3 Essential Wedding Package Upgrades
Booking a wedding photographer can be a confusing process.
What coverage do you need? Should I get an album? Can they do a video too? When do I get my photos? How many photos do I need?
Ideally, photographers will avoid any hard-to-understand jargon too, as most “normal“ people don’t really know if they’d like an 8 by 10 or a 24 by 36 print. Particularly with the move to digital, print and album sizing has become much more confusing to the average couple. That’s even if they decide they want an album at all, with many couples starting out their wedding planning journey happy with just digital copies of their wedding memories.
Bottom line, it’s tricky to work out where your priorities are best placed when booking a wedding photographer. Here’s 3 suggestions on some wedding photography package upgrades that may be worth considering for your day.
1). A Highlights Film from your day
A wedding highlights film is a great option for those couples that may not want a full video team on hand all day, but would like some key moments captured with a more minimal approach.
Generally speeches and ceremony audio aren’t recorded as that will involve more preparation and a larger operation, but by having your photographer shoot video as well, it means you’re only going one or two people with cameras around you.
This is a great solution for more introverted couples that may not be comfortable with a bigger media team.
2). A Wedding Album
Do it. Trust me, it’s worth it.
Your wedding album doesn’t need to be large or have many pages, but even a smaller A5-sized album with 10-15 pages will be something you can keep in your home together.
An album will long outlast any digital files you receive, they’re one of a few select aspects of your wedding day that can live on and grow to become a truly treasured family heirloom.
You may have grown up looking through your parents, or even their parent’s wedding albums, and whilst this definitely shows their ability to last, wedding photography has changed an awful lot in the last couple of years. Rather than the stiff, posed portraits of the past, there’s now a much bigger focus on candid imagery, along with showing the quirky aspects that make the couple themselves.
3). Previews
Sometimes referred to as a sneak peek, Previews are ideal for social media posts, perfect for sending to friends or relatives that were unable to attend. Previews will generally be sent out by the photographer within 24 - 48hrs of the wedding. The benefit of this upgrade is that you’ll beat all but the quickest of guests at posting photos from your day on social media.
Rather than being tagged in a blurry photo taken from the back of the ceremony by your great-aunt on an iPad, it’s far nicer to be able to post a couple of your favourite images from the day instead.
The amount of images you’ll receive from your photographer will vary pretty dramatically. However, I aim to get across around 10-15 images within 24 hours of the wedding. I’ve found this to be an ideal amount as it gives enough variety that you can pick a couple to post and allows me to get them across quickly too.
Hopefully this has given you some ideas on where you’d like to prioritise your wedding photography investment. As a wedding photographer myself, I of course have a bias, however I’ve also seen the joy that a wedding film or an album can bring a couple. The images from your wedding day can be some of the most important images from your life, so to me, it’s worthwhile taking just a little time to consider how you best want to capture them.
If you have any questions at all, or if you’d like to know more, don’t hesitate to get in touch! I’m always happy to chat to a couple on their wedding journey.