Tips for Creating a Sameday Slideshow at a Wedding

The wedding guests have all sat down to dinner and you've got 30 minutes to make a same-day wedding slideshow. You've taken 3000 images already and you're only going to show 30 in this sneak peak. Don't stress! These handy tips will help you survive with flying colours!

Here's the basic strategy....

Run away from the busy wedding. Plug in your card reader. Open up your pre-made "Sameday Slideshow Folder." You're going to zoom through your images and drag over your 25 quick-picks! Then those images will be imported to Lightroom. Run your fav. preset on the images OR stay safe and turn them all black and white! Run back to wedding, plop your slideshow in the corner and prepare yourself for lots of praise & joyful faces :D

Let's break it down....

1) Find a quiet corner or room. Calm the nerves and focus. Don't worry about rushing back or missing a moment. Rushing will only slow you down by making your hands shaky and your decision sloppy. I was so panicked at my first wedding while making the slideshow — I think I actually had a panic attack — like a real legit one. Oh, and do this during dinner — when everyone is stuffing their faces a.k.a not wanting their photos taking.

2) PREpare As Much As Possible

Make your life easy. Have a pre-made slideshow folder on your computer. Have your slideshow Lightroom Catalogue made & the slideshow settings chosen. Also have your logo slide uploaded beforehand. All you have to do at the wedding is import your chosen images and you're good to go!

3) When picking images quickly, DON'T OBSESS! 

Open up your images in a folder and make the image icons BIG so you can see the photos without having to open the files. Scroll through and when you see an image you like, preview it big — if it looks good, take it and move on! Don't worry about culling THE BEST image from a series of 5 similar images. This will save you so much time! Culling perfectionism didn't receive an invite to this wedding!

4) WHICH PICTURES TO SHOW....Emotion, Emotion, Emotion + Groups!! 

We are all in LURV with detail pictures BUT nobody is going to melt over that gorgeous picture of the shoes. (sadly). You want to tug at their heart strings and make them say "This photographer is AMAZING. HOW DID THEY CATCH THAT MOMENT!!" So throw in a couple pretty detail shots BUT overload the show with tears, tight embraces, kisses and cute glances. ALSO, pick images of moments that the guests witnessed in person because it will bring back their memories and make them feel involved. A couple images from before the wedding or from the first look are also fun because it's a part of the day they didn't get to see and now you're sharing it with them. FINALLY....include as many people as possible. We're all vain, let's face it. More people in the photos = more people watching the show = more people talking about the show. AND MAKE SURE IF YOU SHOW ONE SET OF PARENTS THAT YOU ALSO SHOW THE OTHER SET! I've made that mistake before :/ 

5) Show your images on your laptop. 

This will cause a little hub of excitement in the corner that people will find and pull other guests over to see. If you project it big on the wall then everyone will sit it easily and the buzz of a secret surprise will be lost. You want to make people talk!!

6) Have cards beside your computer that people can pick up.

Your business card can look tacky (like you're advertising at their wedding). So don't do that. Instead, have a card that says...

"Want to see more images from Sarah & Mike's wedding? 

Visit their wedding photography website

www.sarah+mike.chamonixthurstonrattue.com

Thanks so much!

Enjoy the party :)

xoxo

Chamonix"

This way you get to advertise but it's tasteful and helpful. People probably won't pick up your business card (unless you wooed them with your charming personality) but they WILL pick up this card because you're really offering something they want...PICTURES! 

I design my slideshow cards in PhotoShop using a photo from their engagement shoot. I print them as 4x6 floppy prints from a pharmacy. I print off enough for about 40% of the guests. 100 guests = 40 prints. 

7) Not everyone will see the slideshow...

THAT's OK. Deal with it. Accept it. Make sure the bride & groom + their familes + wedding party see it. Everyone else is bonus. Your MAIN goal here is to make sure that your clients and their closest loved ones know what an amazing job you did so they'll talk about you the next day and rave about this awesome slideshow and feel good about the money they spend on you!

So good luck my friend! Have fun showing off your gorgeous pictures at your next wedding. You're going to blow off their socks!

Glam the Dress :: Behind the Scenes VIDEO

Cheryl & I were sitting in the Barns & Noble Starbucks brainstorming bridal shoot ideas over green tea (and whatever she drinks — I never remember :P). Let's get 3 girls each day and borrow dresses from the wonderful Jen at Blue Sky Bridal and we'll shoot and my house and we'll go all day long and end up with tons of billions of photos to add to our portfolios! Cheryl was after your classic bridal portraits & I was on the hunt for glam-the-dress portraits; aka. glamour portraits but with your wedding dress. Glam the Dress is an awesome alternative to the destructive "Trash the Dress" sessions which are becoming all the rage and make Cheryl, Jen and me very sad :( boo We don't like Trash the Dress - we just don't get it. But we LOVE LOVE LOVE Glam the Dress. We've been going video crazy this year! Here's our first Glam-the-Dress behind the scenes video starring the beautiful and vivacious Rachel! Enjoy ;)

Photography :: Chamonix Thurston-Rattue

Make Up By :: Hanna Mazur 

Behind the Scenes Photography & Video by :: Cheryl Ford 

Model :: Rachel Tuttle

Dress: Blue Sky Bridal 

Photography Portrait Lighting :: Natural Window Light vs. Indoor Lighting

Apparently this will be the last blog post I ever write because the world is ending tonight! But please keep reading because I'm sure this nifty wee lighting technique will be applicable in the afterlife. ;) 

TURN OFF THE LIGHTS! That's the first thing I do when I'm shooting indoors. Even the most gorgeous natural window light is overpowered by that nasty orange indoor lighting (time & place my friends...the orange light is PERFECT for a cozy evening sipping tea and snuggling). But when you're shooting, the minute you flick the light switch, pow! It's like Cinderella... the hazy pumpkin glow is gone and everything is crisp & everyone's skin is a magically cream fairytale.

For the first 10 minutes of Kaitlyn's bridal prep at Inglewood Country Club, we shot with the indoor lights ON. Suddenly, I realised why I wasn't loving the images on the back of my camera. I raced to the light-switch (asked the Make Up Artist if she'd mind if I turned the lights off — of course not, she says — FIY: in my experience they always say 'yes'. MUA's also like working in natural light), FLICKed the switch and BOOM POW KAZAAA! The quality of the images skyrockets and I become a very happy photographer for the rest of the day. :)

The other benefit to turning off the indoor lights is the gorgeous contrast that results. As you can see in these example images, when the indoor lights are ON (photos on the left) you can see the room behind Kaitlyn. When the lights go OFF, the background disappears into darkness and now my beautiful bride is grabbing all of your attention in front of a clean, crisp, black background! Love it!

Inglewood Country Club Wedding :: Kaitlyn + Michael

Crouching behind the cake table my heart stopped as the father-daughter dance music started skipping. "Oh dear..." Hundreds of people watched on as Kaitlyn and her dad looked nervously over at the DJ. And then suddenly, the room was beaming with smiles and laughter as the music changed and the pair broke into a choreographed dance routine! Michael sat back in his chair at the sweetheart table, watching his new bride and father-in-law flashing their groovy moves and fully living out their family motto — Fun is Good! Having known Kaitlyn for over a decade now it makes me so happy to see her marrying a man who shares her playfulness and love of life. All day long I watched them gravitate to each other with such beautiful smiles on their faces and a shared attitude of calm confidence that they'd found the love of their life. 

Michael had given each of the men in his wedding party a handsome pocket-watch the night before the wedding. :) 

I remember months ago when Kaitlyn first texted me a photo of her dress. My mouth dropped open when I saw all of the delicate lace. It was such a perfect fit for her. I loved seeing her looking so gorgeous and hearing everyone whispering about how beautiful she was all day long. 

The Inglewood Gold Club was such a perfect place for these Tiger Woods fans to celebrate! Ha!

"UPWARD EXCITEMENT....GO!" Yaiwoo! :P

Oh my goodness... I love shooting family portraits. It's pretty much the only place in my life where I get to be the boss and tell everyone look silly...and they actually do it! :P Obviously, I take well behaved portraits too but goofiness is where it's at!

Kaitlyn & Michael's slow-tempo candlelit ceremony in mid-November was like romance wrapped in a big bow for these two — it was so peaceful, full of prayer, and of course, laughter.

Some of the best dancing at a wedding I've ever seen! Of course, I'm slightly biased since I got to dance the night away on the dance floor with my friends :P Oh, and did I mention that I caught the garter? I was standing on a chair when Michael accidentally shot Kaitlyn's garter in the wrong direction and wacked my camera in the face! (He took a mulligan :P)

Here's the awesome father-daughter dance I mentioned before :)

There they go! How cute, right?!

A fireplace full of cathedral candles....ugh! I just died a little from happiness!

And of course...pictures at sunset made everybody happy. See what I mean about their smiles for one another? It's infectious! I LOVE it!

Thank you so much Michael & Kaitlyn for asking me to photograph your wedding day. It really was an honour being your honorary bridesmaid & photographer. I am so happy when I see you two together and I can't wait to hear about all of your exciting adventures on the East Coast! Love you so much :) 

To view more images from Michael & Kaitlyn's wedding, check out their slideshow here:

Ceremony Venue :: Northshore Baptist Church in Kenmore, Washington
Reception Venue :: Inglewood Golf Club in Kenmore, Washington
Dress :: Casablanca Bridal Purchased at Cinderella's Closet
Bridesmaid's Dresses :: Anne Taylor Loft
Flowers :: Family Friend
Bride's Bouquet & Flower Girl's Basket :: Therese White
Cake :: TM Dessert Works
Cupcakes :: Taylor Frazier (Family Friend)
DJ :: Steven Bolt —The People's DJ

Shooting in Paradise :: Behind the Scenes Hawaiian Style

Behind the Scenes is my favourite place to be....especially when "Behind the Scenes" is located on the North Shore of Oahu, Hawaii during a tropical golden sunset.... 

While I was crawling around like a crab in the sand, asking Ricky & Nozomi to spin & twirl for my camera, little did I know that my dad was creeping over in the bushes with his zoom lens, capturing the FULL picture in action! As far as I'm concerned, what could possibly be more fascinating than seeing pictures of me taking pictures?! I LOVE it! Plus, I just generally love a behind-the-scenes image sitting beside the final image taken in that same moment. Kinda fun & magical! 

I'm going to guess that I actually shoot 60% of a wedding day from down on the ground :P I get funny looks and very dirty knees but I just love the perspective from down there. Nothing quite like it.

Aloha rainbow! Every single day there's a rainbow on that beautiful island! 

Rainbows mean sudden downpour of rain.....

Ah, what a dream.... I miss you Hawaii. :)

North Shore Hawaii Wedding :: Ricky & Nozomi

The most divine breeze I've ever felt rustled through the tropical leaves as the graceful hands of Malea danced a hula blessing over Ricky and Nozomi. We were on the edge of Loulu Palm Estate on the North Shore of Oahu, Hawaii with Pacific waves crashing onto the sand before us. The ceremony began with the sound of conch shell blown to all four directions. Just a few beaches down the coast, a surfing competition was drawing flocks of spectators but here we were on this small beach, in perfect privacy, watching Ricky and Nozomi performing Hawaiian wedding rituals, bringing themselves to one another to be united into a family. 

Ricky and Nozomi have both spent so much time in here and grown so fond of Hawaii, it was a complete no-brainer where they were going to have their wedding. Plus, Hawaii was a beautiful meeting ground for their families to come together for a week of celebration. Watching their two cultures, Japanese & American (Seattle), merge together was lovely and very entertaining. Ricky and Nozomi had prepared an entire cheat-sheet of Japanese-American phrases & translations for the guests! I didn't have much time to practice on the day but I had researched ahead of time how to say "Say Cheese" in Japanese! ;)

I'm so obsessed with the gorgeous Hawaiian plants. They made amazing wedding "decorations" all around the estate. I photographed them all day long and I had to resist publishing all my flower pictures  in this blog post — perhaps they'll win their very own post in the near future!

Oh, Nozomi...such a beauty.

Ricky picked out Nozomi's bridal shoes. :D Super sweet!

Barefoot (or nearly barefoot) wedding celebrations make me so happy! 

Look who it is?! Those goofy peeps are my parents! I love shooting weddings that they're invited to because 1. I get to spend time with them, 2. They get to see me doing my ninja camera skillz (a.k.a. they don't see me at all! lol) 3. They lend a helping hand when needed (my mom packs me wedding photography survival kits the morning of a wedding!) and 4. They're super fun to photograph! Never a dull moment with those two!

Witnessing a Hawaiian wedding for the first time was fascinating. My favourite thing about the whole ceremony was how each tradition felt so rooted to nature. I think this made the whole celebration seem so wholesome and genuine — we could all sense that a true bond had been made between them.

Nozomi's adorable niece doesn't like being photographed so I made it my mission all day long to try and catch her looking cute. :)

This was my first time every photographing tropical light! I am head-over-heels in LOVE! The last wedding I photographed was in Scotland and let me tell ya.... the "sunshine" up there is SO DIFFERENT and I had NO idea just how different until now. It's seriously like I've seen light, real glorious golden light, for the first time and oh my it's divine. I get it now. :)

Hooray! These two are so cute.

In Hawaii, there is a rainbow everyday. On Rick & Nozomi's wedding day, the pot of gold was right smack dab in the middle of our celebrations! Perfecto!

The golden sunlight made way for a purple haze that faded into a crisp black starlit nightsky, beneath which we danced to the guitar, swayed with the hula, gawked at a firedancer, and went crazy with Karaoke (special performance by my dad — LOVED this!)

Thank you so much Rick & Nozomi for taking me with you on your special adventure to the North Shore! I LOVED every minute of it and I can't wait to celebrate there again...hopefully with you! Congratulations on big celebrations and little surprises ;) Happy Thanksgiving & Lots of love, xoxo Chamonix