Back in April, Kandi Daniel invited me out to speak at her workshop series, Simply Create. These workshops are instruction based and focus on the details of the wedding day. As a wedding designer, I was thrilled to put together a short presentation and chat about what role we as designers play leading up to and on a wedding day, as well as the relationship between planner/designer and photographer. Hint: It's an important one!
For the purpose of this post, I want to focus on the importance of the planner/photographer relationship.
As a photographer, whether you’re working with a planner that has done Full Service planning & design or even just a Coordinator, we are there to work WITH you on a wedding day. Even a day of coordinator has to do their due diligence to get to know all the pieces of a wedding that the bride and groom have planned over the previous months to adequately build out a timeline, familiarize themselves with vendor commitments, ensure proper placement of décor pieces and personal items, the list really goes on to ensure a seamless event.
We as planners get to know over our communications with our clients not only how the bride and groom want their event to look but how they want it to make people feel. Things like song selections, floral installations and lighting can all elicit different feelings. The design of a wedding can be a very personal journey for a couple and the details often help tell a story. Together we can ensure that their story is properly portrayed...and then captured!
We see all too often sentimental items as brides something borrowed, a necklace passed down by a grandmother, or a photo of a deceased friend attached to the bouquet. Just as the songs that a bride and groom choose for their first dance, the story of their relationship is often in the details.
I had the grandmother of one of my brides hand me an envelope the morning of the wedding. Inside was a piece of paper and a handkerchief. As I took it from her, she explained to me that it was from the mid 1800’s and generations of women in their family had carried it on their wedding day. Just, WOW! That is certainly an important message to pass along to the photographer so that story can be documented.
If you are a photographer reading this, I encourage you to get to know the planners that you’ll be working with, they’ll be able to help you determine what details apart from the obvious rings, invitation suite and shoes are important to the bride and groom. Use us as a resource. And for the Designers + Planners, a photographer not only helps capture the beautiful details you helped to plan and bring together but freezes the memories of that day in time. Their job is incredibly important. Let's help them :)
All photos taken by Christa O'Brien Photography
