Before The Wedding Guide

Congratulations on your upcoming wedding, all of us here at Michael J. Photography are excited that you have decided to include us in your wedding day. I wanted to take a few minutes and talk about what happens next now that you have decided to have us be a part of your wedding.

First step is for us to schedule our first planning meeting, I recommend that we have our first planning meeting early in your wedding planning process. Since most of our couples have never planned a wedding before and it can be a very complicated process I like to talk about your vision of the day and all of the things that need to happen to make that vision come true. I have done 100’s of weddings and so I can offer some advice as to how to make the day flow smoothly and be as stress free as possible. During this meeting we will touch on every part of the wedding day and what can be done to ensure a smooth flow of the day.  When you leave this meeting you will have a copy of our wedding planning document for you to take home and start working on, this is your “homework”, the planner will walk you step by step through the planning of the day.

Next we would usually have an engagement session, this can be done at anytime between booking the wedding and usually no later 45 to 60 days before the wedding. Most papers require 4 to 6 weeks notice for wedding announcements, but this can vary from paper to paper so please check with the papers you would like the announcement in. If you supply Michael j Photography with the e-mail addresses of the papers that you would like to have the announcement appear in we will e-mail your chosen image to the papers for you once you select the image. If you are interested in an Engagement Signature book we ask that you let us know at least 8 weeks before the wedding so that we have adequate time to design and print the book, any books ordered in less than the 8 weeks may incur an additional rush charge. 

I like to do the engagement session as what I call a lifestyles session meaning that the goal of the session is to capture you as a couple in a very natural environment for you. I recommend that we do the session in a place that fits your unique and individual personalities and someplace that has meaning to you. Could be doing your favorite activity together as a couple, do you enjoy mini golf, bowling, hiking etc. what do you like to do together and where do you like to do it? I strongly encourage you to think outside the norm and have fun with this session, it is the start of your new life together let’s make it reflect who you are as a couple. Usually during the engagement session we will also have an informal planning meeting just to see how things are coming along.

The last step is our final planning meeting, usually this happens within 2 or 3 weeks before the wedding, at this meeting we will go through the planner in detail and finalize all of the times for arrivals of people that are going to be in the pictures and when the pictures will be starting and where the pictures are going to be taken at. After the meeting I will produce a schedule for the day that you will be able to distribute to everyone involved in the wedding so that everyone knows when and where they are supposed to be on the wedding day.

Of course at anytime throughout the planning process I am available to sit down with you and talk through your wedding plans, so Please feel free to e-mail me or call me in the studio if you have any question that I might be able to answer for you. My goal is to make your wedding day as stress free as possible because the more fun you have the better your pictures are going to be.