A Simple Action

Sophisticated Weddings

For many couples, the wedding day will race by in a blur. This is one of the best reasons to work with a wedding planner. But that's a piece of advice for another article. Today, we are recommending a shot list.

A shot list, quite simply, is a list of photos you'd like your photographer to capture throughout the day. The task of creating your shot list can actually be fun. We recommend couples begin working on the list early on in their wedding planning. Make it an on-going process. Have conversations. And every time another idea for a photo comes up, add it to the shot list.

There are the obvious; all the portraits, the first look (or "reveal"), the first dance, best man's toast, cake cutting, etc. But then there are some more specific moments you don't want to miss. Perhaps the groom will be revealing something in the moment after the first look? Maybe you have a special move planned within your first dance? Help your photographer out! Make a shot list.

Now, within that list, it's not a bad idea to come up with a few simple actions. Portraits can feel contrived. However, if you give yourselves a little simple action to perform, you'll no longer be focused on the photographer and the camera, or if you're standing up straight enough, but, rather, on that simple action you have to perform.

Below is an image from our feature "Timeless Romance", photographed at The Pierre Hotel with Malika Miller and Dominic D'Angelica. Even though Malika and Dominic were a real couple- engaged at the time of our photo shoot- and professional models, we thought it would be fun to give them a simple action to perform within one of the day's setups.

A couple feeding each other is always a terrific simple action. Sometimes the act of feeding each other is even more intimate than a kiss. Now, having already photographed more cakes than we could count in previous shoots, so we decided to try giving the pair a plate of pasta (with no sauce, since Malika was wearing a $12,500 dress by Kim Kassas Couture). And what we ended up with was our favorite photo from this feature.