Documenting Gorgeous Reception Details
When Brandon and I are documenting a wedding day, our top priority is to tell our couples unique and personal love story. With this leading the way for how we document each wedding day we find it pivotal to honor the vision our brides have for their day. We know it can take months, if not an entire year, to select each small detail for their big day and imagining what it will look like when it all comes together.
Typically reception detail shots need to be done within a 15 min timeframe… crunch time. So for that reason we have a solid game plan set up beforehand to make the most of every second we get, a mental check list if you will. We always tag team the detail shots to showcase each detail, as well as the entire room. This ensures that we don’t miss a thing and truly capture the vision our bride has for her wedding day as well as preserve the work of the talented creative teams who bring the vision to life.
Here are 5 tips (part of our mental check list) that help to make sure each detail is documented perfectly.
- Timing – We plan out a 30 min window just before the ceremony starts to get both ceremony and reception detail shots. 15 mins for each. However, if the ceremony and reception are in two different locations we plan in 15 mins before the reception to get reception detail shots.
- Lenses – the three lenses we use when shooting reception detail shots are:
a. 24mm 1.4 – we use this lens to capture the entire room (side note – be sure to ask everyone to step out of the room so you have a clean beautiful high end photo).
b. 50 mm 1.2 – I love this lens! I use this lens for most of the detail shots of the floral designs, table settings, menus, place cards, candles, china and more.
c. 100 mm 2.8 – Brandon loves this lens. He uses it to get macro shots of the floral design, macro of the cake details, menu (close up of the names) and he will capture the rings with the macro by stylizing the rings using the reception details.
- Lighting – When we are shooting the reception details we ask the wedding planner to turn the lights up for us. This ensures great lighting for the shots. Plus we shoot the tables that have the best natural lighting near them (aka a window). If we are in a pinch and lighting can’t be turned up we also bring back up pin lighting just in case!
- Mental Shot List – Most often we shoot weddings were the tables are adored differently, for example: some tables will have tall center pieces while others will have low ones, the head table usually has different linens then the guest tables, menus are custom tailored per guest, china is different on each table. So with that in mind we take each table that is different and stack shots to ensure we get it all.
- Communication – Last but most important Brandon and I stay in constant communication during the reception detail shots. This makes sure we don’t miss anything or double shoot. Efficiency is KEY.
We hope this helps you to capture amazing photos at your next wedding!! Shine On!
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Top 10 Wedding Cakes We have Photographed + 11 Tips for Ideal Cake Table Locations
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