The journey your wedding photos go on to get to you
Prepare your face for a big grin, because …
Your wedding photos will be ready in just under three weeks!
Here’s a rundown of what I do to get your wedding photos heirloom-ready.
WEEK 1 | VIRTUAL SECURITY & CURATING YOUR STORY
First, your wedding photos are downloaded and backed up – multiple times.
My very first task (after changing into PJs and grabbing a cuppa) is to download your photos from the memory cards onto my computer hard drive.
Then, I back everything up … not once, not twice, but three times, onto two separate hard drives and secure cloud storage. So including the dual memory cards, there are now five copies of your wedding photos. #moreismore
You might have guessed … I’m paranoid about keeping your photos safe. I even sleep next to my memory cards so I know they’re ultra-safe and easily grabbed in the middle of the night in an emergency!
Next, I sift and sort through everything to select the keepers that tell the story of your day.
You know how most people hate Monday’s? Well, I love them! Because I get to hang out with your photos for the first time.
Apart from a cursory check, I don’t get much time to look at your photos on your wedding day – because I’m too busy taking them! So, by the time Monday arrives, I’m bursting to see what I captured for you. After a quick scan through, it’s time to select the winning photos.
There’ll be thousands of images waiting for me. Amazing ones – and lots of test shots, group photo duplicates, unflattering expressions, and pictures of the floor that I always seem to capture on the run. It’s my job to review every single photo and remove the ones you wouldn’t thank me for, to leave the ones that beautifully retell the story of your day. But that said, I’m very far from ruthless when I decide whether a photo is for keeps or not. I won’t reject a picture because it isn’t technically or creatively perfect. I don’t look for reasons to get rid of photos, I look for reasons to keep them. So if it’s the only photo of a particular person or moment, it’s in. #memoriesoverperfection
Once I’ve made the selection, I’ll organise them into the order of the day so they flow as a story.
This step includes things like grouping your respective getting ready photos together and collating detail photos which I squeezed in around the natural moments unfolding. So when you see your gallery, rather than flitting back and forth like a jumping bean that’s had too much coffee, it’ll unfold just like your day.
It takes 3–5 solid days to individually review those thousands of images with the care and attention they deserve. But it builds the foundation for a gallery that feels like your day saved forever, not just a collection of pictures. Without this stage, it’d feel overwhelming – like flipping through an author’s original manuscript, complete with the discarded sections, tossed in the air, hastily gathered from the floor, and reassembled out of order. But with thoughtful curation, it becomes a journey that flows effortlessly just like your day.
I keep my energy up with a constantly refilled oversized Tigger mug of mint tea and a bag of liquorice allsorts – while Poppy loves the long days to snooze!
From there, I mark which ones I want to convert into black and white, save the whole selection (and back it up again) and send it to Marko – my trusted editing partner and Lightroom wizard – ready for his genius touch.
WEEK 2 | TECHNICAL ADJUSTMENTS
Now there’s a curated set of photos to tell the story of your day, it’s time to actually start editing them. And it’s over to Marko for this stage. (Meanwhile, I either repeat the selection process for the couple who got married the weekend after you (sometimes it’s a hamster wheel here!), tend to wedmin, or give my eyes a break while Poppy reminds me who’s boss.
Hold tight, your photos are getting some technical TLC
Cameras (and let’s be honest, occasionally humans!) aren’t always good at getting these things right. But it’s important they reflect what you actually saw and experienced on your wedding so you can perfectly relive it.
My approach to editing is all about honesty. You won’t see weird skin tones, cartoon skies, or overly smoothed-out faces here. I want you to look at your photos and think, “Wow, amazing… the colours are gorgeous… everyone looks radiant!” – without quite knowing why.
So once your images arrive at Marko’s desk, he’ll review each image one by one and…
- Correct any exposures which are a bit off (ahem)
- Adjust the colours so they’re true-to-life – skin tones, flowers, outfits, everything
- Smooth out the contrast – or add a little drama … whatever is true to the scene
- Refine the composition – say by cropping images to make them perfectly symmetrical and straightening the horizon
- Correct wide-angle lens distortion (because it’s unlikely you got married in a crooked house)
- Reduce the grain in photos taken in low-light to make them crisper
- Get rid of moiré (a distorted artefact that often shows on the fabric of a finely patterned suit)
Next up, we enter the world of Photoshop – but don’t worry, this isn’t about changing who you are
“Wait – Sarah! We don’t want to be airbrushed like a magazine ad. We don’t want the sky to look fake. We want natural!”
Great – me too! My wish is that you’ll look at your photos and think, “That’s so beautiful; exactly how I remember it.”
Typically we’ll:
- Remove ugly distractions (Like those pesky but essential fire notices, exit signs, and electrical wires.)
- Clear skin blemishes (I know you’re worried about that one!)
- Tone down flushed faces (Surprisingly common during ceremonies!)
- Soften double chins (Can’t avoid them when you’re laughing!)
- Remove stray hairs (Although if it’s a windy day and your hair’s upside down there’s not a lot I can do – sorry!)
More extensive editing – like teeth whitening, fixing wardrobe malfunctions, and evening out tan lines – isn’t included. Whilst we can do this for you, it’s significant and specialist work, which not everyone needs or wants. And I won’t charge you for something that might not be necessary. So if you’d like greater cosmetic editing please just let me know and I can give you a quote.
Now, it’s time to convert some images into black and white.
Once the ‘shopping is complete, Marko will convert some of your images to black and white. This is to:
- Focus on the story. For example, by converting all the speech photos into black and whites, we unite them as a set.
- Disguise bad lighting conditions. Because great moments that happen in bad light are still great memories.
- Draw out the emotion or moment more – rather than your eye being distracted by colour or clutter.
Then … and only then … the RAW files are converted into bouncing baby jpgs
It’s time to make the jpegs.
The original RAW file format is brilliant because it stores more colour and exposure information than a jpg. Which means I can make sure your photos are true-to-life. But you need specialist software like Lightroom and Photoshop to see them, and you can’t easily share them or print them. So we convert them into easy-to-use jpgs for you.
Marko now breathes a sigh of relief and passes the baton back to me.
Almost there.
WEEK 3 | I GIVE YOUR PHOTOS A FINAL POLISH
Next up, a final finesse and quality check
Having not seen your images for a week or so, I’m excited to see them with fresh eyes, all shiny and new.
So as soon they land in my inbox, I’ll grab a cuppa and settle in for a final once over. I’ll review everything, and fine-tune, tweak, fiddle and diddle until my heart’s happy. With so many photos to work through, a fresh, second pair of eyes is invaluable – and I’ll typically remove more background distractions, crop a little, and give everything a final breath of intention.
Once my heart’s happy, I’ll make multiple back-ups – and then give Poppy a cuddle and Daisy a telepathic “hello”, ‘cause that’ll be another couple of days that have zipped past without them getting much attention!
Stand by, it’s time for me to prepare your web gallery
When the edit is complete, I’ll upload your finished photos to a private web gallery. I’ll split your photos into ‘chapters’ for each part of your day, so it’s easy to look through and you can find specific photos quickly.
While I wait for my broadband to do its thing, I light a candle and whisper a little wish that these photos will bring smiles for decades to come.
Ta-dahh! Your photos are ready to fly the nest!
Get your tissues ready! The second your gallery has fully uploaded, I’ll send you an email with a link to access it.
Now it’s in your hands and time for your photo reveal! There’s no set way for you to view your gallery (just don’t do it on your phone in the post office queue!) If you’d like some inspo, this blog post has ideas on how to make your wedding photo viewing special.
Phew! What an epic journey!
Want to see some real-life edits? I know you’re curious!
Check out these before and after wedding photos:
Feeling excited now?
To help fuel your patience (and as a special treat for making it to the bottom of this blog post), Poppy has prepared a fun game for you.
Can you spot all 10 differences in the photo below? Answers at the end of the blog post.
Thank you to Kelmarsh Hall for the most beautiful Chinese wallpaper!
Original
Can you spot 10 differences?
Keep scrolling for the answer…
