A few images from the Wedding Yesterday in Alpena, Michigan

Alpena, Michigan Wedding Photography

wedding in northern michigan in alpena, mi

wedding in northern michigan in alpena, mi

Posen Community Center Wedding Reception

northern michigan wedding photographer

northern michigan wedding photographer

alpena michigan wedding ceremony at st. annes church

alpena michigan wedding ceremony at st. annes church

Paul Retherford Wedding Photographer

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    Raining on your Wedding day ~ Photography suggestions

    How to get great Wedding images, rainy Weddings

    “Your Wedding images are beautiful!””Where did you get married?””It was just perfect on your Wedding day!”  You hear these phrases all the time when you are around newlyweds.  What if mother nature gives your day a bit of drama with low dense clouds and pelting rain?  What to do for your soaking wet Wedding?

    Nice day for a Wet Wedding

    As a Wedding Photographer, I love rain.  The light is soft and diffuse but the trick is getting your Wedding couple to agree to be in the rain.  You can help soften their displeasure by bringing an umbrella to every Wedding, not for you, but for the bride and groom.

    I always tell my brides and grooms that the sun always shines on Paul Retherford.:-)  It usually does for at least a moment during the day.  Make sure to catch those glimpses of sun if in fact rain is predicted all day long and vice versa.  The drama you can get on a rainy day is sometimes breathtaking.

    A couple things to consider when you have a rainy Wedding day:

    1) Go simple and look for clean walls and backdrops

    2) Keep an upbeat personality and look for emotions and personality, interactions between family and friends

    3) Use props like umbrellas, rain coats, gazebos, or other shelters to block a bit of the rain

    4) Get out and run in the rain, let the bride and groom have some fun if they agree.  Have fun and be creative!

    5) Have backup to backup plans

    6) Always reassure that life is good and that this is the best light in the World!

    singing in the rain on your Wedding day ~ photography Weddings

    singing in the rain on your Wedding day ~ photography Weddings

    Check out Paul Retherford Wedding Photography for your fabulous Wedding images!

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      Beautiful Wedding Images/Photos ~ how they are made

      How Photographers make their Wedding Images

      This may come as a shock to a lot of brides BUT a lot of the images that you see in bridal and fashion magazines are not shot on the Wedding day.  There are a ton of photographers who “require” brides to do bridal shoots or “trash the dress” sessions as part of their Wedding package.  This allows the photographers to get wonderful images of the bride and groom but sometimes lack the emotions and personality of the images on the Wedding day.

      Some photographers even go as far as to have “bridal shoots” where they will dress a model up in bridal wear to capture beautiful images and they will push them as “Wedding images.”  To me this is not the case and they should be clear on when the images were taken.  A tell tale sign, in most cases, is when the bride does not have a bouquet.  Some brides go without bouquets though.

      wedding images are images taken on your wedding day

      wedding images are images taken on your wedding day

      Wedding Photography, Bridal Shoot, or Trash the Dress Sessions?

      I recently viewed a top photographers images on Facebook and could not believe that this person had a title of “Wedding Images.”  There were images of a bride all over the place with tons of different poses but no wedding flowers.  They used scarves and different props for the shoot.   To me this is false advertising.  If the images are not shot on the Wedding day then they are not “Wedding Images, ” they are bridal shoots, lifestyle sessions, fashion shoots, or trash the dress sessions, which are fabulous images if not pushed as Wedding images.  I have done all of them but I won’t say that a model that we take out and put a dress on is a wedding image.

      To all of the future brides out there.  Ask to see full Wedding day images and ask the question about whether they are all taken on the Wedding day.  I personally show images that were taken on the Wedding day and find pride in the fact that I get 100’s of fabulous images of brides and grooms, families, and friends in such a short period of time.  99% of my Weddings are all shot on the Wedding day.   I get the occasional bridal shoot and the occasional trash the dress BUT I won’t create albums with images and push them as Wedding day images.  I just think that this is unethical.

      bride on her wedding day image

      bride on her wedding day image

      Will my Wedding Photographs look like these portfolio images?

      A word to the brides and grooms, be careful who you book and what they guarantee on your Wedding day.  In the heat of the moment on your Wedding day you want the absolute best possible Wedding images with personality and emotions flowing out of the images.  Make sure that your photographer is up to the challenge and that the images you are looking at are created on the Wedding day, unless of course you are going to do a bridal session or trash the dress session.

      Have fun in your Wedding Photographer search and feel free to visit Paul Retherford Wedding Photography site to see the list of questions you should ask your potential Photographer.  Cheers.

      wedding day emotion

      wedding day emotion

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        Petoskey, Michigan
        231-445-1793 Paul@PaulRetherford.com