The engagement ceremony is very important

Unlike domestic weddings, most Western-style weddings start with a formal engagement ceremony, whose scale is not even inferior to that of the wedding day. However, there are also small family engagement ceremonies. The main purpose is to officially announce the good news of marriage to relatives and friends, and at the same time, it also provides a good communication opportunity for both families. Often there will be a few weeks or months between engagement and wedding. During the engagement period, both parties will have more opportunities to get to know each other better as husband and wife, and at the same time, they will be more fully prepared for the wedding.

Engagement ceremonies are usually photographed by friends, and only a few newlyweds with a good financial situation will hire a professional photography team. There are also some couples who like to take outdoor photos on their engagement day, which are similar in nature to domestic wedding photos, but they don’t wear wedding dresses and are more like couple photos.

Determining the wedding date and wedding preparations

Deciding the wedding date

Traditional Western weddings tend to be held on weekends, especially Saturdays, because most of the guests who need to be entertained usually I went to work, and the wedding banquet ended late. However, in recent years, many wedding banquet hotels have launched special wedding banquet packages for Friday or even Thursday. Couples will also consider issues such as budget and banquet size and book wedding banquets for Thursday or Friday.

Choose the location of the wedding ceremony and wedding banquet

Due to religious beliefs, most Western-style wedding ceremonies are held in churches. Depending on the couple’s different beliefs, they will choose to hold them in different churches. Hold a ceremony. Generally, churches need to be booked several months in advance. If it is on a weekend, the couple's reservation needs to be specific to the time period, because there may be multiple couples getting married in the same church that day. Reservations for wedding banquets should be made in advance, especially if the wedding banquet venue has beautiful scenery and delicious food. Pre-ordering wedding banquet dishes is also very particular. Generally, a Western-style wedding banquet is divided into three courses - appetizer, main course and dessert, and each dish must provide at least two flavors for guests to choose from. Some wedding banquets will also hold a cocktail party as A part before the meal.

Book photography and videography services

After confirming the wedding date and location, book your favorite photographer and videographer as soon as possible. Due to the limited availability of famous photographers, many newcomers will even book photography and videography services as the first step. Some newcomers will book their favorite photographers one or two years in advance. About a month or two before the wedding, the couple will communicate face-to-face with their wedding photographer to determine the itinerary for the wedding day, their preferred photo style, and make some personalized requests.

Book a florist and cake maker

An exquisite and elegant wedding is absolutely indispensable for the florist’s careful arrangement. A good florist will use carefully selected flower materials and suitable The design of the couple’s personality injects soul into a wedding. There are also seasonal and matching limitations in the selection of flower materials, so it is particularly critical to communicate with the florist in advance to determine the style of the entire wedding. Cake chefs, like florists, also need to consider the theme and colors of the wedding. The two need to cooperate with each other to achieve a harmonious effect.

Choosing wedding dresses, gowns and wedding shoes

Wedding dresses, gowns and wedding shoes are often the parts that brides pay the most attention to. Today's Western-style weddings prefer close-fitting wedding dresses, especially fishtail and lace wedding dresses, which are very popular among women. Different from domestic weddings, brides do not change into dresses on the day of foreign weddings. Most of the dresses are prepared for the engagement party.

Bachelor party

The time of the bachelor party is relatively flexible and can usually be held after the engagement. The "Bachelor Party" for the groom and the "Hens Party" for the bride are great opportunities for good friends to celebrate the newlyweds. Most wild parties will be held in the bar in the evening, elegant parties will choose afternoon tea, and at cocktail parties, in addition to fine wine, girls often go to the SPA together. Bachelor parties are often crazy and private, so they generally don't like to hire photographers to take pictures. Most people just take photos with their mobile phones, without the need for formal photos.

The process and shooting of the wedding day

The shooting of a Western-style wedding day is mainly divided into four parts-the preparation stage of the groom and the bride (Getting Ready), the wedding ceremony (Ceremony), Location Photo and Reception on the wedding day.

Preparation

In the early morning of the wedding day, the bridegroom and bride will prepare for their big day in their respective residences, accompanied by their family members, groomsmen, and bridesmaids. Different from domestic weddings, in Western culture, it is considered unlucky for the groom to see the wedding dress before the ceremony, so the wedding does not include the wedding part.

The bride will start dressing with the help of her bridesmaids, relatives and friends. After everything is ready, before going out, she will say goodbye to her parents with the last name she used when she was a single woman. Because according to Western wedding traditions, most brides will take their husband's surname after getting married. Westerners are more emotional and like to express their emotions to their parents, relatives and friends. It is recommended that photographers mainly take snapshots, which can record the true state of the couple to the greatest extent. If time permits, the photographer can take some solo photos of the bride before she goes out to record the most beautiful moments of the woman.

The groom’s family will also arrange a morning photoshoot, which is basically the same as the photoshoot at the bride’s home. It mainly captures the interaction between the groom, the groomsmen, and parents. It is particularly important to capture the subtle personal emotions.

Wedding Ceremony

For photographers, special attention should be paid to respecting the beliefs of different religions. For example, many churches require photographers not to use flash or go up steps to take pictures. If they violate the rules, they will be considered disrespectful. In serious cases, they may even be kicked out of the ceremony. Photographers should learn to "stealth shooting" during such serious and solemn ceremonies, try to use a camera with a silent shutter, increase the ISO value, and use a telephoto lens to shoot.

During the ceremony, the bride entered the ceremony holding her father’s arm. This is the first time the groom sees the bride in her wedding dress, and he usually cannot control his emotions. The photographer should seize the opportunity to capture the most touching and sincere pictures. In addition to photographing the newlyweds during the wedding ceremony, the photographer should not miss photographing the emotional expressions of the parents, the relatives and friends watching the ceremony, and the lovely flower girls. Before the ceremony ended, the priest declared the couple officially married. According to tradition, the newlyweds should walk out of the church before the guests, and everyone will stand and applaud. Many cheerful and vivid pictures can also be captured at this time. The subsequent group photo is usually done on the steps at the door of the church, so that the picture will be more layered and everyone can be better presented. After a short rest, the guests will go to the place where the dinner will be held, and the couple and the groomsmen will follow the photographer to the outdoor shooting location.

The photography of the wedding ceremony often needs to be adjusted according to the specific requirements of the couple, but the most basic and core oaths, ring exchange, kiss and the final group photo are all indispensable.

Location shooting

Unlike Chinese weddings, all wedding photos for Western weddings must be completed on the wedding day, so couples generally choose to take location photos closer to the church or wedding venue. To save time on the road. It is not advisable to have too many people accompanying you during the photo shoot, usually only the groomsmen will accompany you. Because the shooting time is short, this requires the photographer to have good communication skills and solid capture skills. This stage of the shoot is where the wedding photographer can take the lead, and it’s also a good time to get creative. The shooting locations should be determined according to the requirements of the couple, usually 1-3, such as outside a church, a nearby park, in front of a distinctive building, or taking photos with the wedding car in an open space.

Wedding banquet

Usually the wedding banquet can be arranged at noon or in the evening, but the dinner party is more popular because everyone has enough time to celebrate the couple's marriage. Generally speaking, the wedding banquet of a Western-style wedding mainly consists of the following components.

The newlyweds enter the venue

During the wedding ceremony, the guests have witnessed the exchange of vows and rings and other sacred moments, so they entered into a warm celebration atmosphere from the moment they entered the wedding banquet. . Accompanied by cheerful and dynamic music, the groomsmen and bridesmaids entered the venue first. When the music and the atmosphere reached a climax, all the guests present stood up to welcome the protagonist of the wedding.

The entrance form of the dinner party is carefully designed by the bride, groomsmen and bridesmaids. People with different personalities and nationalities will choose very different entrance methods. The entrance of each newlywed couple will bring different surprises. Photographers should adjust camera parameters and be ready to capture wonderful moments at any time.

Congratulations

Congratulations are usually arranged after the main course. First, the parents of both parties express their best wishes to the newlyweds, and then the best man and bridesmaid representatives introduce the two to know each other and fall in love. The story ends with a touching message from the couple themselves. If the day's shooting is a two-camera shoot, then you need to stand separately during the couple's speech to record the different reactions on and off the stage, so as to capture the touching moment in the most accurate and quick way.

Cutting the wedding cake and toasting

After the toast, the couple will cut the first cut of the wedding cake together, which symbolizes the union of the two people and their dedication to each other forever. Then everyone will toast to the newlyweds and share the wedding cake.

The couple’s first dance

After the toast, the couple will dance their first dance with the blessings of all the guests. Some newlyweds will choose to dance the waltz, while others will carefully prepare their own unique opening dance according to personal preferences. Because the environment is dark, an assistant can hold an LED light (such as Icelight) for illumination when shooting, which can help the camera follow focus more quickly. Try not to use flash when shooting, and retain the true light atmosphere of the scene.

Dance

After the first dance, everyone will enter the dance floor together and start dancing. Different ethnic groups have different celebration customs. For example, at a Lebanese wedding, everyone will dance to the traditional Lebanese drums. Photographers can also be on the dance floor and take pictures while dancing. At this time, they rely more on the skills of blind shooting and snapshots.

Tossing the bridal bouquet and garter

At the end of the wedding, the bride will throw the bouquet representing the happiness of marriage to the single girls present, and the girls who receive the bouquet will be blessed. Get married soon. The same custom also applies to the single boys present, except that they are not grabbing the bride's bouquet, but the garter that the groom took from the bride's legs. When shooting the bouquet-throwing scene, the choice of angle is particularly critical. In addition, you should also pay attention to the setting of the shutter speed.