Generally I like to be with the bride an hour before she has to leave to go to the ceremony. This gives us time to shoot some getting ready pictures as well as some bridal portraits with your bridesmaids and parents prior to leaving the house or the hotel.  As far as timing is concerned, it works best if you are done with hair and makeup, and ready to put on your dress as I am arriving.  This lets me get pictures of your dress hanging up, and detail shots of all the accessories.  If you are having a lace-up back, there are some nice pictures that we can make as your Mum or your bridesmaids are doing the final adjustments on your dress.  In order for this to work, your bridesmaids need to be ready to go at this time. T hey need to be available for you when you need them, and not fussing about their own preparations.

I have been to one wedding where they had "bridesmaid's maids" - a couple of helpers who could do all the running around and helping without actually being in the wedding party.  It was a great success and I fully recommend the idea.

I generally will leave the Bride around 15 mins ahead of her departure so that I can get some pictures of the groom and his men at the venue.  At this stage the guys are generally a bit stiff and nervous, but it is still nice to get the pictures, and often , it helps to take their mind off the wait.  I like to make a point of being at the venue at the time the wedding is meant to start, otherwise the priest always blames the photographer for the bride being late!  It makes it hard to do that if I am standing on the steps with him waiting for the bride to arrive!

Most wedding ceremonies will take around half an hour, unless you are having a full nuptual mass, but it is important to allow time either side of the ceremony for things to happen.  The bride is traditionally a couple of minutes late, and by the time you get out of the car, get your dress, flowers and bridesmaids sorted and come down the aisle, another 5 or 10 minutes can pass. After the ceremony is the same, by the time everyone has hugged and kissed you and thrown stuff at you, the rest of that hour is generally used up.  As this is a great time for capturing genuine candid moments, I really prefer not to try and orchestrate any set photographs at this stage.  Instead, I like to go hunting for candid moments, of which there are normally lots.

If you say to your bridal party "get in the car, we are leaving to have photographs taken", you will be doing very well if you can get everyone into the cars and be driving out of the gate within 5 mins.  With this in mind, getting a bridal party in and out of a car 3 times will take half an hour! and it is often in these little connector bits that people's time planning of the day falls down.  Everyone will tell you that your wedding day zooms past so quickly anyway, so if you haven't allowed for these connector bits, you will feel like you are running all day - Not the way it should be! You should feel like you have time, and that you actually have the time to experience, and saviour  each part of the day as it unfolds

Once you feel like you have spoken to all the people you want to after the ceremony, we can head off for the photography session.  I believe that this is a great time for you to relax for a moment, with the people you have chosen to support you.  It is also  the first chance that you will get to talk to each other, and it is a nice time to shed some of the anxiety and nerves that have been building over the last few days.  If you get the bridesmaids to organise a little picnic, with some drinks and nibbles, it makes this part of the day quite relaxing. We will take some pictures and have some fun, and prepare for the next phase of the day at the reception.

We have all been to weddings where the bride and groom disappear for 2 or 3 hours to have their photographs taken, and I don't think that is polite or necessary.  Generally I suggest allocating about an hour and fifteen minutes for the photography/picnic, and when we get back to the reception, we can do all the family group shots as well as a big group shot of everyone that attended, if that is what you would like to do.

Every photographer that you will talk to will do things slightly differently and will offer different things with their packages and coverages, and there is no set way of working out which is better.  However there are a few things that you can look for that may help:

Do you like the photography? at the most basic level, you have to like the work that your photographer does.
Do you like the feeling of the images, and can you see your wedding images done in this style?

Have you been able to establish a good report with the photographer, after all they will be with you  for just about every moment of your day, so you need to feel at ease with them as a person.

Are they a member of an industry body such as the Australian Institute of Professional Photography (AIPP)?

Do they offer the right products for you? are the albums to your liking?

Do you feel like you can trust the photographer to come up with the goods on the day? Will they add to the enjoyment of the day, or will they create more problems than they solve?

Finally, are you comfortable with what it is going to cost you and have you identified how you are going to pay for all the photographic products that you would like to have? Do they offer payment plans or some other form of finance?

There are so many variables, but remember that there is no going back to get good photographs if the first ones are no good!  In 20 or 30 years time, the images that we make should be able to transport you back to your wedding day.  Long after you have paid for them, they will still be growing in value and importance to you and your family. Your children will show these images to your grandchildren so that they know who they are and where they have come from, and the images will form part of the rich tapestry that makes up your family's history.

They say that it is good luck if it rains on your wedding day!  Somehow I think that sounds a bit like a consolation prize!  However, rain normally comes with clouds, and clouds are a wedding photographers best friend! They produce soft even lighting that makes photographing a white dress and a black suit together quite pleasant. In bright sunshine, the contrast range makes this rather difficult. Clouds also add great texture and drama to the sky, and can really help to make wonderful wedding pictures, so don't despair about the weather, just make sure you have an umbrella and your gumboots!

If you are having an outdoors wedding, a wet weather plan is a good idea.   It may be as simple as having umbrellas for everyone - watch for  sponsor logos on the umbrellas as they generally don't look that great in your pictures.

It is important to relax and enjoy your day regardless of the weather - some of the nicest wedding images I have ever made have been on wet rainy days but if you look upset, it will show in your pictures.