1. Going to have a wedding rehearsal? Why not invite your wedding photographer. It gives the photographer a chance to formulate a plan
to get the best photographs of the day. Additionally, it allows you to become more familiar with your photographer and feel comfortable with a lens in close proximity.
2. Have disposable cameras available to the guests at the wedding breakfast. This can be a nice thought, but just remember the cameras can be poor in quality. Also your wedding guests are not always the best photographers, especially after a few drinks!
3. Perhaps buy a couple of cheap cameras, digital if possible. Give them to certain people at the wedding and asking them to take informal photographs of the day. This is an especially good job for teenagers, who otherwise might be bored during parts of the day. The role of photographer, albeit unofficial gives their day a purpose.
4. Perhaps you and your partner could share a compact digital camera, so you both can snap random images, of each other throughout the day. These pictures often do more at reminding you of the the days real feel and emotion.
5. Always check with the cleric or registrar performing the wedding – whether it is religious or civil – that there are no restrictions on photography. Weddings in churches tend to be more problematic, as sometimes photography is not allowed during the ceremony or at all inside the church itself. The use of flash is the most usually applied restriction.
6. Don’t forget the importance of lighting for your wedding photographs. The amount and type of light can change from one day to another. Have a plan to adapt your photography to be ready to accommodate the time of day and weather variations.
7. Traveling around Sussex, in my job as a Brighton wedding photographer, I am often amazed at how little planning, that people put into organising their wedding images. Having coherent plans and strategies, can make a huge positive effect, more than any other factor.
8. If a lack of funds is a factor, you could try getting in contact with a trainee wedding photographer to photograph your wedding for free, in exchange for the experience and images for their portfolio. A Free advertising site like Gumtree is a good start, but do not expect too much from your photographer, as they are doing it for free. Doing this if usually preferable, to asking someone from your social circle or family to be your wedding photographer, as if things go awry, due to bad luck, incompetence or negligence, it will probably damage your friendship.
Follow the above hints and tips and you should have some lovely pictures to remind you of your wedding day.