Wedding Photographer and Illustrator Duo Sydney Canberra Australia

How to create your wedding run-sheet

As a guideline, two months before the wedding, we will send you a questionnaire to get details about your wedding vendors and to give you a sense of how a wedding run-sheet usually looks. But, you don’t have to follow the rules. If you are planning to celebrate your wedding in your own special way, we are happy to help you with it.

Most of the time, 8-10 hours is enough time for the full wedding day photo coverage

– This will cover the last moments of getting ready for both of you. Which will take about 30-40 minutes or up to one hour for each of you. Don’t forget to take into account travelling time between locations and to your wedding ceremony.

– For the ceremony, we will arrive early to capture all the beautiful details before guests arrive.

– Then, it’s time to wow your guests with how beautiful you are on your wedding day, to say vows and “I dos” and to have the first kiss.

– After the ceremony, leave time for guests to congratulate you, to take a sip of champagne and to do group shoots.

– Now it’s time for the guests to rest before the reception: chatting, playing games or enjoying cocktail hour. Meanwhile, we will take pictures with your bridal party and then with only the two of you. Most couples decide to allow 1-1.5 hours for photographs, which includes travel time between venues and locations.

– We would like to stay for all the formalities during the reception and to capture on camera all your crazy dance moves, but it’s totally up to what package you decide to go with and how long you choose for us to stay.

These are general recommendations, though. Every wedding is different and unique in its own way.

If you have any special traditions involved in your day or if you want us to capture some especially important moments or details, just let us know.

Handy tips:

Don’t leave any preparation tasks outstanding: make sure you have a nice rest before the big day.
Go easy in the morning. Your wedding will be a big day and a long one as well. Even if you didn’t plan, but woke up earlier, hit snooze, or take a relaxing bath. Be sure to get enough rest.
If your ceremony is taking place later in the afternoon, make sure you have time be lunch to get the energy to celebrate all day and dance all night long! Have some snacks and drinks for your wedding photo shoot after the ceremony, as it’s still a long time till the reception dinner.
Make your wedding stress free. Don’t try to fit in too many activities, or visit lots of locations. The easier it goes the more time and energy you have to have fun and dance.
If you feel like you won’t able to control your emotions before the ceremony, maybe it’s the right option for you to have a first look, when you can see each other before the ceremony. Walking down the aisle with your best friend and partner for life is a very thrilling experience that you could choose to have on your wedding.
Plan the schedule of the reception with your MC and the venue coordinator. We also want to know when the key events are happening (speeches, cake cut, etc.). As we don’t want to miss them while taking pictures with you outside. Also, as a recommendation, remind your caterer to serve meals for your wedding photography and videography crew at the same time that you are having a meal. So, we won’t miss out on your first dance or a speech from your dad.

How to create group photos list

How to create your group photos list

It’s a very rear occasion when all the people you love got together to celebrate one of the happiest day of your lives. Most of your guests would love to have a picture taken with the bride and groom to keep it as a memento from this wonderful day. So, it would be handy to have a group photos list to make the time taking pictures with everyone.

A few recommendations

We recommend to do group shots right after the ceremony, while everyone is there.

We will chose a place that will fit everyone, and will ask your celebrant to guide everyone there for a big group shot. However, we will ask you beforehand if it’s something that you want to do or if you rather skip it all together.

By this time, as your wedding photographers, we got to know you a bit better, but unfortunately, we don’t know all your loved once. It would be handy to have someone to help us out with your wedding group photo list. The best person for it is the one who knows the majority of your friends and family in person: your best man or maid of honour, for instance.

It could be big groups 10-20 people, or small once 3-6 persons plus you two as the centrepiece of the photo.

If you having trouble to collect in memory everyone who you want to take a portrait with it would be better to write an actual list.

First, start with immediate family: parents, siblings and grandparents: then go with extended family members, friends and colleagues.

It usually don’t take much time to do group shoots. We recommend to set at list 30 minute for it in your wedding timeline. You will probably would want to chat with people in between of the shots and they would want to congratulate you on becoming a married couple.

How to get the most out of your wedding photography

Here, we put together a few tips for you, and, we hope, you will find this wedding photography guide useful in your wedding preparation.

Communication is the key

Across the Forest team have got you covered here. First, we will send you a questionnaire to make sure that we know all the details about your wedding and won’t miss any important moments. We will remind you to take a wedding invitation with you to the getting ready location. Also, we will ask what is your something old, something new, something borrowed, something blue, as we want to capture all the sweet little details.

Time for you two

The ‘golden hour’ before sunset is the best light to take pictures outdoors with you two and your bridal party. Think about it when you are setting the time for the photo shoot in your wedding timeline. However, if the sun is setting late and you are planning to be in the middle of the reception by that time, we can sneak out for a few moments to take a few photos outside, and make sure, you will get back in time to hear the speeches, cut the cake and do your first dance.

Relax, breath and have a moment to take it all in

We will certainly have time to work close with you to do family/friends group shoots after the ceremony and for a small 30 min – 1 hour shoot with you two and your bridal party. But we care most for you to spend the rest of the time celebrating, smiling, dancing and enjoying the day while we are documenting every precious moment of it.

Amazing wedding vendors

Where to look for amazing wedding vendors

Wedding planning is sometimes an overwhelming experience, and we are happy to give you a hand with a few tips on how to look for and find your wedding vendors.

First of all, make a list of whom and what you are looking for: florist, wedding dress, food van, etc.

Some of it you can organise yourself and go DIY, but for most of it you will need a professional to help make your wedding day absolutely stress-free and gorgeous.

When you settle on the style of your celebration and have a list of wedding vendors you are looking for, ask for advice from a friend who has experience, ask your venue coordinator or your wedding photographer for a recommendation. They will probably know the best people in industry who can be trusted to do the best job for the task. Please have a look at a list of wonderful wedding vendors that we put together here.

Look for inspiration on wedding blogs. Under ‘featured weddings’ there is always a list of people involved in creating it.

Invest time in chatting with shortlisted vendors to see if they get you and your style before committing to anything.

Once you have booked your wedding professional team, relax and trust them. They are on your side and won’t let you down. But, if you are a bit concerned about some details, always feel free to get in touch and ask any questions you might have.

Pre-Wedding photo session

How to prepare for your Pre-Wedding shoot

We created this guide to help you get ready for your pre-wedding photo session.

You probably already know that the main goal here is to get to know each other better.

The other advantage is that these photos are ideal to use on a save-the-date card, accompanying your wedding announcement on social media, or to illustrate your wedding website.

You don’t have to worry about poses, knowing your ‘better side’ or bringing spare clothing. We will keep it simple and enjoyable and will guide you through the process on the shoot. All you have to do is turn up.

Introduce us to your environment

We always advise you to chose a place that means something to you two, or where you love to spend time together. We can start at your home, to capture the way you live at this moment in time as an about-to-be-married couple. From there, we can go to your local park or a cafe to catch the last warm sunlight of the day.

Another good option is to try something different from your wedding location. For example, if you are planning to have an outdoor beach-style wedding, lets go explore the city for your pre-wedding session. This way, you will have diversity in your pre-wedding and wedding sessions.

Also, if you have an access to a unique location (a hidden waterfall, a rooftop in Newtown, a secret garden in Northern beaches or an abandoned warehouse in Alexandria) it would be great to go there to explore the site and create something truly unique together.

Trial for your hair and make up artist

If you booked your hair and make up artist(s), the pre-wedding photo session is the best time to do a trial! We can choose a date for the shoot that works for you and your hair/make up artist. You will see if this person is the right fit for you and how their work looks in photographs.

If you haven’t chosen your hair and make up professional yet, we have a list of vendors on our website that we recommend having a look at.

Make the best of the sunlight

The golden hour about 1 1/2 hours before sunset is the best for natural lifestyle photography. Even if on the day it’s going to be overcast, a few hours before sunset is when the light is usually even and soft.

Feel beautiful

A pre-wedding photo session doesn’t require you to shop for a new outfit. The most important things is that you feel comfortable and like yourself in what you wear.

We advise you to go with smart casual, a bit fancier then your everyday look, but not by much. If you choose to go a bit more formal, make sure that you both follow the same style. Complement each other. Try to avoid head-to-toe black or white clothing. If you are worried about colour, pick a neutral and a few coordinating colour tones you both like and stick to those hues.

We don’t shoot in the same spots every time or have a list of poses. We want to capture your natural selves in the most comfortable way. So, please, don’t put pressure on yourselves and overthink this experience.

Centennial Park Family Photo Shoot ~ Sydney Family Photographer

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When grandparents flew into Sydney it was a good enough reason to gather all siblings together for a family photo shoot. We spend about one hour and a half in the beautiful Centennial Park catching warm sunset light, smiles and cuddles.

Of course, the centre of attention was the cutes of them all 7 weeks old baby Alana. Thank you for choosing me to be your family photographer and tell a short, but sweet story of your family!

Family Photo Shoot at Arboretum ~ Sydney Family Photography

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What a great time we had with Claire & Gavin and their four bustling young ones getting together for a fun family shoot at Arboretum, Canberra! Thanks to those three boys and a lovely little dove we get the most dynamic and vibrant shoot ever.

National Arboretum seemed not big enough for that energy that you brought that day. It was fun and memorable, however we can only imaging how much courage and strength you have to deal with those four 24/7.

Cute Family Nest ~ Sydney Family Photographer

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Once, Claire, Kleber, Sassy & Foxy invited us to spend some time at their beautiful home, a cute family nest, in Canberra. As soon as you enter this stunning house you want to be a part of this family. It is a warm and joyful kingdom of happiness, this is the place to grow up as a dreamer, visionary and creator (Sassy & Foxy are already great at it :)).

They met us with smiles and open hearts, they showed us their secrets and plays and let us capture a few moments of their extraordinary ordinary everyday family life. Please enjoy!