time for you, or to spend with guests.

It doesn’t matter how much you trust or love the individuals in your bridal party. What I am saying is that from a frustration perspective, I see people in the bridal party providing the most angst to the Bride & Groom. It can be because they are running late (the chances of this increase exponentially as the bridal party increases!) or they are not participating or helping as much as you expected them too (this is very common).

It’s very common in a large bridal party for something minor to go wrong (at the wrong time). It could be they didn’t clean their shoes, forgot their tie or didn’t iron their shirt properly. Shoes breaking are a common occurence too, especially for the bridal party (in fact it happened at my wedding!). It can literally be anything like that, and the chances of this happening increase as the bridal party increases in size.

It could be because they have a few too many prosecos after the ceremony (or earlier) or it could just be that they don’t look very happy and sort of ruin the vibe of bridal party photos, or don’t want to participate as fully as they probably should.

So the moral of the story for me is the fewer people in your bridal party, the less hassle and the more fun and relaxed your day will be. Trust me on this one! Unless you are one to relish chaos, I would recommend a small bridal party (no more than two on each side).

HAIR & MAKEUP DISASTERS

There are several things that can go wrong with hair and makeup. In fact it’s probably one of the top three sources of angst and frustration for the Bride in particular.

But the reasons for hair and makeup going wrong may not be immediately apparent.

In my experience there are several ways hair and makeup can ‘go wrong’ and cause problems.

Hair and Makeup is late, OR goes WAY overtime

I have seen this multiple times (about every month or so). It happens ‘all the time. The root cause of this problem is starting H&M took late, or wanting it to finish around about the time the photographer arrives. This is a bad idea. It is highly recommended that you plan H&M to finish well before your wedding photographer arrives (like at least an hour before). Ideally they should not be at Getting Ready when the photographer arrives - because that means they will be taking up the time of someone that needs to be in photos.

What I recommend to avoid this situation is to tell a small white lie to your H&M crew. If they ask when the photographer is arriving, tell them ‘anytime from 12pm’ even though you know they will arrive at 1pm. All good wedding photographers are often early anyway, so it’s not really a lie!

TANNED SKIN HAIR AND MAKEUP

Trust me on this one… you do not want your makeup to looked too tanned on the day of your wedding. This is because it means in every scene where you are photographed, not only will you look more orange/yellow than the other guests but it won’t be possible to easily increase the ‘white balance’ across the whole photo to warm up the background.

Therefore, if it’s an overcast day you will look even more out of place but also it will not be possible to correct the white balance. The ideal makeup for photography is very neutral. This gives the photographer the creative license to increase the white balance (to make the whole scene look warmer) without negatively affecting skin tones.

Your skin tone can easily be warmed up when editing, you don’t need to get ‘tanned skin’ makeup to look like you have a tan on your wedding day. This is even more of a contrasting problem when you have a ‘tanned skin’ Bride and pale Groom with no makeup!

MAKEUP THAT RUNS

This practially ruined ‘Getting Ready’ and the timeline for one Bride recently. The makeup was done (albeit late - see above…) so we have already lost 20 minutes of time. We then did a first look with the groom, and the Bride cried very briefly. This immediately wrecked her makeup though and it took another 20 minutes for the makeup artist to fix.

I have only seen this a few times, so I assume there are types of makeup (and eyeliner) which do not run so easily when crying. If you think you might cry at your wedding, I would recommend discussing this with H&M beforehand and make sure they have the skills, experience and product to avoid this wherever possible.

UNPROFESSIONAL MC

I often chat with DJ’s and other vendors about this during weddings, mainly because they are also feeling the frustrations of dealing with amateur MC’s and vent to me about it. I also see couples get frustrated with MC’s who are just not up to it. Having an MC at your wedding is really important if you have more than about 30 guests in my opinion, but wherever possible do consider hiring a DJ/MC combination (i.e. a DJ who can also MC - but make sure they have the personality to do this).

A professional MC will ensure the timeline is actually adhered to, they will create a great atmosphere for the guests and keep everything going smoothly as well as liaise with the venue coodinator and other vendors.

The problem with using a friend or family member as an MC is that despite their best intentions, they just get distracted with other guests and often drink too much (yeah I know that’s harsh, but it’s true). They very often don’t know how important it is to liaise with vendors throughout the night (for example starting the ‘grand entrance’ or ‘first dance’ without checking with the venue, DJ, photographer and videographer - or the couple!).

A professional MC has all sorts of tricks up their sleeve (such as giving people a bit of notice when speeches will start - so they can visit the bathroom and fill up their glasses for toasts).

There are many DJ’s in Brisbane that also offer an MC service (it’s a logical addition) and I would highly recommend this. In fact there is even a celebrant in Brisbane that provides all three services plus he is a fantastic acoustic guitar player/singer for guest arrivals music before the ceremony (reach out for his details).

SHOES & DRESS

Shoes just seem to break on wedding days. Whether it’s the Bride or one of the bridesmaids or mother of the bride, can I recommend that everyone in the bridal party brings a spare pair of shoes! It even happened at my wedding as I mentioned above, the MOH’s shoe fell apart and we had to super glue it before the grand entrance. So yeah.. it’s a thing.

The other prolem with shoes is their comfort. Always have a spare pair of comfy shoes you can change into during your couples portraits, beause that is likely when you will need to walk the most distance including potentially up stairs, hills etc. and wearing uncomfortable shoes gets old very quickly at this stage!

Finally, if your husband to be sweats easily, in Brisbane it does pay to bring an extra shirt (especially if wearing a dark coloured shirt that shows sweat). Being able to change into a fresh shirt before couples portraits can be a lifesaver after the poor groom has been standing in the sun for 30 minutes in the middle of summer…

And for the Bride, I do recommend if your dress is bulky or cumbersome changing into a party dress for the reception (or after speeches). Not only will this feel liberating, but it makes it much easier (and cooler) for dancing later on.

TIME OF THE YEAR

If you absolutely have to get married between November and April in Brisbane, consider that the chances of a later afternoon storm rolling in are much higher than other months. Also consider shortening your couples portraits with your photographer to 45 mins rather than a full hour due to the heat, and of course always have a backup plan for wet weather.

The best time of the year to get married in Brisbane is of course always going to be around September, the only downside being needing to book popular vendors at least 10 months ahead of time. Alternatively, consider a non traditional day for your wedding like a Friday or Sunday rather a Saturday to make your vendor booking process much easier.