Ask A Photographer: Episode 1?

We all have questions, that is kind of the base thing that we do as humans we eat, we sleep and we need answers.

I certainly don't know everything, but I do know a good amount about Weddings, more specifically wedding photography. Which got me thinking, hey April, you have the answers, they have the questions and you love to write (well, talk but I am too neurodivergent to enjoy talking out loud, but I love it if I can note it down)

Sooo advice column? Are we still doing those? I feel like its been a while since I saw an Ask such and such. So let's do it, bring me your questions and they definitely don't need to be photography related but do try to keep them to wedding related because as I said I don't know everything :) Oh feel free to bring me the goss, the drama, the tea,and the cringe as we called it back when I was obsessively reading Girl Talk Magazines

I put a call out for your asks so here are 3 of my favourites, I hope you enjoy my answers and send me more asks so I can keep on at these :D

MY EX IS COMING TO THE WEDDING

Q“My ex is a close friend of the family and will be at the wedding, but my partner is uncomfortable with their presence. How can we handle this situation to ensure it doesn’t create tension and overshadow our special day?”

A Ok, difficult one to navigate, firstly, family friend? Are they invited because your family are calling for it? Because, if it isn't that important to you and your partner is uncomfortable with it then I would suggest telling the family to back of and leaving the ex at home. If it's something that is important to you and you have a good relationship with your ex, to the point that you want him to celebrate your wedding with you guy, then maybe set aside a couple 'dates' where your partner and ex can spend some more time together, sometimes the unknown can make things grow into something it doesn't need to be in our brains, if they spend more time together/ together with you your partner might be able to get a better understanding of your relationship and why they are important to you <3

FAMILY RIFT READY TO WRECK EVERYTHING

Q "Two of our family members have an ongoing feud, and we’re worried it’ll cause drama during the group photos at our wedding. How can we work with our photographer to ensure their tension doesn’t ruin our pictures or the flow of the day?”

A This is something that happens so much more frequently than you would think! It's your day, you have likely planned every detail out and spend YEARS making everything perfect and right before Aunt Sheela has decided to fall out with cousin Joey and wants to make it our problem, I've seen it a million times. Firstly, this is by no means your drama and a word before hand to which ever party you need to reminding them to act like respectable adults will go a million miles but unfortunately we can't all have people around us that put our own needs first so I would definitely suggest a quick chat with your photographer and pointing out the culprits so they know a. do not put them together and b. as far away from each other as possible when doing group shots that requires them both.

ITS A BUILDING SITE!

Q “Our venue is undergoing unexpected renovations, and we’re worried about the impact on our wedding photos. How can we salvage our vision and ensure our pictures turn out stunning despite the disruption?”

A So unfortunate but it happens, most importantly schedule a meeting with your venue coordinator, you need to know from them just how much disruption there is going to be so you can tell your suppliers and make sure everyone is aware of any changes and can make sure things still go smoothly. In terms of pictures, its completely down to your photographer, I personally offer photo manipulation so quite often things in images can be unsighty, ie bins, dead grass etc and I edit these out (not across the board on hundreds of photographs but on the few that you would showcase so you have some perfect) maybe have a chat with your photographer about if they offer this or if not if you have permission from them to take the images to a photo editor after the fact. Other than that its all about angles on the day, try to avoid heavy renovation areas when taking pictures but for the rest of it try not to think about it, it's your wedding day, relax and let yourself enjoy it <3

I have massively enjoyed these and would love to keep it going for you guys so drop your questions into me, everything will be posted anon ooow and let me know if you think I should add in some 'AITA Wedding edition' I love those <3