One Moment in Time: Why Every Moment of Your Wedding Day is Worthy of Being Documented.
/MARIA CARPENTER
Whether you have been dreaming about your wedding since you were little or the excitement began once you got engaged, it is one of the greatest days of your life to enter the sacrament of marriage with your soulmate.
PHOTOGRAPHY: FENIX PHOTOGRAPHY, DESIGN, & EVENTS LLC
You’ve probably been told to enjoy your wedding day as much as you can because “it goes by so fast.”
Why then has the wedding industry normalized giving couples the choice of cramming their day into a 6 or 8-hour window or having their photographer miss important wedding day moments?
We have all been there. You begin the search for your wedding photographer, find some that you love, and then your heart sinks when you see on the investment page that you can only afford the shortest amount of time.
You start to wonder: Well maybe they don’t need to capture everything. Maybe we can just shorten the day so that they can be there for all of the big moments. Before you know it, you are making compromises to change a day that you have spent countless hours planning and investing a lot of money in to make it perfect.
As photographers, we believe that all-day coverage is the best way to capture a wedding day as authentically as possible. In order to stay true to that belief, we always include all-day coverage for our couples.
It allows you to have a more peaceful and relaxing day, and will help you remember all of the special moments from it–big and small–for the rest of your life.
All-day coverage offers a more flexible wedding day timeline, allowing for some extra wiggle room in case something happens to throw off the schedule. It also gives you a chance to mentally and emotionally prepare before the ceremony. If you wanted to have that downtime but was hiring a photographer for a shorter number of hours, then you would feel like you were “wasting an hour” to not have them photographing some of the posed group photos since you have them there for less time.
Limited hours often lead couples to choose between the “getting ready” photos or most of their reception photos, but those are the two best times to have captured.
So many of our brides have told us that their favorite pictures of them and their mom or other close female figures are the “getting ready” photos.
Yes, the pretty posed pictures outdoors are beautiful and important, but there is something so sentimental about documenting the woman who put your first dress on you now helping you into your wedding dress. That is when the emotions of the day start to flood in and become a reality; you aren’t trying your dress on at the bridal store, alteration shop, or your home, this is when you are finally preparing to meet your beloved.
If you choose to have the photographer there for those important getting ready moments but then leave early before the reception is over, then you are missing out on some of the most fun candid shots of the day.
There are the heartwarming moments like the first dance, family dances, and toasts but there are also all the fun pictures once the dance floor opens that totally exude marital bliss.
All your favorite people in one room, singing and dancing to celebrate their love for you two as a couple, which is why they tend to be some of the favorite and most shared pictures for our couples.
We have photographed the bride giving the maid of honor a piggyback ride, a groom and his groomsmen serenading the bride with an acappella song, a group of sisters recreating their childhood dance to their favorite song, and so many more incredible moments during the celebration.
The reception is when the stress and expectations for the day are over and couples are free to act like their truest selves. They have such a carefree spirit about them and the joy they radiate as they leave their reception to begin the rest of their married lives together cannot be posed or prompted.
Wedding photography certainly is not “one size fits all,” but when considering the best fit for you, make sure you are not compromising and shortening the happiest day of your life to fit the time frame of an average workday.
You have been preparing your whole life to marry the person that God made for you, and you should cherish every moment of the day that you become one in spirit.
About the Authors: Maria and ayton are the faces behind Fenix Photography, Design, and Events. They both have pursued numerous creative outlets but fell in love with photography: they loved that they could bring the best emotive moments out of couples, and then edit them in a vibrant and colorful way. The motto of Fenix Photography, Design, and Events is "God writes the story... we just document it." As photographers, Maria and Dayton believe their job is to capture the deepest form of love that God can bestow on two people. They desire to build friendships with their clients through the wedding planning process and help them fully enjoy their special day.