Vermont engagement photos

Also, don’t forget to check out more of this cute couple on their engagement session blog post!

I positively cannot wait to photograph their wedding next month!

Kat – Kingdom Wedding Photography by Kat
Your Vermont wedding and engagement photographer

Sound like you? Does having a camera pointed at you make you feel awkward, do you not know where to put your hands, what to do and leaves you to wonder if you’ll ever be able to wipe the frozen smile off your face? You’re not alone. Most of us feel the same way, myself included. When I had my new pictures taken for my website overhaul, I was close to tears by my inability to pose … until my photographer stopped making me pose and started to direct/distract. Within minutes, I had forgotten about the camera and was acting naturally [and also stopped making what is known as "the dork fish face" in our house]. I actually had somewhat of a good time. Which is exactly my goal as your wedding photographer.

As your wedding photographer, it is my job to capture photos of you that are fun, relaxed and show the real you enjoying your wedding day…

Your only job is … to love on your new spouse

… to use him to tee off

… or to simply carry her on your back … in short, it is your job to relax, enjoy, have fun and trust me to capture wedding photos that will look natural and un-posed.

When planning your timeline, you want to set aside about about 15 minutes for the pictures of the two of you (more time if we’ll be in more than one location). Note that for this part of the day, it will be just the three of us with no distractions or other guests with cameras.

I am always super grateful when my couples allow me to grab them for 10 more minutes during the reception when the light is just right to take some more beautiful wedding photos.

Here is the link to a fantastic sunset calendar. It gives you the exact time of the sun setting for various locations based on time of the year.

We can also take more wedding pictures after dark – like this super romantic and intimate candle-light wedding photo, which hasn’t been retouched or digitally enhanced.

Kat – Kingdom Wedding Photography by Kat
Your Vermont wedding photographer

First up is the 8*8, 20-page, hardcover layflat wedding album that is included in the “Princess Bride” wedding photography package. I am absolutely in love with it. Remember the old-fashioned wedding albums that were heavy as a brick, had those thick pages with opaque backgrounds and cluttered designs that felt like they were still stuck in the 80s? Yeah, this isn’t one of those. This coffee table wedding album is classic, timeless, decidedly uncluttered and totally styling. All albums are custom designed to reflect you and your wedding.

Kat – Kingdom Wedding Photography by Kat
Your Vermont wedding photographer – ask about custom wedding album design

We took this picture last summer – it’s one of the few pictures I am in as I’m usually on the other end of the camera – and I am still as much in love with her as I was when we first saw her.

Happy Gotcha Day Daisy Mae – love you!!!!

Kat – Kingdom Wedding Photography by Kat
your dog loving Vermont wedding photographer

When doing formals after the wedding ceremony, I like to start with the entire wedding party. Here, our groomsmen are distracted by the beautiful bridesmaids and soon lose their shy.

If you’ve been following my “formal wedding portraits” series, you have already read about Duke, the wedding dog, in last week’s post on dogs in Vermont weddings and how patiently Duke posed for all the wedding photos.

Wedding tip: Before you assume your position, just drop everything you’re holding (glasses, bottles, cans, purses, cameras etc.) and place it right behind your wedding photographer so it won’t be in the pictures.

Groomsmen & groomsmaid. Super cute – this was taken prior to the wedding ceremony at the Alerin Barn in St. Johnsbury, VT.

And, of course, if you guys have a hobby or anything that just screams “YOU”, by all means, do it. Here are the groom & groomsman putting on their best wrestling moves.

And just like that … the guys are done taking photos and free to join cocktail hour. However, you want to check in with the bride & groom to make sure you’re on time and in place for the grand entrance.

With the groomsmen now being out of the picture, it’s time to photograph the bridesmaids. If you have props like these super cute parasols, bring them along.

One of my all time favorites, bridesmaids in a field in Vermont:

I hope you enjoyed these beautiful photos as much as I enjoyed taking them. Happy Friday & happy wedding planning!

Kat – Kingdom Wedding Photography by Kat
Your Vermont wedding photographer

In case you missed the previous posts on formal wedding photos, here they are:
“How to take a group photo of all the weddings guests” and “how to photograph extended family formals at a wedding”.

Some dogs stuck around for the entire wedding day, followed the ceremony excitedly, bounced back down the aisle with their now married parents and posed for not-quite-so-formal wedding photos. Some of my couples hired designed dog sitters to supervise their dogs on their wedding day and some had their dogs driven back to their house before the start of their wedding reception.

Cats, by nature, don’t do quite that well at weddings. However, this wedding took place at the bride’s grandmother’s lake house at Lake Champlain where the family traditionally spent their summer vacations. Kathleen’s kitten didn’t attend the actual wedding at the waterfront but stayed behind at the summer camp. After the outdoor wedding ceremony, we darted back across the street, into the sun room and took some beautiful portraits of the bride and her cat.

Yep, they’re part of our families.

Duke, the wedding dog. This dog was awesome. Not only was he the ring bearer, he patiently posed with every.single.group for the wedding formals and did a spectacular job. All this while keeping his flower decorations intact. Actually, you’ll see more of him in those formals with the bridesmaids & groomsmen next week when I blog about “fun with your wedding party”. Later on, I saw him patiently sitting near (but not too close) the buffet table, giving guests the “lab look”. If you’ve ever been on the receiving end of this look, you know what I’m talking about.

I love these photos. Two dogs super eager to walk down the aisle.

Enjoy!

Kat – Kingdom Wedding Photography by Kat
Your Vermont wedding photographer

Germany has this funky tradition of having two wedding ceremonies. One civil ceremony to make it legal in the eyes of the state and then a church ceremony. My great-great-grandparents on my mom’s side of the family, however, didn’t really care that my parents had their legal wedding ceremony on May 2nd. If the church hadn’t given its blessing, they were not married as far as they were concerned and my dad was not allowed to spend what was supposed to be his wedding night under their roof. He was told in no uncertain terms to come back the next day. Back he went to his mom’s house – married but not yet married – to spend the night.

I double-checked with my parents before posting this and asked if they would mind me sharing their story (they didn’t) and if they could also email me one of their old wedding photos (my mom had mentioned that she had a scanner). However, nobody knew how to install the scanner and so here we are on my dad’s anniversary with no wedding photo. Which led me to rummage around the attic & various closets to find a picture of my parents to accompany this post … and here we are. One of my favorite photos of them, taken at Düsseldorf Airport as they were sending me off to attend USC.

Happy Anniversary Mom & Dad!

Alles Gute zum Hochzeitstag!!!

Katrin
Kingdom Wedding Photography by Kat

Your Vermont Wedding Photographer

I like to start with the largest group and then peel back people in layers. Meaning we start the photo with a very large family group, then peel away aunts/uncles/cousins/kids, grandparents…

… then the siblings, so we’re left with just the parents and the couple.

In this case, I started with Anna & Darren and Darren’s parents.

Anna stepped to the side and I photographed the groom and his parents.

Anna & her parents stepped into the picture for a picture of the bride & groom with both sets of parents.

Darren’s parents joined cocktail hour at this point and Anna & Darren posed with the bride’s parents.

Anna & her parents – I’m not entirely sure what I said exactly.

To streamline the process, you want to think about the people you really want to be in those pictures. Keep the list small & manageable (about 8-10 groupings are perfect) and we’ll be able to photograph your formals in about 30 minutes. You also will likely receive additional requests for specific formal groupings from parents and others. Additional photos will take more time and usually lead to more requests for more portraits – but if you have a timeline that allows for plenty of time and you’re up for it, I’m happy to take as many portraits as you would like to take. However, if you would rather not take more formals, just let me know before your wedding day and I’ll be more than happy to be the bad guy and deny those requests in a cheerful way and suggest to your guests that we take those photos during your wedding reception.

TIP: If you plan on taking wedding formals with kids, it’s always a good idea to have toys or candy nearby. Water for the adults is never a bad idea either.

Check out last week’s blog post on how to take a group photo of all your wedding guests. And also stay tuned for next week’s post where I’ll blog about taking pictures of your bridal party and how to get groomsmen look studly in portraits.

Oh, and if you have any other questions related to wedding formals or any questions in general, just post them here in the comments section or over on my Facebook page.

Kat – Kingdom Wedding Photography by Kat
relaxed Vermont wedding photos

Jessica & Chris’ wedding took place at the amazingly scenic Greystone Manor in Cape Neddick, Maine – you can check out their cool feature by clicking on the image below. The details alone … wow!!!!!

Molly & Cody’s Vermont fall wedding at the Old Lantern was featured by Brautstories in Germany – yep, an international feature. Being originally from Germany and having just gotten my US Citizenship last year, it does mean a lot to me to be published in “the old country”.

Kat – Kingdom Wedding Photography by Kat
Your Vermont & Maine wedding photographer

but you still have formals to do. I totally get it. You don’t want to skip taking any photos with your family but you also don’t want to spend hours posing until your smile feels frozen, you miss cocktail hour and wonder how your wedding day turned into an endless photo session.

Fear not. Over the next couple of posts/weeks, I’ll explain how I make wedding formals quick, fun & painless. Yep. Fun & formals. It can be done.

Let’s start with the biggest undertaking of them all – the group photo with your wedding guests.

The best time for this photo is right after the ceremony – once your guests have reached the reception area (and with that the bar, the dance floor or the bathroom), it can make gathering every single wedding guest a bit of a time consuming undertaking. So if you have your heart set on a group photo of all of your wedding guests, do it after the ceremony. In short: round them up before they can come up with an escape route

You can have your officiant or wedding coordinator make an announcement asking guests to gather at a certain spot after the ceremony so we can arrange them, take the photo and they’ll be on their marry merry way. Or you could include this information with your wedding invitation.

One thing I’ve always wanted to tell wedding guests: if you’re short and you know it (I’m no giant myself), please come to the front of the group. You don’t want to be hiding in the back … this photo is for the bride & groom to remember everybody who was part of their day, they want to see your face so please don’t hide.

Stay tuned because next week, we’ll be talking about how to best take wedding photos with your extended family.

Kat – Kingdom Wedding Photography by Kat
Vermont wedding formals family portraits