So, you are planning your wedding and just hired your photographers! Yay!
This is so exciting! But I also know how completely overwhelming it can be which is why I'm going to give you everything you need to know about your photographers and what to expect with us!
First and foremost, I know you chose us because you love our work and you feel like we're the right fit for you. Well, we hope those are the reasons you chose us. The most important part of your photographer is making sure that your personality fits with ours. Why is this important? Because we are going to be with you on one of the biggest and most important days of your lives and we want to be able to make you feel comfortable, smile, laugh, and not feel uncomfortable with being in front of the camera.
We’re not just here to take photos, we’re here to make your day easier. Expect a calm, confident presence who can guide you through moments, help keep things on time, and be a positive energy throughout the day.
A little bit about us:
Hi, I'm Erin Palos, the lead photographer and owner at Palos Studio. I am the one who you will be talking to 90% of the time, I'll be helping you with setting everything up for your wedding and engagement session, and I'll be editing all the images from every wedding. I'm also the main photographer on most weddings, but we also have two other amazing lead photographers here. Breanne has been with Palos Studio for over 10 years and is basically a clone of me in every way behind the lens but outside of the camera lens we are complete opposites as I am Blonde and short and she is red headed and tall. We are both outgoing, amazing photographers, we love our families, kids, and dogs (both husky moms) fiercely and love the outdoors. Most importantly, we love weddings, photography, and love capturing your love story. Our third main shooter is my husband, Louis who started our business 20 years ago, is incredibly smart, handsome, and is a wonderful photographer. He prefers staying behind the lens and loves photojournalistic shots. We also have many second shooters within our studio who are amazing and have all very similar style to our own and we have all been working together for so long that we can read each others minds perfectly.
Our shooting style is a mix between documentary and traditional. We love capturing real moments, the moments in between the big moments. Sometimes you might notice us being quiet behind the lens because we don't want to break the spell of a moment happening, and other times we will give you directions accompanied with a joke or something to inspire a laugh or smile. When it comes to your wedding day, we are commanding and confident when we need to be, especially during posed family photos. We also love to interact with people and get to know your family and guests, especially parents and grandparents.
Let's take a walk through the process of planning your wedding photography:
Once you're booked and your date is on the calendar we can schedule your Engagement Session if you have one booked. We love the engagement session because it gives you great photos to use for the wedding day, but also shows you our posing style, shooting style, and helps us all get to know each other better. We always recommend doing an Engagement Session. Click to learn more here about the Engagement Session.
After the Engagement Session we encourage you to give us feedback on what you like, and if there's any poses or anything you don't like. We want you to have the best angles and poses for the wedding day. We will also go over any poses or questions you have for the wedding day.
When you're setting up your timeline, we would love for you to consult us on how much time we need for photos and when certain events should take place around the photos. We encourage you to bring us into the timeline discussion as early as possible so that last minute changes aren't needed and the timing can all be scheduled early.
We will set up a time to chat about a month before the wedding day to discuss all the logistics and finalizing the shot list. We will need to know what time you want us to arrive, if and when you're doing a first look, any surprises you may have on the wedding day, who your other vendors are and if there's a videographer we love to speak to them before the wedding day to work out logistics, and all addresses needed for the wedding day such as getting ready locations and more.
What the wedding day process looks like:
You let us know what time you'd like us to arrive and where. Typically we would go to your getting ready location(s) for the last 30-60 minutes of the getting ready process. The photos taken during this time are your details such as dress, rings, invitations, shoes, and jewelry. We also take candid photos of getting ready, toasts, and some formal photos can be taken during this time as well if location and timing permits.
Once ready we would go straight into first look (if doing first look) or individual posed portraits with wedding party and family. If doing the first look we can take almost all wedding party and family photos, if not doing the first look we would keep the couple apart while taking each out individually for photos with family and wedding party. We will discuss how this portion will go ahead of the wedding day.
After pre-wedding portraits we will make sure that the couple is away from guests eyes about 60-45 minutes prior to ceremony. During the time between portraits and the ceremony we are capturing detail photos and candids of guest arrival.
Ceremony is all candid and we stay out of sight of guests and couple as much as possible throughout the ceremony while capturing all the angles of bride and groom. *Tips for best photos during ceremony is to ask guests to stay seated and put phones away, make the first kiss longer than 5 seconds, and practice a dip/kiss for a second "first kiss shot" at the end of the aisle during the recessional.
Post-Ceremony photos come directly after the ceremony. We would begin with finishing wedding party and family photos that were not taken pre-ceremony, then following with romantics throughout the venue. If having a church ceremony or a ceremony off-site from the reception venue, we can also add an additional location between if timing permits.
During the reception we will photograph all the formalities such as, first dance, toasts, parent dances, cake cutting, and more. We request a timeline from the DJ and/or coordinator to be sure that the timing fits well for you to have everything important captured. If the sun is setting during the reception we will check in to ask if you'd like sunset photos, or if there are any opportunities for night photos that you'd like such as twinkle lights or sparklers.
We always check in when our contracted time has ended to see if you would like to add any additional time or need any other photos taken. If we are contracted to the end of the event, we will stay throughout and capture the entire event along with any grand exit taking place.
After the Wedding:
We love to share a sneak peek on our Instagram and Facebook accounts. Please let us know your profile names so we can tag you in the photos. We also will send you sneak peeks to your email if requested in the days after your wedding.
Our turnaround time for your full gallery is 8-10 weeks after the wedding date. We will reach out via email with your gallery details for you to view and download your images.
If you'd like to order prints or albums we have everything available and will walk you through the album process. You will choose all the images you'd like for your album and we create a design for you to view and approve before the album goes to print. Having a physical album that you can look through every year and show to family and friends is such an important part of the process and we love doing the design process with you.