After the hundreds of hours spent planning and preparing for your wedding, the actual day itself will likely go by in a total whirlwind. Once the wedding rituals are done, you'll be swept away celebrating with friends and family, making speeches, cake cutting, and dancing like there's no tomorrow!


With all the big day's excitement, it's hard to find a spare five minutes to stop and soak up every little detail. This is why your wedding photos are so important. While the day might fly by quickly, your photos are going to be the lasting memories of a fantastic day that you'll treasure forever.


With this in mind, we understand choosing your wedding photographer is kind of a big deal. With hundreds of wedding photographers to choose from, you found Vows by Siddhu Soma, whose style will capture your big day exactly as you'd hoped. 


We definitely keep in mind that you and your partner will connect with and feel totally comfortable with us around! Making sure you have us as your wedding photographer to capture every carefully planned detail and intimate moment is one of the best investments you'll make.


Clicking a lovely couple whom we're super comfortable and vibing with is an excellent time investment for us as well! Every time we meet a couple for a conversation about their wedding photoshoot, we inevitably offer some suggestions that they could make during their preparations to help us do our job more effectively. 


We have accumulated a wealth of experience over the years and enjoy sharing it with the couples that make time to discover my unique style of our professional candid wedding photography. 


We realized that we're often repeating the same wedding photography tips and expectations from meeting to meeting and decided to formalize the suggestions in one central repository for easy reference and sharing. 

If this is starting to sound like an overwhelming task, don't stress. We've compiled things we, as wedding photographers, wished you knew!

1. WE LISTEN TO YOU, YOU LISTEN TO US


  • At the end of the day, the best way to get clicked by us is just, to be honest! Let us know what you're expecting, what you might be nervous about, what you like, and what you don't like. 
  •  At Vows by Siddhu Soma, we will be able to answer all of your questions, make recommendations, and help you feel at ease and totally relaxed when it comes to the big day. Take time to consult with us about the practical timing for your day and listen to our advice as well! 
  • When you meet with our wedding photography team for the first time, it's a good idea to ask some essential questions upfront so that you have a clear understanding of how we work and the expectations of both parties.
  • We start working with couples months before their wedding date to ensure that no element is rushed and stressed. As we have attended and documented many weddings, we will also be able to guide you on timings and, just as importantly, the timing for beautiful light.
At Vows by Siddhu Soma, we will be able to answer all of your questions, make recommendations, and help you feel at ease and totally relaxed when it comes to the big day.

2. BUILD A RELATIONSHIP OF TRUST WITH US


  • This is the one that's so important and takes some investment for sure. Even for outgoing extroverts, there is an extra vulnerability involved with the intimate nature of wedding photos. The more you trust us, the better your pictures will be!
  • It takes time to warm up to having us present, but you can hit the ground running by already feeling super comfortable with us!
  • A relationship is built with time and shared experience. We try to meet all of our clients before they even onboard with us. We'll have a casual chat and get to know each other as we believe communication builds trust, which is the key ingredient to any relationship, and this is true for the relationship you have with us at Vows. 
  • There's a reason you chose us to capture the most important day of your life. While you may have a vision of how you want some of your images to turn out, you will have to put a lot of trust in us for the most part.
  • Trusting our photography team a little more in these main areas will not only result in better images for you to remember your big day by but will relieve you of some stress as well!
We'll have a casual chat and get to know each other as we believe communication builds trust, which is the key ingredient to any relationship, and this is true for the relationship you have with us at Vows. 

3. BE AS CAMERA UNAWARE AS POSSIBLE AND SMILE!


  • We clearly know this is probably the most difficult one! It's effortless to say, 'just forget there's a camera there,' but the reality hits differently.
  • We are all conditioned to stop what we're doing and force a smile on the camera. We can't help but be aware when one is pointed at us. That might bring out nerves, awkwardness, your 'pose-y' face, the fake smile, or even the rabbit-in-the-headlights effect.
  • As hard as it is in practice, we would advise couples to try to forget they're being photographed. Let the photographer melt into the background and just ignore them. It'll be tricky at first but gets easier as the day progresses. It gets even more manageable as the booze starts to flow!
  • If we need to ask you to do something or move into the light, we will. If we're not saying anything, trust that you're doing an excellent job, and we would rather not disturb the moment.
  • Ultimately what's going to make for great candid wedding photography is lots of smiles, laughs, and even tears. Emotion is good! Our wedding photographers' most significant challenge is couples and their guests who remain poker-faced and do not show emotion on their faces.
  • Even if you're not the most expressive person in your day-to-day life, try to truly savor and enjoy the little things. Give in to those smiles and laughs!
If we need to ask you to do something or move into the light, we will. If we're not saying anything, trust that you're doing an excellent job, and we would rather not disturb the moment.

4. GET REAL WITH US!


  • Relishing your wedding day is so important. Couples are often surprised at how fast it all goes by in a flurry of emotion and fleeting moments.
  • Know that things will still go off the rails to whatever degree with all the timelines in the world. The trick is to roll with it and make sure you're as prepared as you can be.
  • Keep in mind that your wedding photographer will be present for some pretty intimate moments or bridal photoshoots, so it goes without saying that you want to feel relaxed and comfortable. If you feel awkward or uncomfortable around your photographer, this will definitely come across in your photos. The last thing you want is to be putting out fires, so delegate and relax.
Great photos can come from anywhere! All it takes is a skilled wedding photographer who's looking to capture natural, real family moments of this beautiful day.

5. WE DO DESERVE TO BE RESPECTED WELL


  • While we're flexible with our client's expectations, we expect our clients to respect our methods, processes, and expectations. 
  • Managing teams, running an entire day without even taking a rest, putting a lot of brains and efforts to capture the moment perfectly, as wedding photographers, we deserve more than just the money. 
  • What we deserve is respect and appreciation for the art we create out of your big day.

6. THERE IS NO MAGIC FILTER OR A BUTTON TO GET IMAGES DELIVERED


  • We genuinely wish clients understood what all goes into getting their images to them.
  • Whether it's something simple like removing a spot created from a piece of dust on the camera sensor, or something more extensive like removing a person walking on the beach in the distance of your beautiful family portrait, we tend to be somewhat perfectionist creators. 
  • We don't want you to see it until it's perfect, but that work is not something we can automate and must be done by hand, with love and care, which sometimes takes time.

7. EPICLY UNSCRIPTED AND CREATIVE SHOTS ARE HIGHLY IMPOSSIBLE IN FIVE MINUTES


  • Photographers totally get it that you want to maximize that time together and squeeze as much in as possible. That's not to say that we can't do good work in a limited time.
  • We have been doing this a while, can nail solid shots in very little time because we've done it a thousand times before. But that's just it's going to be something that we've done a thousand times before.
  • If you want variety, if you want images that look unposed and unscripted, if you wish to be wild and creative, you have to give us time to play and experiment and move around and change lenses and move the light. Ask for different things for you, and then have time to make adjustments and try again.

8. DON'T LEAVE US HANGING IF YOU BOOK SOMEWHERE ELSE. JUST TAKE SOME TIME TO TELL US


  • Photographers (and all wedding vendors, for that matter) fully realize that part of the process is spending the time to email back and forth, have phone calls or meetings, and get to know your options before making a decision. We do expect you to talk to more than one person. We are under no egotistical guise that we are the one and only photographer you're looking at. 
  • So it's totally cool if we aren't your first pick, but we would instead get some feedback - even if it's negative - than to feel like we are bothering you by following up.
  • Do us the courtesy of responding to our follow-up and just let us know if you're still in the running or not.

9. WE CRAVE YOUR FEEDBACK AS IT MATTERS TO US!


  • Months of chatting with you about your day, coffee dates, going over timelines, shooting your looks, spending time with you on your wedding day, pouring into your images for weeks, and sending them off. We're always waiting on pins and needles to hear what you think about our brand!
  • So much of our team goes into the final delivery of your images, and we just cannot wait to hear what you think! You being overjoyed with your pictures is just as important to you as it is to us, and our hearts are always so full when we get excited texts or calls from our couples!

SUMMING-UP

Well, that is not it! All we want from you is to open up your expectations and respect ours! Let's discuss the rest of our date to plan your wedding!


We certainly enjoyed putting out this information, compiling our inputs from what we expect, and adding some context so you can hopefully get a little insight into what makes your relationship with us easier!


Choosing your wedding photographer isn't a task to be taken lightly, but you've found a photographer that is not only talented but someone you can really connect with.


Remember to take a little bit of time to figure out your requirements first and research more. You'll surely thank us later when you receive those beautiful images to treasure forever!