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We've got a big wedding coming up this weekend, and that means we have some preparation to do in order to be ready for the weekend. We go through this routine every Friday afternoon, or the day prior to the wedding. It's critical to have a routine that you follow each time. That way you know you're covered. Follow our wedding photography checklist and you will be well prepared on your upcoming wedding shoot.

Wedding Photography Checklist:

1. Clean the Gear -Geoff goes through each piece of equipment, cleans dust out of the lenses, checks the camera body, makes sure everything is in good working order. Every lens gets cleaned. You don't want some pesky dust spot on every image.

2. Charge the Batteries-We always carry extra flash batteries, you never know if you'll need it or end up with a dead battery.

3. Check Settings & Sync-Check camera settings and make sure it's ready for a wedding. We also make sure that the camera bodies are sync'd so that when we're editing, the time stamps match up.

4. Pack the Gear-Camera bodies, lenses, cf cards, batteries, tripod. It's all packed and ready. Plus a tote bag with snacks (usually nuts) bottled water and a sweater). You do not want to do this on the morning of, when your mind is racing in a million directions. Get this done the day before when you are calm. If you forget anything, you'll have time to remember. One of my friends actually forgot to pack her cf cards in one of her early days, and she had to collect tiny cf cards from amongst the guests in order to get through the ceremony (until someone brought her cards to her). How embarrassing!

5. Review the Timeline and Photography Gameplan-There shouldn't be any more questions at this point (it's a little late to try to change something the day before the wedding) but go ahead and take the time to review the details, portrait lists, names and details. Figure out what time you are leaving the house and set the alarm clock (and a backup) accordingly. This should not be the first time you look at the timeline, because you may need to adjust timing for portraits and so forth, but that needs to happen no later than a week prior to the wedding. After that, plans become finalized.

6. Take the Evening Off-You want to be well rested and relaxed prior to a wedding shoot, so get everything done in the afternoon so you can take the rest of the evening off and relax. Be sure to get plenty of sleep, you want to be at your sharpest on the wedding day.

Is there anything you do the day before a wedding?

Tagged as: beginner wedding photographer, how to prepare for a wedding, how to shoot a wedding, wedding photography checklist, wedding shoot, wedding shoot preparation