On December 15th I photographed Arturo and Kenya's wedding!! It was such a beautiful and love filled day!! However, there is a magical twist to this story... WE CAPTURED ALL OF THEIR BRIDE AND GROOM PORTRAITS WITHOUT THEM SEEING EACH OTHER!!!!! WHAT?!?!? I know! I'm still just as shocked as you might be! In this blog post I am going to share with you how I went about photographing their portraits!
Because Kenya and Arturo got married in the winter the sun was scheduled to set at around 5:25pm, BUT their ceremony wasn't until 6:30pm. This created somewhat of a problem...
1. The couple DID NOT want to do a first look. It was very important to them that they see each other for the first time at the alter.
2. the couple really wanted to have outdoor, naturally lite photos.
My natural response was to offer an "after session" (where we would photograph portraits the next morning), and while we tried hard to make this option happen, it just wasn't going to work out. So, what now?
Well, my dear, sweet Felecia at Wed & Prosper suggested doing "creative portraits". Where we try and get photos of them without seeing each other. When the words left her mouth, I thought "I freaking love this." All of a sudden my mind got all of these ideas and from there we worked together as a team to pull off something we had never seen before. (side note, even if you don't think you need a wedding planner, YOU DO! Worth every penny!)
We brought the idea up to Arturo and Kenya, and showed them some examples of what I wanted to give them as far as photos go, and they agreed to move forward with the creative images!
This made my creative heart sing! Trusting your photographer is a 100% must! For me personally, I want to give my clients my best, and when they trust me to do that, they get my best work!
The day of the wedding, Felecia had purchased a blindfold that we used for Arturo.
Now, let me just say, that Arturo is literally one of the sweetest human beings I have ever met. I could tell he was a little nervous because it was very important to him to not see Kenya, so before we put the blindfold on, I talked with him, showed him some examples of my work and the poses I wanted to use and just walked him through my ideas verbally. This did two things, it put his mind at ease, and two, it made him feel like he was somewhat in control and knew what was kinda going on. I mean, having someone completely guide you and you can't see what's going on is a HUGE trust exercise! Arturo, was a total champ! He let Felecia guide him by the hand and let me touch his face and adjust him until he was in the right pose. HE DID AMAZING!
Once we got the bride and groom into position, Felecia would remove the blindfold and I would instruct the couple on what to do.
This was SO MUCH FUN FOR ME! I have always loved a challenge, and this was no different. As we took the images I showed Felecia the back of my camera and we were both just so happy. We did it!
In review, how I went about capturing their portraits was:
- Educate the couple, I gave them examples of what I wanted to do so that they could see what I wanted to give them.
- purchased a blindfold
- worked with the couples coordinator to create a plan of action.
- made the groom feel at ease by letting him in on the plans so he could feel somewhat in the loop.
- work together as a team
- be creative! I didn't really have anyone to tell me what to do or how to do it. I just let my mind and creativity take over. I looked at some of my past work and looked for poses that I had used before where I could manipulate the image where his eye could be closed or they couldn't see each other. This was truly SO MUCH FUN for me.
All in all Kenya and Arturo were great sports and the both did an amazing job!
I hope this is blog is helpful to you and gives you some ideas if s first look isn't an option for you!
Full blog post to come <3
Much love,
-E
Vendor Love:
Planning: Wed & Prosper
Venue: The Farmhouse Events
Catering: City View Catering
Love Sign: Sweet Tea and Linen
