7 Wedding Photography Myths Debunked | Maine Wedding Photographers

There’s a lot of elements that come into play when you’re planning your big day. You’ve got to determine the feel, or vision, for your day, pick out your closest friends to be in the wedding party, determine your guest list, find and book all your vendors, all while keeping everything in budget.

One thing we hear a lot about is budget - and we’ve been there! As a married couple, we were once in your shoes and fully understand everything that goes into planning a wedding. Especially now that we’ve been on both sides of planning!

I know it might sound like we are tooting our own horns, but photography (and videography) are the memories you’re going to have to look back on from your day. Your cake will be delicious the day of but probably wicked freezer burnt on your 1 year anniversary. Your flowers, unless you opt to have them preserved will turn brown before you’re back from your honeymoon. Your attire will either be preserved or returned to the rental house - my dress has never seen the light of day since our wedding (and it certainly won’t be fitting anytime soon!).

You want to make sure you’re choosing the right person/team to capture your memories so you’ll be able to revisit your gorgeous flowers, tell people about that amazing cake you had, and most importantly, look back in the years to come and remember family that might not still be around.

7 Wedding Photography Myths Debunked

1) All You Need is a Good Camera

I wish that was the case! Even the most amazing camera in the hands of someone who doesn’t know how to work it might as well be one of those wind up disposable cameras that people used to put at reception tables.

Our gear consists of way more than just a “good camera”. When you hire both Dean and I to capture your day we are arriving with no less than 5 cameras, 10+ lenses, 10 flashes, 2 studio lights, 3 flash attachments for portraits. Basically when we arrive, we look like we’re moving in for a month. And we know the ins and outs of all the gear we bring. If it’s a full sun day, we know how to get the images so that you’re not just dark outlines by both using lighting and also adjusting our camera settings. It depends what the background of your image looks like. And cloudy days we know how to use lighting to avoid ‘raccoon eyes’ that often happen.

2) All Wedding Photographers are the Same Quality

Oh goodness. If you saw my work from when I first started out in weddings you would know that wasn’t true one bit! My work from way back then is pretty embarrassing now. When you’re picking a wedding photographer it’s perfectly acceptable to ask to see full galleries of their work. Sometimes portfolios can be deceiving. In the wedding industry there is such thing as Styled Shoots where wedding professionals get together to stage fake weddings with models and all the time in the world to make the shots look right. We when do Styled Shoots we even dictate the time so that the lighting is perfect! But looking through a few real full galleries will ensure the work you’re seeing in their portfolio will be what you get on your day as well.

3) A Family Member Can Take Photos

Yes, the absolutely can! It’s not a myth really. However, this goes back up to #1 where all you need is a good camera. As a business policy, we typically don’t photograph family or friends weddings. Why? Because we want to socialize and spend time with our family and friends. Sure your friend of family member will be around the whole day - but will they get distracted with talking and catching up with others at the wedding and miss something? Also, a lot of times, during the reception is when we sneak the couple out for sunset portraits. That usually falls during dinner. With the couple eating before all the guests, we can get the couple alone after they’ve eaten and while the guests are still eating. If you have a family member who’s a guest also photographing, they’re either going to miss eating a hot meal or miss that sunset. It’s best to let family and friends enjoy your day and save the working to the vendors. Plus, if anything goes wrong with the photos your family/friend took it has the possibility to ruin that relationship. We’ve heard stories of family/friends forgetting to put film/memory cards in cameras for the entire day!)

4) It Can Be Fixed In Photoshop

Again, probably true. But getting it right in camera is what we aim for! A few years back we had a hair and make up team tell the bride, during her trial, that the photographer can just apply a filter. We don’t use “filters” that’s an instagram term. But more importantly - you want what you see in real life to be amazing! Sure we absolutely could have touched up her hair and make up in Photoshop, but for us that sort of work is an additional charge and at 700+ images, that’s going to be a pretty penny for us to do - not to mention delay seeing your images for a long time.

We are going to make sure there’s no distracting images in the background BEFORE we start shooting. I moonlight as a hotel room cleaner on a wedding day spending the first few minutes I’m with a couple looking around for the best light and moving around any distractions that can be moved (bags, shoes, floor lamps, etc).

5) Wedding Photography/Videography is Too Expensive

I hear this from time to time and fully understand how that statement could be thought of as true. Our couples rarely see all the work that goes in before, during, and after your wedding day. In fact only 30% of our work happens on the wedding day. Before the wedding we are spending hours answering emails, going over timelines, helping with vendor selections, possibly an engagement session and editing. Right before the wedding we are in touch with all of your vendors to introduce ourselves, go over any timeline discrepancies between what we have and what the venue/planner has, working with the couple on their family portrait groupings.

The day before your wedding we are gathering, cleaning, charging all of our gear and getting it packed up and ready to go.

The day of your wedding we are up early and arriving at your wedding usually an hour before we are set to start, syncing our gear so times line up, going over timeline and group photos, viewing/planning locations for portraits & family groupings. On the way home from your wedding, Brittany is busy backing up all your files (if it’s a longer drive) if not, all the files are backed up before we head to bed.

The weeks following your wedding we are selecting out the images, doing a blog highlight, color correcting, straightening horizon lines, removing any distractions that couldn’t be removed during the wedding day (a big orange buoy in the water is my most recent arch nemesis). After your images are delivered we are selecting a gallery to send to your vendors, uploading to our instagram queue, and possibly submitting your wedding to publications.

6) You Need to Send a Shot List

Absolutely not! The only “shot list” we need are the key family members for your posed family portraits. We are more than happy to take notes of any special moments you have planned throughout the day, or any special images you want - there’s no need to send us a shot list that the magazines put out. We know to capture your first kiss and both of you walking down the aisle after!

Pinterest was a big thing a few years ago, and still is to some extent. But we encourage our couples to live in their moments and not worry about recreating the moments they see on pinterest. One I get a lot is the groom crying when he sees his bride - we can’t make your spouse cry if they’re not a crier! I love those images too and hope every wedding that we have some gorgeous emotional moments - we love capturing those, if they’re organic and happen naturally!

7) The Weather Has to be Perfect to get Perfect Images

Totally false! As I mentioned up in #1 all about our gear, we can make images you’ll love in ANY weather. Rain may not be ideal for an outdoor wedding, but if you’re game to go outside with some umbrellas - so are we! Our job is to make sure when you look back on your images you remember the love and joy of the day - and those emotions will be there regardless of the weather.

Brittany and Dean are creative Maine Wedding Photographers who loving having fun with our couples. We work together and separately to capture every emotion and angle on your wedding day. Two Adventurous Souls storytelling style will capture your Maine Wedding in candid and naturally posed images. Whether you're looking for Maine Wedding Photographers, Costa Rica Wedding or anywhere in New England we will be there for you! For more info please contact us about your wedding photography! Maine Wedding Photographers