Western-style wedding process and shooting guide

The engagement ceremony is very important

Different from domestic weddings, most western-style weddings begin with a formal engagement ceremony, and its scale is not even lost to the wedding day. However, there are also small family engagement ceremonies, the main purpose of which is to formally announce the good news of marriage to relatives and friends, and at the same time provide a good communication opportunity for both families. There are usually weeks or months between engagement and formal marriage. During the engagement, both parties will have more opportunities to get to know each other better as husband and wife, and make more preparations for the wedding.

Engagement ceremonies are usually filmed by friends, and only a few newcomers with good economic conditions will invite professional photography teams to shoot. There are also some new couples who like to take outdoor photos on the day of engagement, which are similar in nature to domestic wedding photos, but they don't wear wedding dresses, which are more like couples' photos.

Decide the wedding date and wedding preparations.

Decide on the date of marriage

Traditional western weddings are often held on weekends, especially on Saturdays, because the guests who need to be entertained generally go to work, and the wedding reception ends late. However, in recent years, many wedding hotels have launched special wedding packages on Fridays or even Thursdays. Newcomers will also consider the budget and the scale of the banquet. The engagement party is on Thursday or Friday.

Choose the location of the wedding and reception.

Due to religious belief, most western-style weddings are held in churches, and different churches will be chosen according to the different beliefs of the newcomers. Generally, churches need to be booked several months in advance. If it is on the weekend, the date of the couple needs to be specific to the time period, because many couples may get married in the same church that day. Wedding reservations should be made in advance, especially in wedding venues with pleasant scenery and delicious dishes. The reservation of wedding dishes is also very particular. Generally, a western-style wedding banquet is divided into three courses-appetizer, main course and dessert. Each course should provide at least two flavors for guests to choose from. Some wedding banquets will also hold a cocktail party before meals as a link.

Appointment of photography and video service

After determining the date and place of the wedding, you should book your favorite photographer and cameraman as soon as possible. Due to the limited schedule of well-known photographers, many newcomers even take the booking of photography and video services as the first step, and some newcomers will book their favorite photographers one or two years in advance. One or two months before the wedding day, the couple will have face-to-face communication with their wedding photographers, determine the itinerary of the wedding day, like the photo style, and put forward some personalized requirements.

Book a flower shop and a bakery.

A delicate and elegant wedding must be carefully arranged by the florist. A good florist will inject soul into a wedding through carefully selected flowers and designs that conform to the personality of the couple. The choice of flower materials is also limited by season and collocation, so it is particularly critical to communicate with the flower shop in advance and decide the style of the whole wedding. The cake maker, like the florist, should also consider the theme and color of the wedding, and the two need to cooperate with each other to achieve a harmonious effect.

Choose wedding dresses, dresses and shoes.

Wedding dresses, dresses and shoes are often the most important parts for the bride. Nowadays, western-style weddings advocate tailor-made wedding dresses, especially fishtail and lace wedding dresses, which are very popular among women. Unlike domestic weddings, foreign brides don't change their dresses on the wedding day, and most of them are prepared for engagement parties.

bachelor party

The time of bachelor party is flexible, and it can usually be held after engagement. The groom's bachelor party and the bride's bachelor party are good opportunities for good friends to celebrate the couple. Most wild parties will be held in bars at night, while elegant parties will choose afternoon tea. Besides wine, girls often do SPA together at cocktail parties. Singles parties tend to be crazy and private, so they generally don't like to ask photographers to take pictures. Most people just take their mobile phones as souvenirs, so there is no need to take photos regularly.

The process and shooting of the wedding day

The shooting of western wedding day is mainly divided into four parts ―― the preparation of the bride and groom, ceremony, location shooting and reception.

Preparation link

On the morning of the wedding day, the bride and groom, accompanied by their families, groomsmen and bridesmaids, will prepare for their big day in their own residence. Different from domestic weddings, in western culture, the groom regards the wedding dress before the ceremony as a symbol of bad luck, so there is no such thing as picking up the bride at the wedding.

The bride will start dressing with the help of bridesmaids and relatives and friends. Everything is ready, and I will say goodbye to my parents as a single woman before I go out. Because according to the western wedding tradition, most brides will take their husbands' surnames after marriage. Westerners' feelings are more exposed, and they like to express their feelings to their parents, relatives and friends. Photographers are advised to take snapshots to record the most authentic state of newcomers to the greatest extent. If time permits, before the bride goes out, the photographer can take a single photo of the bride and record her most beautiful moment.

The groom's family will also arrange morning shooting, which is basically the same as the bride's family. It is particularly important to film the interaction between the groom, the best man and parents and capture the subtle feelings of individuals.

wedding ceremony

For photographers, special attention should be paid to respecting the beliefs of different religions. For example, many churches require photographers not to use flashlights or go up the steps to shoot. If they violate the rules, they will be regarded as disrespectful, and even be driven out of the ceremony. Photographers should learn to "shoot invisibly" in this solemn ceremony, try to use cameras with silent shutters, improve ISO values and shoot with telephoto lenses.

At the wedding, the bride and father entered the venue arm in arm. This is the first time for the groom to see the bride in a wedding dress, and he can't control his emotions at ordinary times. Photographers should seize the opportunity to capture the most touching and sincere pictures. In the wedding ceremony, photographers should not miss photographing the emotional expression of parents, relatives and friends watching the ceremony, as well as those lovely flower girl. Before the ceremony, the priest announced that the couple were officially married. According to tradition, the couple should walk out of the church before the guests, and everyone stood up and applauded. At this time, many cheerful and vivid pictures can be captured. After that, the big group photo is usually completed on the steps at the entrance of the church, so that the picture will be more layered and everyone can get a better presentation. After a short break, the guests will go to the place where the dinner is held, and the newlyweds and bridesmaids will follow the photographer to the shooting location.

Wedding ceremony shooting often needs to be adjusted according to the specific requirements of the couple, but the most basic and core oath, ring exchange, kiss and final group photo are all indispensable.

On location

Different from Chinese weddings, all wedding photos of Western-style weddings have to be completed on the wedding day, so couples usually choose to take photos near the church or wedding banquet to save time on the road. Don't have too many entourage when shooting, usually only bring a bridesmaid group. Because the shooting time is short, this requires photographers to have good communication skills and solid snapshot skills. Shooting at this stage is a good opportunity for wedding photographers to be creative. The shooting location should be determined according to the requirements of the couple, usually 1-3, such as outside the church, in a nearby park, in front of a distinctive building, or taking photos with the wedding car in an open field.

wedding feast

Usually, the wedding reception can be arranged at noon or evening, but dinner is more popular because everyone has enough time to celebrate the couple's marriage. Generally speaking, the wedding banquet of western-style wedding mainly has the following components.

The newlyweds entered the stadium.

At the wedding, the guests have witnessed the sacred moment of exchanging vows and rings, so from the entrance of the wedding banquet, they entered a warm celebration atmosphere. Accompanied by cheerful and dynamic music, the best man group and the bridesmaid group first entered in turn. When the music and the atmosphere reached a climax, all the guests present would stand up to welcome the protagonist of the wedding. The admission form for the dinner was carefully designed by the newlyweds, groomsmen and bridesmaids. People with different personalities and nationalities will choose different admission methods, and the admission of each newly married couple will bring different surprises. Photographers should adjust the camera parameters and be ready to capture wonderful moments at any time.

congratulations

Toast is usually arranged after the main course. First, the parents of both sides expressed their blessings to the couple, then the best man representative and the bridesmaid representative introduced their stories of acquaintance and love, and finally the couple's own touching toast. If the shooting of the day is double-shot, it is necessary to stand separately when the couple toasts, record the different reactions on and off the stage respectively, and capture the touching moments in the most accurate and quick way.

Cut the wedding cake and propose a toast.

After the toast, the couple will cut off the first knife of the wedding cake together, which symbolizes the combination of the two and will always pay for each other. After that, everyone will propose a toast to the couple and share the wedding cake.

The couple's first dance

After the toast, the couple will dance their first dance with the blessing of all the guests. Some newlyweds will choose to waltz, while others will carefully prepare their own unique opening dance according to their personal preferences. Because of the dark environment, the assistant can hold LED lights (such as ice lights) for lighting when shooting, which can help the camera follow the focus more quickly. Try not to shoot with flash, and keep the real light atmosphere of the scene.

Dance (party)

After the first dance, everyone entered the dance floor and began to dance. Different nationalities will have different celebration customs. For example, at a wedding in Lebanon, everyone will dance to the traditional Lebanese drums. Photographers can also jump and shoot on the dance floor. At this time, it depends more on blind shot and the skill of grasping pictures. Throw bridal bouquets and garters.

At the end of the wedding ceremony, the bride threw a bouquet of flowers representing the happiness of marriage to single girls present, and the girl who received the bouquet was blessed to get married as soon as possible. The same custom applies to the single boys at the scene, except that instead of grabbing the bride's bouquet, they grabbed the garter that the groom took off the bride's leg. When shooting bouquet throwing, the choice of angle is particularly critical, and the setting of shutter speed should also be paid attention to.