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From Yes to I Do: Your Wedding Photography Questions Answered

Adelaide Wedding Photographers

Unveiling Answers to Your Wedding Photo Questions

We know planning the wedding of your dreams can feel like a whirlwind of excitement and endless decisions. So, welcome to our FAQ page – your go-to guide for unraveling the mysteries of wedding photography! From choosing the perfect photographer to understanding the art of capturing those magical moments, we’ve got you covered. However, if your question is playing hide-and-seek in and you can’t find it here, worry not! Just hit that trusty ‘send’ button and shoot us an email jade@jadenorwood.com – we’re here to turn your wedding worries into joy and make the process as delightful as your love story. Let’s embark on this unforgettable journey together!

Q: We feel really awkward in front of the camera and don’t know how to pose, will you help us?

A: Don’t worry, we will help for sure. While we do sit back and let things unfold naturally, if we see you looking uncomfortable or you say I don’t know what to do, we will give you some pose tips and tricks on where to position yourself to get the ball rolling.
A great reason to have an engagement session; all of our clients on their wedding day remember our tips and find it so much easier to relax and just enjoy the day.

Q: Do we really get to see images the night of our wedding?

A: Yes, you sure do, we provide a sneak peek on the NIGHT of your wedding, before you go to sleep! Your full edited online gallery will be ready 4 weeks after your wedding, if not before!! Once your package is complete (albums printed etc) you will receive all of your wedding photos on a USB with your entire package.

Q: We have no idea how much time we need for different parts of the wedding day and the reception venue wants us to create a wedding timeline. Are you able to help us?

A: Yes, absolutely. You probably haven’t planned a wedding before, however we have been involved with wedding timelines for years now and we can give you some ideas really quickly. Getting great wedding photos is all about timing, and factoring in travel time and a buffer in case things run over, to make sure the day runs in a smooth and relaxed way. From hair and make up start times, to when you should pick up your wedding flowers, to what time you should enter your reception and when you should have sunset photos – we can help you with it all! We simply ask you to fill in a quick questionnaire, and we do the rest! This wedding day timeline planning definitely helps you get the best wedding photos and not feel rushed on your special day.

Frequently Asked Questions.

A: I am starting to feel really old, I always remember being the young one of the group, but when I start thinking about the amazing weddings I have been part of and I start counting the years I really can’t believe where I am now. I have photographed over 300 weddings. Crickey, I wonder how many clicks that is!! As well as this personal experience, I add to my knowledge and skill set with photography seminars and training, constantly working to update my skills to offer the best wedding photography.

A: Yes, I sure do. I LOVE traveling, most of the time I am living out of my suitcase whether I am driving around or flying. Some hotels who offer destination weddings include a local photographer as part of the package however I have heard so many people be disappointed with the images when they get them back, so I suggest you do your research before booking. Don’t pick such a beautiful place to be married and end up with mediocre photos! Travel and related expenses will apply, however because we love to travel, we usually work something out that makes everyone happy! Putting together travelling and photographing is my dream situation, so I’m easy to work with!

A: We’ve tried to make booking your wedding photography simple by creating wedding photography collections and taking away those hard decisions. Collections from Jade Norwood and our associates start from around $3000 and include a USB with high resolution JPEG files of your images, high quality products like lay flat linen or leather wedding albums, wall canvas art and beautiful save the date and thank you card designs. You also have the ability to add any wedding experience items to your collection, including more photography hours, a second photographer, engagement shoots and more. Contact Jade Norwood Photography today to discuss custom wedding photography packages.

A: Yes, for sure. We want you to have the wedding of your dreams, including what you get from your vendors. In order to give you the best wedding experience possible we are more than happy to tailor a collection to your needs!

Q: We don’t really have a lot of money to spend on our wedding and our budget is quite small. You’re a bit out of our budget, why should we spend so much on photography?

A: I can’t tell you how much you should spend; this is totally a personal choice and one I can understand if we are out of your budget. But sometimes you need to look at it from another angle. There are few things that you will take away from your wedding to remember it by; your wedding outfits, maybe some cake, possibly your flowers dried, and of course, a lifelong partnership. They are bits and pieces of a celebration that took a lot of thought and planning. Your wedding photography will capture all of that and more; it will be a record of the emotions, special moments and little details that will bring your memories back to life each time you look at the photos. If you feel that it is more important to fill the room with fairy lights for a few hours, then that is what you personally value, and Jade Norwood Photography probably isn’t right for you. You can take a look at our helpful wedding budget calculator here 

Q: There are so many photographers around – even cheaper photographers. Why should we choose Jade Norwood Photography for our wedding?

A: I’m going to be honest – this comes down to how important your wedding photos are to you and the experience of getting them. Do you want the best photos with a blend of natural, candid, fun, romantic and classic wedding photos? Do you want those photos that make you go wow with off camera lighting? Do you want the best customer service, and to have so much fun on your wedding day with someone who is there to give you the very best, who is always going above and beyond, and will make you laugh and feel relaxed? If any of these were a yes – then you want Jade Norwood Photography. A cheaper photographer may be appealing, but that also might mean cheaper products, cheaper looking style, and – worse – blurry photos and no back up equipment in case of issue on the day. If you want a wedding photography experience that is both extraordinary and unique, you can’t go past Jade Norwood Photography.

Q: Do you photoshop all of your images?

A: ‘Edit and photoshop’ means different things to different people, and the saying “oh you can photoshop that” comes out way too often these days.
So from my perspective! I shoot in RAW, once the wedding is complete I take these images in to a program called ‘Lightroom’ to develop them (which is just like a photography lab would have done when you took your film in to be developed many moons ago), this term to me is called an edited image. An edited image is colour and contrast corrected, cropped and ready for you to print. You receive this image in a high resolution JPEG format.

A retouched image will have blemishes removed, reduce those under eye bags, fix the shiny highlights on your nose and forehead, fix horrible bad fake tans, remove those pesky little flies, skin will be blotch free, and a little bit of the skinny tool used (cause who doesn’t want to look just a touch thinner). I strongly believe in getting everything right in camera first, I don’t want to think, or have the client thinking ‘we will photoshop’ – it should never be a fallback option. However professionally retouched images are the ones that will go in your album and the ones that will be displayed in your home.

I believe photos should look like photos, in 10 years time I want you to look back at your classic images and just go wow what a nice photo… instead of OMG what trend in photoshop was that, what the hell was the photographer thinking!

Q: Do we get a copy of our wedding photos on USB in the package and how many photos will we get?

A: All of our wedding photography collections include you receiving the copy of your photos. On average, we take 90-100 images per hour that we are at your wedding, so your wedding photography package reflects this in the ‘minimum photos’ included. Images are given to you on a USB in high resolution, ready for printing. We want you to be able to share these photos in 40 years time, so we really stress that you get your photos printed or invest in a quality wedding photo album instead of leaving them on the USB alone. Remember floppy disks and rolls of photo negatives? Imagine if we hadn’t gotten those photos printed – we’d no longer be able to view them!

Q: What equipment do you use?

A: I am a Nikon user, and be assured it is all professional gear. I use a lot of equipment and there is way too much to list here individually. I do shoot with a Nikon D4 which has two card slots, which means each image I take is backup right in the camera; so if a memory card was to ever corrupt, it is ok because I have a backup. Do other photographers you are comparing have this option?

I have back ups of everything in case of failure and all gear is serviced regularly. The most important thing is not to worry about what gear I am using but how I can capture the story and essence of your day in a fun and relaxed way.

Q: Do you recommend we get a second photographer for our wedding day?

A: Yes, absolutely! In fact we can’t recommend it enough, and neither can my brides. A second photographer can capture more candid moments and different perspectives, that one shooter just can’t possibly get. Second photographers add to your wedding story and can also cut down on bridal party portrait time, because two photographers can be working on different combinations at once, and being more efficient means you can get back to the party sooner!

Q: I’ve heard a lot of people are having engagement sessions; do we need to have one?

A: We totally think YES! We truly believe that is one of the most important parts of the wedding photography experience. Most of us don’t feel like models in front of the camera, so engagement sessions are a great way to get over those nerves, and learn some great tricks on how to look fabulous and relaxed in front of the camera, so by the time your wedding comes around, you’re a professional! Don’t worry most guys don’t love the thought of an engagement session, but trust us, they leave thinking ‘wow, that was super easy’! Because there’s no timeline to meet everything is relaxed, we can try a few locations, and you won’t be rushed trying to get back to a reception!

Check out more about why we love engagement sessions by reading this

Q: Are we able to get wedding albums from you?

A: Absolutely. We so strongly believe in having your images in print that will last forever and hand down through generations. We have written a blog post about it here and you can see examples of wedding album layouts – just send us an email!

Q: Can we have a copy of the RAW files?

A: We believe in giving you the best possible service, which also means maintaining quality control over your digital files, retouching, and album production. Giving out un-corrected RAW files is not something we do and also not something we negotiate on.

Q: We have photos we have seen on Pinterest that we love, should we also give you a shot list of what we want from our wedding day?

A: We ask you to provide us with only a list of the family members or friends you would like photographed. When it comes to specific photos you’ve seen that you want to emulate in your own wedding photos, we would love to see what style you are after, and work together to create this for you. We don’t commit to a 3 page list of particular photos because sometimes conditions don’t permit – weather, uncooperative people, time delays – however you can be assured that the documentary style photography of your big day means not a special moment will be missed.

Q: We have some great ideas for our wedding and we would love to get it featured in a magazine or wedding blog; is this something you can help with?

A: Of course. We have had numerous features in magazines such as Brides of Adelaide, Modern Wedding, SA Life as well as online features like the knot, Love Cherish Adore and Polka Dot Bride. We photograph each and every wedding to high level that editors love and we can work on your behalf in submitting it to a publisher we think it best matches with.

The best publishers do get a lot of submissions, so be prepared for a long wait. The main reason a wedding stands out from the rest and gets published is for the details and styling it has, to give other brides ideas when planning their wedding. So the more unique details and styling you have the more likely it will be to get featured. We know a super great stylist we can tell you about if you’re looking for help to get your ideas and bringing them to life.

Q: What happens in a worst case scenario, like you’re really really sick?

A: It would take something extremely catastrophic for me to miss your wedding. I’m about as likely to miss it as you are. I’ve never missed one yet and “touch a lot of wood” hopefully I never will, however I am a member of the AIPP (Australian Institute of Professional Photographers) and have many professional photographer colleagues, so finding a replacement photographer is easy. This is a very unlikely scenario, but I always have a plan in place… I have actually had to be that ‘back up’ person before for another photographer!

Q: What kind of wedding photography style do you identify with?

A: I like a documentary style of photography, where all the details and moments that build the story of your wedding day are capture for it’s retelling. During bridal party portraits I will assist in posing if needed, however this is still a very natural style, and it is more of a pose to start with and then to relax into that which makes you feel like you. I love to use natural and off camera lighting and have been told I am ‘famous’ for my sunset shots.

Q: We don’t know much about you Jade, what can you tell us about yourself?

A: Im not one of these photographers that will tell you I love coffee (because I don’t drink it) and do handy crafts on a Sunday… Lets be honest if I don’t have a wedding on a Sunday, im on the road travelling, and then downloading, backing up and starting to work on Saturdays wedding.

Im very practical and just say it like it is…

I was raised in the country, in small town called Ceduna; which I still call home, and think I always will. And ok, I wasn’t the girly girl who played dress ups and played with barbies. I rode horses and played in the dirt. I wasn’t the little girl that planned my dream wedding, I have never been the girl that bought wedding magazines dreaming about my wedding. I guess being a romantic at heart has made be fall hard for weddings. I just love, LOVE.

I can ‘Mcguiver’ a lot of things – if something is broken, just find me a paperclip and some twine, I’ll sort it! I am a bit of a perfectionist, which has it pros and cons but I will go with more pros!

I will tell you that I am a fanatic for tennis and netball, and as much as I love the beach, I don’t get there enough. I love animals and my family means the world to me, whether that is blood family or friends I choose to be family.

I’m told I have an infectious laugh and I guarantee you I can make you laugh… Even is that means me just making a fool of myself to make you forget that the camera is even there!

I was super honored and excited to be voted top 10 Adelaide wedding photographer by The Knot – it was a super great accomplishment given the dedication I put into my wedding photography.

I travel around a lot, through out South Australia and Australia, I am yet to travel overseas, I need to work on my passport, right!?

I am a super relaxed, easy going person, but can be direct and firm when needed on a wedding day.

I always have my music as loud as it can go in my car, I sing along of course, and have had the awkward moment when you’re singing the best song ever, as loud as you can… and your navigation system cuts in, stops the song and you hear yourself… eeekkkkk safe to say I quickly changed that setting!

Over the years I have morphed into a night owl, I’m not a lover of super early starts.

Each wedding I try and push myself to the limits for our clients. You guys don’t want the same pictures that were in your parents wedding album, you want images that are reflective of your personalities and are unique to you.

Today I’m a wedding photographer living in between Ceduna and Adelaide. I shoot weddings and ensure your first day as husband and wife is etched in your hearts and minds as the best day of your lives. I’d love to chat more about the wedding of your dreams, so feel free to look around my website or simply send me an email for more information. You can read more about me here.

Q: After reading all of this it has cemented that we want Jade Norwood Photography for our wedding day, how do we book?

A: Awesome, the booking process is super straight forward; it is all done online so there is no paper and printing required. A $1000 retainer is required to secure your date and a signed contract – wedding dates are open until these have been received. Just head over to the contact page to get the process started or email jade@jadenorwood.com

Contact Me!