Ultimate Tips for Your Wedding | PART ONE

Having serviced countless weddings, we have acquired some pretty priceless tricks and tips for your wedding! We’re super excited to share them with you in this blog series, starting with all things flat lays, detail boxes, and getting ready details and photos!

We’ll take it from the top in this post with all the tips you could possibly need to prepare for the
perfect, most photogenic start to your day:

Ultimate Tips for Your Wedding | Tips from a SoCal Wedding Photographer: Sun and Peak Studios

TIPS FOR YOUR WEDDING: Starting Your Day

Flat Lays

The first thing we do is capture your flat-lay photos. These are some of our favorite detail shots. To prepare for this, you’ll have to put together two details boxes: one for
the bride and one for the groom.

Things to put in your details boxes:

Save the Dates
Your invitation Suite (at least two envelopes for styling purposes; ensure they lay flat)
Sentimental Ring Boxes
A Ring in Each Detail Box
Other Jewelry from the Day (earrings, necklace, watch, etc.)
Heirloom Jewelry (optional)
The Veil
Your Shoes
Your Bouquet + Boutonniere
Perfume + Cologne
Other Accessories (cufflinks, hair clips, etc.)
Floral Trimmings
And more! FEEL FREE TO BE CREATIVE

Here are some His and Hers flat-lay examples to give you an idea of how the components come together!

Professional Tip for Your Flat Lays

We highly recommend reaching out to your florist (FAR IN ADVANCE) to have a few loose stems set aside for use for your flat lay. Being as it is a pretty standard request, most florists are more than happy to oblige! However, they won’t do it unless you ask.

Other Details

Bouquets

To get the most out of the details, have your bouquets dropped off at the getting-ready location. This helps us elevate both the detail shots and portraits that we capture during this part of the day.

Wedding Dresses

For pretty, timeless photos of your dress, ensure you have a pretty and neutral hanger for your wedding dress. This is a detail that is easily overlooked but makes a big difference in your wedding dress photos.

Here are examples of a generic vs an elevated hanger:

Getting Ready Photos

Question

Should I book an Airbnb or a hotel for the prettiest getting-ready photos?

Answer

Natural and bright lighting, light-colored walls and accents, and larger open spaces are all key elements that will make your getting-ready photos look beautiful.

In our experience, Airbnb rentals have these elements much more often than hotels, so we definitely recommend opting for an Airbnb.

Here are examples of challenging lighting and great lighting.

For the most effective use of your time, have your hair and makeup team scheduled to be done at the time we’re scheduled to arrive. Hair and makeup are by far the most likely segment of the day to take longer than planned, and we don’t need more than a few minutes to get hair & makeup photos.

Scheduling us back-to-back in this manner allows us to make the most effective use of the overlapping time.

Matching Pajama Sets

Our final tip in this kick-off installment Tips for Your Wedding series is for the bride to purchase a different color PJ set than the rest of her party.

This makes her pop in her getting-ready photo’s even more.
The more elegant the PJs the better they photograph!

Here are some links where can shop our favorites and find other absolutely adorable sets.

NADINE MERABI

MACY’S