If you work in a service industry, it is always great when a client returns. They come back because they believe you delivered an exceptional product. Wedding photography is no different often referrals are the best way to get continued work.

In 2015 I photographed the wedding of Hayden & Chloe. Chloe’s parents liked the images. They appreciated our service a lot. In 2020, we were asked to photograph the wedding of Kristi (Chloe’s sister) to Taylor. Then in 2023 we were asked again to photograph their son Ollie who was marrying Jess. 

Photographing weddings is both incredibly rewarding and terrifying. You know that you are to capture fleeting moments that will become lifelong memories. There is often not an opportunity to repeat them.

When we shoot a wedding we offer a full documentary style approach. That means we will typically shoot over several days and end up with thousands of images.  For this reason I have split the wedding into several posts as each part is quite distinct. We will start with the pre-shoot.

When I meet with the couple for the first time we will go over the planning for the event. I will cover one thing during this time. I will ask if they have any idea where they would like the formal photos to be taken.  It is not unusual for couples to have clear ideas of where they want the images taken.  In other cases they leave it to me within a general area.

We will then book in a pre-shoot to see how these locations work out. Where possible, I will book this for a week before the wedding. It will be at exactly the same time as we would be shooting on the day.  

Ollie and Jess’s wedding was planned for a small church in the seaside suburb of Seatoun in Wellington. They wanted to incorporate the beach into their formal. Therefore, we had planned to shoot at Breaker Bay and around the coast. These locations were less than five minutes from their venue so we were not going to lose time in traveling.

The pre-shoot is important for a number of reasons.

Firstly it gets the couple comfortable with being photographed by the photographer.  This is particularly important when you are dealing with people who are shy.

Secondly, it enables the photographer to try out locations and poses. There is no time pressure at the pre-shoot unlike on the day. Such as the couple walking down the beach.

Thirdly it can give you an idea of what the lighting could be like on the day. It is for this reason that I scheduled the shoot at exactly the same time of day. I was looking for both areas of shadow as well as highlights. It was clear that I would be using a mixture of ambient and flash to get the results I was after.

Finally the pre-shoot enables you to identify any issues that you may face on the day so that you can be prepared for them. For example muddy ground is not ideal to be traversing across when you have a bride in a long white dress.

The pre-shoot went very well and we were all pleased with the results. I was fairly confident that we were going to get some great images at these locations. All we need now was for the weather gods to play ball unfortunately that’s not to be the case.