Pre Wedding Shoot

Pre-Wedding Shoot: The Real Secret to Being Relaxed In Front of The Camera On Your Wedding Day!

It’s your wedding day! It’s time for your wedding photography and you’re asked to stand here, stand there, twist, tilt your head this way, now that way, lift your chin, drop your chin, smile, don’t smile, look sexy ……

When you first booked your wedding photographer he/she assured you that they know what they’re doing – they’ve photographed hundreds of weddings and know exactly how to pose people. They have THEIR ideas of what pictures to take and they’ve been to your wedding venues before.

Great! That’s all well and good for them to say, BUT like most people in this country your wedding day is likely to be the first (and possibly the last) time you’ll be photographed by a Professional Photographer. And unless you’re a model YOU don’t know how to stand, where to put your hands … “tilt your head”? Great. Erm …how much?

From experience we can tell you that when you ask someone to turn their head slightly to the side, in general you get a massive move and the shoulders tend to go with it!

Then there are those special shots. The tog asks you to climb on the bed, or the wall, or lie on the floor. All a bit of a surprise … and to find out on your wedding day that you’re not actually very comfortable doing that …

As any good wedding photographer will tell you, great wedding photography doesn’t just happen. Great wedding photography is as much reliant on the subjects as the photographer and requires effort, input, trust and inspiration (and sometimes perspiration) from BOTH SIDES of the lens!
Which ever wedding photographers you choose you must be 110% comfortable with them. If you don’t get along, it doesn’t matter how much you love their work – don’t book them! Why? Because it will show in your photos!

So, what is the solution?


A Pre-Wedding Shoot
At Campbell Photographic we include a free Pre-Wedding Shoot for all our couples. A pre-wedding shoot is a photo shoot that happens before your wedding day and it’s just with you (the Bride and Groom). It’s just like a portrait session, except instead of being done in a studio, it’s done at your chosen wedding venues and they usually last a couple of hours.


Why Have a Pre-Wedding Shoot?
A pre-wedding shoot is a great opportunity for you and us to look around your wedding venues together, to discuss ideas for shots on wedding day and to generally catch up with you. Perhaps you’ve seen some pictures in your favourite wedding magazine and would like us to try and recreate them. Maybe some detail of the wedding day has changed, like some of the timings, etc.
It’s your chance to confirm details with us or to ask us any questions you’ve thought of since our initial meeting.

But most of all, it’s your chance to get in front of the lens and get used to being directed/posed by me and Samantha. To see how we work and to understand what we mean when we say “be 10% more sexy”!

It will give us the chance to see what your comfortable doing in front of the camera and how you move/hold yourselves. This is very useful as it will give us an idea of how best to pose you, what you will be willing to do on your wedding day and how far you’re willing to push the limits to get that outstanding photo.

It’s also a chance for you to practice those shots, like dips, which everyone THINKS they can do, only to discover how bad they look when it’s done wrong and how heavy your partner actually is when you’re only using one arm to support them!

It’s also a great time to discover how comfortable and relaxed you’ll be with us!

You’ll know how relaxed and how much fun we are from your initial meeting. But this will be your opportunity to see how we manage to work professionally, yet keep the atmosphere relaxed, fun and friendly.
We meet so many couples where one or both of them say they’re so nervous about having their picture taken, or don’t like the way they look in pictures.
Well the pre-wedding shoot will help you to lose the insecurities and nervousness of being in front of the camera and help you to be a bit more confident and relaxed on your actual wedding day.

By the end of every pre-wedding shoot each one of our couples are laughing and smiling and offering up their own ideas and poses for shots!

We have received nothing but positive feedback from all our clients about their pre-wedding shoot. They have all thanked us, said how much fun they had and, most importantly, have said that having the pre-wedding shoot has put them at their ease and boosted their confidence about being photographed by us on their wedding day.

For us the biggest complement is that they have also all said that it re-confirmed to them that choosing Campbell Photographic to photograph their wedding day was definitely the right choice.

A pre-wedding shoot is the perfect opportunity to discover all these things. PLUS you get some great portrait shots out of it!


How Much Will It Cost?
At Campbell Photographic we’re truly proud of the relationships we build with our clients – many of whom have become true friends. We understand the importance of building a trust between us and making sure we’re all relaxed with each other. Therefore we now include a pre-wedding shoot with every package for FREE.

Yes, for FREE! That’s how important we think they are. They’re just as important to us as they are to you and it really is a must for any professional photographer.

You WILL benefit from the experience.


What Do I Get?
At Campbell Photographic not only is the pre-wedding shoot free, but you also get an A3, framed copy of your favourite picture no extra cost – this is our gift to you!
PLUS, all the pictures from the shoot will be included on your e-shop, so friends and family can purchase their favourite prints as well.

The only problem you’ll have is choosing which one of all your great shots to have in your free frame!


Here is a small selection of photos from some recent pre-wedding shoots. To see more of our work visit one of our galleries at:-

Campbell Photographic
Facebook
Flickr

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Choosing your Wedding Dress

Now I'm no expert in this department, but I do have some simple advice on the subject of choosing your Wedding Dress.

I still remember shopping for my wedding dress. The first thing the assistant did was to try and sell me the most expensive one in the shop and a cut that was totally unsuitable for someone with my figure. I have a small frame and I'm only 5ft 3ins, so something with loads of layers and flared out would not have been suitable for me. I would've been lost in a dress like that!

Instead I went for something very simple and elegant (I think it was an empire line cut). It had little spaghetti straps and was ruffled on the bust, which is apparently good for ladies like me that are smaller in that area :-) (apparently it makes your bust seem bigger somehow).

However, I still stuffed some "chicken fillets" down my bra - just to give me a little enhancement (if you know what I mean :-)).

You can buy all sorts of clever things to go into your bra. One of the best places I found is La Senza and while you're there you can look at some underwear for your wedding day and your honeymoon (wink, wink!).

(Me on my wedding day)

Here's a few nice examples of dresses:-

Basically, what I am trying to say is think about what sort of figure you have and be honest with yourself. We all have dreams of that beautiful princess wedding dress, but very few can really pull it off. Don't just pick a beautiful dress, pick the dress that makes YOU look beautiful.

Size & Shape

Make sure you think about your height, your weight, your shape, if you're a fuller busted lady or smaller busted lady or somewhere in between. You might be thin, but do you have the hips to carry off the clingy, slinky dress, or are you straight up and down? Broad sholders? Short legs/long body?

All these things will affect the type and style of dress that will suit you and show your figure off the best way.

Whatever you choose, it should show off your figure! Whether you're petite, curvy or a lady with a fuller figure, don't be scared to show of your figure. I have been to so many weddings where the bride has chosen a dress that is totally wrong for her figure (many end up looking like their cake!).

Remember at the end of the day you want people to notice you and remember how good you looked in that dress, not how much the dress looked like your wedding cake or remember the dress and forget who was in it because you were swamped by it!

Add a Splash of Colour

Who says your dress has to be white? You can choose white with some red (which I always like). I've seen a silver wedding dress with some purple (see above)! You could always go with your favourite colour. I went for ivory but looking back now I would've liked something in red. But red is a very bold colour and is very, very difficult to pull off (it usually works well with pale skin and dark hair). When picking the colour remember you don't want a colour that does not suit your completion.

You and your dress should set the the colours and theme for the whole wedding, not the other way round. We've seen so many brides in the wrong dress because they decided on the colour scheme for the wedding first and ended up in a dress that didn't suit them or was totally the wrong colour for them.

Don't forget your shoes! These should either match or compliment your dress and be comfortable for you to be wearing all day. Or have two sets of shoes. one for getting married, photos, etc, and then slip into a comfortable pair for spending the rest of the day/dancing in.

I went for a wide sling back with a block heal simply because I usually don't wear high heels and they were more than comfortable for me all day. Some bridal shops even do boots, which is different.

Advice, Advice and more Advice

There is plenty of advice about on so many parts of your day in wedding magazines and online. The advice they give is usually really good and the magazines will usually have an article on specific issues each month. Most magazines will show the different styles and types of dresses, shoes, cakes, cars, etc.

But be aware that all their advice will be geared around whatever the latest fashion or craze is, or steered towards whatever the latest celeb has worn at their wedding, etc.

My best ever peice of advice is - Do what YOU want to do, not what some magazine SAYS you should do and make sure you enjoy yourselves no matter what!

Magazines look at:

Wedding Ideas

Bride & Groom

You and Your Wedding

Brides Magazine

Wedding Magazine

Places to buy Bridal Wear:

Dynasty

Debenhams

BHS

Pronuptia

Littlewoods

Precious Moments

Brideswear Revisted

Matchmaker Bride

Nualas

Jane Jansen