What to expect when booking a me as your North East wedding photographer
Planning a wedding is more than just the day itself for me. My preparation begins as soon as I receive your initial enquiry! I'm so passionate about the whole process of you getting married. The story of how you met and what you both have in mind about the big day are so important. From setting up Pinterest boards to planning colour themes, I'm in from the start. Based in Durham, I'm a North East wedding photographer. I also cover Newcastle, Durham, Sunderland, Northumberland and the whole of the North East.
The relationship you share with your wedding photographer is one of the most important things when planning a wedding. I put my heart and soul into helping you achieve your vision. Creatively, I dedicate myself to capturing the true and natural emotion from the day.
Creative, relaxed and unobtrusive.
Above all, It’s important for you to be able to relax and put your trust into your photographer. Knowing I’ll be passionately working hard to capture those emotional moments means that you can relax and enjoy the day. Rightly so (This only happens once after all!)
I’m simply there to capture your wedding day exactly as it happened; to help tell your story through creative and authentic imagery. The creative and documentary style I use throughout the day means I can step back and capture moments naturally. Consequently, this helps build those lasting memories that only get stronger as time goes by.
Before your wedding
Thinking of booking a North East wedding photographer?
When you initially enquire we'll talk a little bit about what you've planned so far. We'll also talk about what you have in mind for the day of your wedding.
We'll make it official
Once you've filled in the booking form and agreed to the contracts, I'll pop over an invoice via email. This will have the bank details for paying the retainer fee of £200. Once this has been paid, your date is taken from my diary and it's yours! Easy as that!
Engagement session
If you've chosen a pre-wedding session then we'll arrange a date for this too. If you plan on using the photos for your save-the-dates, then we can do the shoot well in advance. But if you'd like to simply keep these as a cool keep-sake, then we can do the shoot anytime. As a North East wedding photographer, there's some amazing locations. We'll head out to a location that looks pretty, or somewhere that means something to you both. Usually we'd do this within 2 hours of sunset, morning or night. I'm cool with both!
In the build up to your North East wedding.
We'll keep in touch throughout the months leading up to your wedding day. We can talk about your plans, ideas and requirements along the way. I'm free to talk pretty much anytime, just drop me an email/text, or pick up the phone and we can chat that way. Around one month before your wedding we'll meet up to discuss the timeline and group photo set ups. I'll send across a pre-wedding questionnaire to make sure we're both on the same page. This means I'm fully prepared to shoot your wedding!
During your wedding
Arriving to your North East wedding
During our pre-wedding meeting we'll establish when exactly I'll be arriving. As a North East wedding photographer, I'll likely be close by. I will usually arrive 1.5 to 2 hours before your ceremony time. This gives me time to photograph all the special details you've put into your wedding. These include your dress, shoes, jewellery, perfume etc. I'll also capture the morning preparations for both parties (if you're at the same venue or at least close by). Over the years I have seen how hectic things can be at this time, so I like to let the wedding party breath. I capture things as they happen naturally, out of the way and low key, but within distance of helping pop open another bottle of bubbly if needed!
Throughout the day
Although the emotion, style and atmosphere of every wedding is completely unique, things tend to run along in a relatively similar order. I'm always organised in advance. I will have already picked out the perfect place to capture the group photo set ups. My couples tend to choose a small number of group photo set ups so that they can remain fun and ensures this time doesn't become too tedious for your guests. 7-10 groups maximum seems to work the best here.
Portraits - (view some of my work here) North East wedding photography
After we've snapped the group shots this is usually the perfect time to grab a quick 15-20 minutes to capture some portraits. This is the perfect opportunity to get some time together away from the hustle and bustle. I'll keep things very relaxed and casual, with a little gentle guidance. If you're worried about being in front of the camera, don't worry, every couple I work with feels exactly the same, and my biggest piece of feedback has always been about how relaxed I've made them feel on the day. There's nothing too forced or pressured here, I let you two laugh, chat away and I capture all of the moments in between, that's where I capture my signature natural, candid and creative photos.
The reception
On the evening of your wedding this is where the drinks are flowing and your guests are super merry! I love capturing the buzz on the dance floor, if you're having a first dance and cutting the cake, I'll capture both of those and stay for a little longer to capture some of carnage.
After your wedding
Sneak peak!
Around a week after your wedding you will receive a unique link to view your official preview images. You'll receive approximately 20 to 30 images or so to keep you going while I edit the rest.
Your final gallery
Around 4 or 5 weeks after you receive your preview, you'll receive an updated gallery link which will be the full selection of images from your wedding day, each image carefully handpicked and edited professionally by me. This gallery is private to you and password protected, but it's also really easy to share with close friends family so they can access them if wished too. This gallery will stay online for at least 1 year. At this point if you've chosen a package inclusive of a USB trinket box, then I will arrange for this to be delivered to you as well.
Wedding Album
Once your USB has been delivered we'd then get to designing your wedding album (if you've chosen to have one, which you should because they're awesome)! The first stage of the design process is to choose the images that you like by marking them in your online gallery, really simple! We then have a back-and-forth tweaking process with a PDF version of your wedding album until it's all perfect, then I send off the design to be put in place with the album supplier.
Although I'm a North East wedding photographer, I shoot weddings worldwide.
If you have any further questions you may find them already answered on my FAQ page, but if not feel free to contact me so we can have a chat. I'd love to hear more about your wedding, as a North East wedding photographer it's amazing to have the pleasure of working within such stunning wedding venues we have around the North East and Northumberland. I'd love to hear more about your wedding plans.
