Detail Photos

What to Have Prepared For

For the Detail Oriented Bride

Welcome

A NOTE ABOUT THIS GUIDE

We believe in telling your wedding story in it's entirety. This is why we work closely with couples to ensure that your photography timeline includes every special event. And while we love and celebrate the big moments, a lot of the story lies in the smallest details. The things you've spent months thoughtfully selecting to make your day special. And on a day that goes by so quickly, capturing them well is important.
Artfully photographing your wedding day details is something that we genuinely look forward to and rely on to recharge our creative energy. These photos can take time, but with the right preparation in advance, they can be done swiftly so that we can capture those big moments and the small ones too, telling your wedding day story fully with out missing a thing.

In this guide I'm going to share my best tips for making sure we can capture all of your wedding day details. I know it can be overwhelming. In fact, it is our longest guide by far. But I am a big believer that working through all of this is key in keeping things running smoothly on your wedding day while still capturing all of the small details you've planned. So I've even created a downloadable PDF to save to your phone to be used as a checklist leading up to your big day, the link is at the bottom of the guide!

- Alison

Detail Photos

Keep it Together

Once you start gathering items for your wedding day details, it can add up quickly! My best advice is to find a large tote, box or bag and start keeping all of your detail items in it as you get them. Keep only your details items in here for both the bride and the groom. This way they are not only easy to find on the wedding day, but in the days and weeks leading up to the wedding. As an added bonus, things are less likely to be forgotten if they are stored neatly in one place.

When we arrive on wedding day morning, we will be able to say a quick hello and take the tote off your hands to begin photographing everything. We won't have to take away from spending time with your friends or send a bridesmaid on a hunt. It's a win, win!

Pro Tip: Clear totes are my personal favorite option because they have lids, are easy to carry, are water proof and you can see the contents at a glance!

When photographing your wedding day details, we love including small, loose blooms. This adds texture and dimension into these images that might otherwise appear flat. Plus we love the sentimental touch of your actual wedding flowers being included in your wedding images. Not to mention this a great way to add in your wedding colors through out your images (you won't believe all the places we'll use these!) which will keep your gallery cohesive.

When meeting with your florist let them know that you'd like to reserve some small, styling blooms for your photographer. Most florists are incredible at making sure to do this, but these will need to be included in their order, so make sure to speak to them about it early on.

Pro Tip: Personal and styling florals need to arrive before your photography team to make sure we have time to photograph them! If they are dropped off after we've started putting on the dress there won't be enough time to go back and redo the detail photos. Communicate this with your florist when discussing times needed for flowers.

Extra Florals

Styling Details

When it comes to your styled detail photos, we bring some intentional styling tools with us that we have hand selected for your wedding based on your colors and vibe. Some things we bring with us are: hand painted and linen styling mats, silk ribbons, ring boxes, wax stamps and trays.

However, we never want your wedding images to look like everyone else's! So we encourage you to add some things into your detail box that we can use to infuse your personality into these images. Here are some ideas you might consider:

Small, styling flowers from your florist (of course!)
Curated stamps on your photography invitation suites. My personal favorite places for these are Merrily Post, Something Bleu Paperie and The Postmistress Shop.
Envelope liners for your photography invitation suites. Etsy is a great place to find these!
If you have your heart set on a custom, hand painted invitation suite but it isn't in the budget for your entire invite list, order two sets from your favorite designer. (Mine is Brown Fox Creative) Have them addressed to yourselves or your parents and include them in your detail box.

Most wedding days will have a handful of paper goods to be photographed through out the day. Things like menus, signs and place settings will be photographed later in the day with the reception details. But your invitation suite, vow books and programs are photographed in the morning. Be sure to include two fully addressed copies (unsealed) of your wedding invitation suite in your detail box.

Pro Tip: Instead of writing your vows on messy notebook paper or on your phone, consider purchasing keepsake vow books. My favorites can be found here.

Paper Goods

Shoes and Dresses

If you'd like your dress photographed with your detail items, please have it hanging near your detail box so that we can easily access it. Be sure to include your veil as well if you are wearing one. If you have a special hanger be sure to include that as well! If you don't, not to worry! We have hangers that we can bring for you!

Be sure to include your shoes in your detail box! Shoes can take up a lot of space and can often get separated and missed. If you are wearing two pairs of shoes, be sure to let us know which pair you'll be wearing for the ceremony.

Pro Tip: Our favorite wedding day shoes are: Bella Belle and Something Bleu for their artisanal quality, comfortability and elegant, timeless designs.

We like to photograph all three of your wedding rings early in the day. This way we don't have to ask you to take them off for photos later, which is never fun! Please be sure to include all three rings (hers and his) in your detail box. We will handle them with love and care and make sure they make it safely into the hands of your maid of honor and best man when we are finished with them.

As mentioned above, we have a variety of ring boxes that we can bring for ring photos. But if you have one of your own we would love to use it! Plus it's a great keepsake and a good place for keeping your ring when you aren't wearing it for the rest of your life.

Our favorite places for ring boxes is: The Mrs. Box and Save the Date Designs Co.

Rings and Things

Groom details are another thing that can get lost in the shuffle on wedding days. But as far as we're concerned, they are every bit as important and really help tell your wedding story fully. The best way to make sure that his details are photographed as well is to include them in your detail box. When we are finished with them we will make sure they make it to him in time for him to get dressed!

Here are some common groom details we see (and love):

Shoes
Bow ties/ties
Cologne
Watches
Cufflinks
Signet rings
Groomsmen gifts

His Details

Now that we've covered the bigger things, let's talk about some other special items you'll likely want to include in your day. These small but mighty things help make up the bigger picture of your wedding day and will likely be things you'll want to remember as the years pass. Here are some things to think about including in your detail box:

Perfume
Borrowed and blue things
Additional jewelry like necklaces, earrings and bracelets
Heirloom items such as your mother's ring, grandparents' wedding photos or hand held mirrors. Talk to your family members before your wedding to see if there are any special items you can include in your day!
Purse
Sixpence
Handkerchief

Pro Tip: Use an individual vellum bag for each necklace if wearing more than one to avoid tangling.

The Little Things

It is pretty common for brides and grooms to share special gifts and letters with their soon to be spouse, family members and/or wedding party on their wedding day. These, like everything in this guide, are the special and thoughtful details that make up the big picture of a wedding day. So let's plan to include them in your detail photos!

We won't open any specially wrapped gifts or sealed envelopes but instead will photograph them after they've been opened if there is time!

Pro tip: if you'd really love to have these items included in your styled detail photos, plan to exchange these gifts earlier in the day or have your maid of honor or best man get them to us before your reception!

Meaningful Gifts and Letters

Personal flowers are:

Bride and bridesmaid bouquets
Boutonnieres
Corsages
Small styling flowers

Your personal flowers will be needed much earlier in the day than your decor and centerpiece flowers. A good rule of thumb is to have your personals delivered or picked up an hour before your photography team is set to arrive to ensure that they are in the right place (bridal prep space) when it's time to begin your detail photos. We will take special care to ensure that they are kept in water or refrigeration as needed to help them stay nice in between detail photos and portraits.

Pro tip: an inexpensive way to elevate a bouquet is to add ribbons in your wedding colors. Ask your florist about this or pick some up on Amazon!

Personal Flowers

We photograph all reception and cocktail details before your ceremony when possible. The best time to do this is the window of time when when the bride and groom are tucked away while guests are arriving just before ceremony. We sneak off to your reception space to capture all of the details you have planned for this part of your day.

This is important information for florists and venue coordinators to know so that they can plan ahead and have everything prepared. We never want to miss out on capturing these reception details because the flowers hadn't arrived yet!

Pro tip: hiring a day or month of coordinator is a great way to ensure that your reception is totally ready on time! Click here for a list of our favorites!

Reception Decor

Wedding cakes are always a showstopper! But the timing for photographing your wedding cake can vary based on things such as weather, temperature and floor plans. Thankfully this is a fairly quick thing to photograph but there are some things to consider when it comes to the placement of your cake!

Consider the background. When picking the floor plan for your reception, try to place your cake away from dark backgrounds, kitchen doors, sound equipment and mirrors.
For the best possible photos of your cake, select a location that is in natural light.
Discuss with your cake artist when the best time to set out your cake would be. In the summer time, you may want to hold off on setting out your cake because of temperature, especially at open air or semi open air venues.

Cakes

Many of our couples share welcome gifts and favors with their guests. This is a very sweet special touch and we love photographing them! Plan to include these in your detail box so that we can photograph them for you. If possible, include more than one favor so we can style them artfully.

During dinner or downtime, we are always looking for fun ways to capture the special parts of your wedding day. We'll be on the look out for fun details such as hor d'oeuvres, cut wedding cake and specialty drinks! If there is something extra special you'll want photos of, please let us know in advance!

Favors and Fun

When it comes to your venue, we love including a few photos of the place where you were married for you to remember and share with family for years to come! We tend to arrive a little early and walk around the venue grounds, capturing the architecture and unique features. We also like to pop these photos in through out the day and always love to get a shot or two of you with your venue in the background when possible.

Venue Details

We realize this is a sizable list with lots of details to remember. So we've created a downloadable checklist to keep on your phone or print and tape to your detail box to help you remember what all you need to gather up as we count down the days until your wedding!

Click here to access the checklist.

Detail Box Checklist

We know this guide is packed with a lot of information but we are so thankful to you for taking the time to read through all of these tips to help make your wedding day details sing!
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