The ultimate, best, most amazingly great guide to awesome wedding photos.

Seriously though, this wedding guide combines years of experience and over 150 weddings photographed.No BS and generic wedding blog advice here.

Even though my fav weddings are small to medium sized (and elopements! I bloody love elopements) I also shot a fair share of big and traditional ones. Some of them were classic, some mixing ethnic traditions from all over the world. I shot overseas (Canada, Ireland, Poland and Italy), all over WA and Lot in Perth. I won some awards along the way and my work has been featured, printed and mentioned… I also use experience from my other jobs. From Before Wedding Photography! Backups, managing expectations, controlling groups, dealing with and foreseeing problems… I like to think I know what I’m talking about ;)

Number one rule that trumps them all: Be unapolegetically you throughout your wedding day. You two need to happy,everyone else can suck it up a little.

Even me :)

All righty, let’s assume you haven’t started planning much yet. You have been to other peoples weddings: take from them whatever you like and discard what you didn’t. What annoyed you, what did you love?

Summers in WA are hot and Winters are cold and wet. Obviously ;)

Summer: There is always a possibility of a 40° day. Will your venue offer shade?

A winter wedding might be a bit cheaper but there is always the rain to consider. Think umbrellas and a plan B for an outdoor ceremony.

If you like check things properly have a look at this website. It gives you detailed climate info about Perth including average no of rainy days per month.

Outdoor Ceremony? Have a look above.

Church Ceremony? What is the driving time between the Church and Reception. How long is the ceremony going to be? Is the priest/pastor fun and engaging? Or will he/she run things like a captain of a German U-boat? Small Churches also get quite hot during the summer. How easy is to park? The good thing is you will not have to worry about the rain much during this part.

Golden Hour. Or two ;) The best time for photos. Sun sets at different times throughout the year. At the height of summer in Perth (Dec-Feb) it’s between 7 and 7.30ish pm. Sunset during the shortest days of Perth Winter is usually around 5.20 pm in June. You can check the details for Perth, WA here. Depending on the size of your wedding, logistics and your vision you may need 2-4 h from the start of the ceremony to your bridal entry.

“Cool” wedding venues book up quickly. It goes for all wedding vendors but the first step is always the venue and therefore the date. Think 18-14 months ahead for the vendors that are super important to you. They are all important in a way but to me the main ones are Venue, Photography, Celebrant/Church. These 3 have the biggest impact on the day.

Is your venue a “working” venue? Some places run the business as normal till 3 or 4 pm. So, the soonest you can have your ceremony is just after that time. It’s fine if your wedding is in the summer BUT in winter it might be a problem. If your ceremony stars at 4 pm and the sun sets at 6 pm that leaves you with hardly any time for couple and bridal party photos. There are solutions to this of course :) Hit me up for advice.

Where is your venue located? Some places and areas are awesome but they are in the middle of nowhere. How will your guests travel to and from? The “from” is obviously the crucial one :)

Cut off time. How long do you want to party on the D-floor? Some Perth wedding venues shut things down at 11 pm, some at 12. This , obviously, makes a big difference to the vibe AND timeline of your day. Ask hard questions and put things into writing. Remember the rule number one.

Too much to think about? Just Elope. And yes, I plan and shoot amazing elopements too :)