I got to shoot with Rachel when she was visiting from Grand Rapids, Michigan. She was a lot of fun to shoot with for this session. Thanks Rachel and good luck in your senior year!!

See more work from Wise Photography here.

Follow me on Twitter.  You can also add me as a friend on Facebook or join the Wise Photography Facebook Page.

I wasn’t sure about writing this, but a friend of mine brought up a really good point to me about the items that I am about to discuss. I have shared different stories and situations that have happened over the last few years with him during the wedding day and he simply put it this way for me…

“You need to tell them. They are doing what they do because nobody has told them differently.”

So my intent on writing this is not to discourage, poke fun, or to be a critic.  I am just giving these as the view that I have as the photographer for your wedding day.  In my position I pretty much see everthing that goes on behind the scenes from the start to the finish.  So my hope is that this information can help some of the other wedding vendors see things from my perspective.  I would welcome this information from other wedding vendors as far as what I do to help make their job easier as well.  I had a comment from a friend who owns a facility and she wanted to know why photographers always want to stand on her chairs.  This is probably something that the photographers who have done this don’t even think about the liability and the danger involved.  So I know there are lots of things like this that are on both sides of the coin.  So feel free to add your comments in the section below to help everybody do the best job possible for their bride and grooms.  So now on with the list…

DJ’s

• Please do not suggest that anyone who brought a camera to go over by the cake when the bride and groom are getting ready to cut it so “that you can get a picture.”  This is already enough of a problem without your “help” in this situation.  I don’t mind when people take pictures at weddings, but honestly what has anyone ever done with a picture of a bride and groom cutting the cake and feeding it to each other?  I often wonder when I see people taking tons of pictures at weddings what they are going to ever do with those…Remember that I am “working” for the bride and groom, so the more difficult it is to get the best pictures for them because of your flash or because you happen to stand right next to them during the entire day makes this sometimes near impossible. *This also applies to people stepping into the aisle at the church as the bride is walking in to the ceremony.  Let me know if you need to see some examples.

Videographers

• Please do not set your tripod up in the center aisle of the church unless you are in the back.  I am pretty sure that the bride would like to have at least a few wide angle shots of their ceremony without your camera and body in the shot.
• Flood lights…the idea of there being a spotlight on the couple the entire time that they are dancing makes their pictures look like a deer in headlights.  There is also the idea of accent lights and mood lighting.  I had a videographer who had two lights on almost the entire reception.  I felt bad for the bride and groom because they really felt stuck in the middle of a rock and a hard place.  No lights…crappy video.  Big, huge flood lights…good video…kind of ruins the atmosphere in a way.  This might be something that you would want to discuss with the bride and groom before you have two flood lights that you purchased at Home Depot to shine on them the entire reception.  It is also a very hard to take pictures when you stand within three feet of the bride and groom at all times during the reception.
• Filming within 2-3 feet of the bride and groom.  I am always blown away by this.  I am pretty sure that they make zoom lenses for video cameras.  That is why I can shoot from the back of the church and not be in front of the guests or your video during the ceremony.  This is where being a team (photographer and videographer together on the same page) will create the best product for the bride and groom.  In my mind neither one is more important.  I have seen this in a lot of ways and I am sure that there are photographers who think that they are the most important thing on the day.  But please realize that without all the other vendors your photography is going to look like crap.  Think about it…

Reception Facilities/Banquet Halls

• Is it possible to make sure that their is a plate next to the cake, so that when they are getting ready to cut the cake they can put it on the plate.  This one has been a puzzle to me.  I don’t mind helping the bride and groom out at all on what to do, but without the plate up there it kind of ruins the moment to have to stop and go get a plate for them.  This also cost me a busted Pocketwizard one time.  Long story.

Guests with cameras

• If you want to take pictures that is fine, but do it from your seat.  Or better yet take pictures of the other 1,000 things going on during the wedding day.  I think I could bring 4 shooters with me on a wedding day and each of us could shoot something different at any given moment of the day.  This goes back to the DJ who tells everybody to grab your cameras and go take pictures while they are cutting the cake.  99% of the time most people don’t realize that they are even a problem for photographers, but the reality is that the bride and groom have hired the professional photographer to get the best shots from their day.  This means that if you are in the way of the photographer or if you are walking around in the background that this creates a distraction in the shot.  I have had times where guests have even been walking around during the ceremony taking shots.  There were shots that I could not take because this person was standing a couple of feet from the bride and her father before they were walking down the aisle.  It is also a problem when taking formal shots if you are trying to shoot “over the shoulder” of the professional photographer.  This leads to eyes going to your camera instead of the professional photographer’s shot.  This is why I usually shoot 3-4 shots without this happening.  I shoot about 5-7 shots when somebody won’t leave the area with their camera.  I always wonder about the respect issue at hand with this.  I had a groom one time who actually told his family members to put up their cameras while we were shooting the formals because they were within a couple of feet of where I was working.  I almost stepped back on one person, and then I had to tell the people in the picture to make sure that they were looking at me instead of the other cameras.  I appreciated that so much that he understood that we only had a certain amount of time to get the shots that we wanted, so as a result this was causing this to take a lot longer because of the guests trying to sneak a few shots in during this time.  There is also the issue of shooting with natural light.  The flash from a guest’s camera can blast a moment into pure white in certain circumstances.  It is sometimes a running joke with photographers that we have folders that we throw all of our “Uncle Bob” shots into to just try to humor ourselves with this.  I think my folder is up to about 300 shots that have been ruined over the last few years from guests with cameras.

Wedding vendors in general…

• Drinking alcohol…I think this is very unprofessional and should never happen during the reception from the vendors.  We are there to work.  If you are friends with the couple (and I don’t mean just because you are working their wedding, by this I mean someone that you used to hang out with) and want to have a beer with them after you have put your cameras up or are finished with your duties that is a whole different ballgame, but even this is a tough call sometimes.  Remember…”professional” is the key word.  Wedding vendors with beers/drinks in their hands throws this right out the window.  I will never refer someone that I have seen in this situation.

I hope that this has shed some light on some things that I have been thinking about here and there.  I am not saying I am perfect by any means, so my goal is that if I can share this information and give someone some insight into what others see that this could help.  Please feel free to share any kind of feedback with this.  I welcome your thoughts either from a photographer or another wedding area.

Kokomo, Indiana – Tim and Courtney had an outdoor wedding planned at Celebrations with their reception following. Unfortunately their plans changed a little bit when the rain came in within a few minutes of their ceremony. That didn’t change the spirit of their day with everyone having a great time. The DJ for the evening was Jeff Hodson from X-Sight Music, so of course the dance floor was packed.  Thanks to Roseann for all her help at Celebrations!

Thanks Tim and Courtney for a wonderful wedding day!

See more work from Wise Photography here.

Follow me on Twitter.  You can also add me as a friend on Facebook or join the Wise Photography Facebook Page.

The fact that I have had a lot of people asking me for feedback after to posting a picture of my new Vibram Five Finger KSO shoes the other day on Facebook I have decided to give a detailed review for a few different topics with these “shoes.”  These have created quite a stir in both the running world as well as other sports such as water sports, yoga, fitness, and I have even talked with some guys who are using them for weight lifting. So here is my take on this shoe and what I have found out so far…

The first thing that I noticed was that when I slid my foot in that it felt like a glove.  There were “fingers” for my toes.  This was by far the weirdest sensation that I have had when it comes to footwear.  I first wore the KSO model for about four or five hours the first day that I got them.  It was really fun, and by fun I mean interesting to see what felt good in the shoes and what didn’t, and to see how different surfaces felt to walk on in these monstrosities.  The first test was a gravel driveway.  It has enough support that you can feel the rocks, but they don’t hurt.  I would not want to run on a gravel driveway to say the least, but to walk on one isn’t a big deal at all with the KSO.  The difference that I see is that when I am walking in regular shoes that I pretty much drag my feet and they smack the ground with reckless abandon.  In the Vibram’s I find myself walking lighter and feeling the ground.  (Laugh if you want, because I am sure my wife probably is right now if she is reading this.  She is a Physical Therapist, so she has been on the battleground with me about whether there are any benefits to these or other barefoot running shoes.)  But until you walk a mile (or run) in these shoes I really think you have to experience this for yourself.  The best word that can come up with for these is that they feel very natural…

I did not run in these for about a week.  I wanted to make sure that I had the right fit before going on a run.  My fear was that with the rubber and cloth in between my toes that the rubbing and motion could cause blisters.  So to my delight I didn’t have any type of friction at all.  I ran on a paved road for a while as well as a path in a park, so I did get a wide variety of running surfaces including sidewalks and grass.  I ran three miles in these and it was great.  I have used another pair of “barefoot” shoes, so I have had some experience in this, but these are above and beyond the other pair that I have tried.  There were a couple of times that I came down on a rock or crack that didn’t feel great, but it wasn’t painful or anything like that.  The Vibrams are not going to be my long distance shoes by any means, but I do like the way they change the way I run.  I put on my Asics Gel Kensei 3 and they felt like I was wearing a pair of combat boots after wearing these.  Yes the Asics have way more support and more cushion, but I am not so sure anymore that is such a good thing.  Let me just say that it is different.  It is comparing apples and oranges.  I am running another half marathon at the Indianapolis Monumental Marathon in November, so I am pretty certain that I won’t be wearing these, but at the same time I wouldn’t bat an eye to run a 5K or maybe even a 10K in a few weeks.  I think that in the future we will see more middle of the road models.  The reason that I don’t think I could run the 13.1 miles in these is that I don’t think I run enough.  I think if I trained more in these that over time that I could run one in the KSO, but for now I am just sticking to the short runs.

One part that I love about these shoes is that I have never ever in my life liked walking barefoot.  Call me a wimp or just anal, but I just hate the thought of stepping on a bee, glass, rocks, metal, nails, dog crap, bugs, whatever that might have been throw out a car window, etc.  I do love being barefoot at the beach, but other than that it is pretty much out.  So now I have the feel of being barefoot, but without the thought of all that.

Now I am not going to sugar coat this and say how they look like a million dollars.  In my mind these are not going to win you any friends for style.  But that just depends on what your logic is on that.  You will get all kinds of looks from people when they see these.  Every time I have them on I get at least four or five people ask either what they are or if I like them.  My wife is not sold on these and she keeps reminding me every time I wear them that she thinks they look ridiculous.  Cole (7) went from thinking they looked like frog shoes, to now he would probably wear a pair in a second.  Let’s just say that they grow on you…

My biggest recommendation is going to create a new Vibram Five Finger Bridal shoe.  This would of course be lined with a luxury liner of silk, sequins, and lace all around.  I think I am going to suggest to my next bride that instead of buying sandals or flipflops for all your bridesmaids for dancing at the reception that they get them all a pair of Vibrams.  :)  So if you are reading this Vibram and want my feedback in regards in how to start giving Jimmy Choo a run for their money just let me know.