Behind-The-Scenes Series – Tips From A Wedding Photographer!

       Welcome, welcome! If you are recently engaged and have a million things on your mind – you have come to the right place! As a wedding photographer, I get to see so much of what goes on at a wedding and I can’t help but share some insightful info with you. There is just too much goodness to share and I must share this with you!! 

If you’d rather watch the video re-cap, here ya go! Or feel free to read along. 😉 

The Best Kept Wedding Secret

Fake Wedding Exits!

One of the best kept wedding secrets – fake send offs! During the reception, more and more couples are choosing to do their fun sparkler/bubble exit earlier in the night for a variety of reasons. And as a photographer – I LOVE this trend. Here are some of the benefits to having your exit earlier!

1) More People For Your Exit

During the reception, most guests stay for all the main moments: first dances, cake cutting, speeches. But once the dancing happens, i’ve seen so many weddings where the guests leave at this point. Especially if you plan to have dancing for 2+ hours. They are most likely going to go home before you do your exit. This means that less people will be there to hold all of those sparklers! I’ve seen no many brides plan to have 100 people hold sparklers (you know you order that many just in case) only to have maybe 20 people left at the end of the night. And less people = less sparklers = less sparkly picture!

2) You Can Keep The Party Going

If you have your “fake exit” earlier, you can go back to the reception and dance the night away! No timeline to stick to. This is great if you have the venue for late into the night. 

3) You Look Your Best!

Instead of taking pictures after dancing for 2+ hours, by doing the exit pictures earlier – you look your best! Your hair and makeup are on point! Also….alcohol. As the night progresses and if you serve alcohol, it starts to take it’s toll on people. Not pretty! Or smart! A lot of venues are now banning sparklers because of irresponsible drunk guests. Talk about a fire hazard! By planning those sparkler pictures earlier, you have more corporative guest and you look your best!

4) Saves Money

Most professional photographers/videographers have their packages set up hourly. Instead of having half of your hourly coverage spent on dancing pictures (they are still fun), you can have more photos taken earlier in the day. If I had the choice of choosing dance photos vs. amazing sunset pictures – you better believe i’d choose those extra sunset pictures! By doing a fake exit, you can still get a great exit picture, but save money by not having to hire a photographer for longer just to wait for your exit. (as much as i’d love to photograph dancing for 3 hours). I’d much rather you have more portraits earlier in the day than me stick around for your exit.

If you are deciding if a “fake exit” is best for your wedding, feel free to reach out to me! I’d love to help you see what works best for you! You can contact me here.

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