The longest-lasting reminders of your wedding day are not the $40 His and Hers coffee mugs, or the frozen slice of cake tucked in the back of the freezer. It’s the wedding day photos.
Unfortunately, not everyone loves being on camera. So what can you do to be more comfortable in front of the camera on your wedding day so that you can cherish your photographs for years and years to come? It’s easier than you think. Practice!
Here are my suggestions on why you need to practice being photographed before your wedding so that you don’t hate the images of your special day.
Warm Up Session(s)
Like everything else in life, practice makes perfect. Doing a pre-wedding couples’ portrait session can help you get warmed up for the actual wedding day. Most people don’t make their living in front of the camera, aren’t influencers constantly posing for, editing, planning and posting pictures, and rarely make the cover of Time magazine.
Your wedding photos don’t have to be a one-and-done experience jammed into your busy wedding day schedule. You can do one or more pre-wedding sessions to get used to being on camera so that it doesn’t feel so new and awkward and unfamiliar when your wedding day arrives.
These sorts of sessions used to be called engagement photos. Now they might be called Warm Up, Pre-Wedding, Welcome, or Kick Off sessions. These sessions are good for being captured in a more relaxed and less pressure filled environment. Perhaps you’ve never been photographed professionally before, certainly most likely not as a couple, so it’s good practice to do a session at least once before the wedding.
This can work even if it’s not with the same photographer. Just the act of going through the motions will be useful.
How to Approach a Warm Up Session
Go into the photo session knowing that it’s going to take a little time, and be prepared not to pull away or quit. Let the session breath, don’t rush through it just to get it over with. Give yourself a chance to try. I guarantee you the photographer will get good pictures of you if you let them do their job.
Mentally prepare yourself for the session without psyching yourself out. Be aware that there’s a lot of “for the first time” moments on your wedding day and practice them if you’re nervous about “doing it wrong” or looking awkward and feeling weird.
This session can be just the two of you and a photographer. No on-lookers and no pressure. If they don’t turn out, you don’t use them for anything and there’s no negative consequences.
Homework Assignments
You might even come away with your pre-wedding session with a few things to work on at home. For instance, before their wedding I tell couples to practice their dance moves. Many couples have never done a twirl before, or done a dip together. It’s good to get some of these fun and playful poses done during the pre-wedding session, but you may still need more practice.
Doing so for the first time in your living room is a lot easier than doing it for the first time on your wedding day. Of course it’s possible to stumble, trip or lose your balance if you’re executing a move you’ve never done before. Even if it’s a simple act like cutting the cake, your first kiss, crossing arms to drink out of each others’ Champagne glasses.
Practice these things all the way up to the special day. On and off camera. It’s smart to give these things a go in your hotel room the night before so that you can feel better about doing them on camera the next day.
Get Coached Up and Recruit Help
Your pre-wedding photo session photographer will be glad to give you some easy pointers on how to make the most of your upcoming wedding photographs. They can mention little things like blocking for the best angles, how to be aware of common mistakes and coach you on flattering poses.
In pre-wedding sessions, or on your actual wedding day, a hype person can be a big help. Before your photo session, recruit one of your close friends to stand behind the camera and give you hoots, hollers, claps, cheers and words of praise and encouragement as your photographer snaps away. Getting these platitudes from someone you’re close to can boost your confidence and get you loose, comfortable and having fun. A well timed “wooo wooo!” can go a long way.
Make the Practice Pay Off
If you’ve done a pre-wedding practice session or two, the photos on your wedding day should turn out great. Looking your best and being comfortable will be so much easier if your big day isn’t the first time you’ve been in front of a professional’s camera as a couple.
Still not feeling it?
Here’s a couple more hacks you can use.
Music
One trick I like to use is to bring a portable speaker along during photo sessions. Music brings out emotions and adds energy to an otherwise lifeless moment and can put a nervous couple at ease.
Timid couples are sometimes able to vibe with the tunes rather than worrying about their camera shyness. This works especially well if the couple has selected the station/channel, or better yet if they’ve curated their own playlist that they can share with the photographer.
Show and Tell
This one is fantastic. Bring an item along to your photo session which is meaningful to you and your partner. Any item that makes you feel good. Pose with this item and tell a story about it. A picture is worth a thousand words and sometimes you can get better pictures by literally telling a story and letting the photographer capture your warm and fuzzy feelings.
Fake it ‘Til You Make It
A good way to get in a silly mood and to crack a few laughs and release a few smiles is to start by fake laughing. The first few images might not turn out, but as your fake laughter makes you actually laugh, the images get better!
Sunglasses
Start by posing for a few portraits while you are wearing sunglasses. Sunnies let camera shy people “hide” behind dark lenses and let the photographer get some shots of you while looking really cool and while you warm up to the process. Unless your photographer is working with a vintage film camera, the next thing you can do is use the camera’s LED display screen to view the shots you’re getting. This will give you a confidence boost and allow you to get more comfortable with doing some more poses without the sunglasses.
Make it Fun
Let your photographer put you into fun situations. Are you at a park? Head for the merry go-round, slide or swing set. These simple pieces of playground equipment can make for nostalgic and whimsical images and can also make you more relaxed and in the moment instead of stuck in your own heads.
No playground in sight? What about an escalator, a glass elevator or even a staircase? I like to send my nervous couples on this short ride (or walk) and tell them to turn around and wave when they get to the end. If they aren’t laughing at the silliness of this request, then at least I’ll be able to get a couple interesting angular shots of them with interesting lines provided by the glass, stainless steel and reflections or other architecture elements.
Get Sneaky
If you’re still wishing you could crawl in a hole and die, use your attire to your advantage by going for the classic “couple under the wedding veil” shot. Hide under the veil, so the photographer can get those intimate moments and cheeky looks that we all love to see in a wedding album.
Is the groom wearing a wide-brimmed cowboy hat? Go in for a kiss as he holds the hat to block the camera person’s view. Folding fans, and floral bouquets work well for this tactic too.
Treat Yourself
If all else fails, stop for an ice cream cone or chocolate shake. Ice cream always puts a smile on your face and makes for a lovingly nostalgic set of photographs that are timeless and classic.
Hire a True Professional for Professional Results
All the practice in the world won’t mean squat if you leave the camera duties to an amateur or a pretender. Good photographs come from good photographers and are worth investing in. Thankfully, if you’re considering Electric Sugar Elopements for your all-inclusive micro wedding or elopement, you’ll be in good hands. We’ll be glad to do a pre-wedding session with you and will do everything we can to make you comfortable and relaxed in front of the camera. Get in touch today!
