You may, as a bride or groom, be thinking why do I need to know about wedding photoshoots, but trust me you do!
We can all get sucked into the amazing realm of Pinterest for wedding inspiration and don't get me wrong, that's one thing I LOVE to do but it can be misleading for couples. You may not even realise it's a photoshoot so let me tell you how to spot them so that you aren't mislead and then feel disappointed.
Don't get me wrong, I love wedding photoshoots they are great for building your wedding brand, building your creative portfolio within the wedding industry and showing off new trends for the year as well as building supplier relationships BUT for a couple you need to understand what you are looking at and the realities behind it.
Wedding photoshoots are for suppliers to showcase what they can do! They are to attract their ideal client and they are to flex their creative muscles. What you don't want to be doing is getting confused and thinking all of that is doable for an actual wedding. So let's talk about why it might not be doable.
BUDGET
A lot of it always comes down to budget.
When you are looking at a wedding photoshoot you will be seeing the best of the best, the creme de la creme of everything and you'll love it, you'll be drawn to it and you'll want to try and replicate that but sadly, that might not reflect your budget. You're not going to know how much that shoot cost in reality but the likelihood is that it's going to be at the higher end especially if it's adorned in flowers or using high quality tableware for example.
So when you are approaching suppliers, you need to be open and honest and be ready for their feedback as they may say that's not going to be doable with your given budget. However, a good supplier should be able to offer ideas on how to adapt that style or design to fit within your budget.
So be realistic with what you can get for your wedding budget and remember the beauty that is a wedding photoshoot is NOT a real wedding and therefore does not come cheap. But it's also not stopping you from picking elements from it and being inspired by it.
PRACTICALITY
Usually wedding photoshoots are not practical for an actual wedding.
This is where I feel wedding photoshoots can become a little bit misleading, you may be looking at an image saying 'yes! that's what I want to do' however, it's not actually doable for a real wedding. You might not realise that if you don't have a planner on board to advise you or honest suppliers.
Photoshoots are there to create GOOD photos and push creative boundaries which does not necessarily mean it works for a real wedding. These designs could block sound during the ceremony, or block sight lines during dinner or hinder the flow of wedding guests movements so just think about the practicality of them in a real situation.
For example, you might see a tablescape with lots of amazing but tall flowers and candles in the centre of the table but actually these are very impractical for the big day as when your guest sit down for dinner they can't see or speak to the people opposite them! This is where they are misleading so please just think how realistic these designs are for your wedding day.
AVAILABILITY
Not all props & styling elements used are available for wedding hire.
When you're looking at photoshoots I also want you to bear in mind that some of the props, styling elements and tableware might not always be available to hire for your wedding.
The stylist may have bought the items rather than hired them or even shipped them from different countries especially for the shoot so, don't get your heart set on having the exact same details, have an open mind to look at similar details that are again within your budget, close to you location wise or available to hire with your selected suppliers.
HOW TO SPOT THE DIFFERENCE
How can you spot the difference between a wedding photoshoot and a real wedding?
It's a tough one, I'm not going to lie, it's tricky!
It's difficult to tell the difference but in wedding photoshoots everything will be perfect, the flowers will look perfect, the table will be perfect and extremely high end and the couple will look perfect and be perfectly posed as they will most likely be models.
Otherwise, the other clue is that it will just have everything thrown at it and it will be beautiful! Not saying that a real wedding won't look just as beautiful but unless you have an endless budget then it's unrealistic to look like that.
So I hope that's helped! When it comes to wedding photoshoots, just remember they are used as marketing tools for the suppliers involved and should be inspirational for couples, unless you have an endless wedding budget!
If you need help and advice on designing your wedding then please get in touch other check out my design book template here.
Happy planning
Lauren xx
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Photos by: 1 & 4. Sophie Duckworth Photography, 2 & 3. Mindy Coe Photography
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