QUESTIONS TO ASK YOUR WEDDING PHOTOGRAPHER
A few questions we get asked regularly. drop us a message and we can get a chat over any OTHER questions you may have!
‘QUICK QUESTION…
WHERE ARE YOU BASED? DO YOU TRAVEL FOR WEDDINGS?
We live in Derry, Northern Ireland but a large portion of our weddings are shot all over Ireland. Being half Dub, I spend some of the year in Dublin with family and have shot weddings there, in Meath and Galway. I never seen much of Ireland as a kid so we would love to shoot your wedding with the added perk of having photographers see it with fresh eyes, whatever part of the country you’re in! We love to travel so don’t be afraid to see if we’re available for your destination wedding! Travel expenses outside of Ireland do apply but we try to keep these as low as possible. We may need accommodation for weddings 2 hours+ away but don’t let that put you off. Drop us a message for a bespoke quote for your day.
HOW FAR IN ADVANCE DO WE NEED TO BOOK?
We tend to book up a year in advance for most weddings, sometimes two. We can only take on a limited number of weddings per year so this limits the available dates per yer, even if yours is still free! Photography is one of the first things booked for most couples so get in touch as soon as you can to see if we are available! : )
DO YOU COVER THE FULL DAY?
Yes we can! Our base ‘Modern Love’ package means we are with you from getting ready until you’re seated for dinner. This essentially covers a full day apart from the dancing and will normally end just after speeches, if they are before dinner. We absolutely love photographing a good party so if you’d like us to stick around for that too, we can. Our ‘Let’s Dance’ package is designed for just that.
CAN WE GET AN ALBUM?
OH YES! We really recommend printing your photos, however that may be. You didn’t pay us to have your photos sit on a hard drive somewhere so please, please print some photos. (And send us pics of them up on the wall. We love seeing those!) Your online gallery hooks up to a high quality printing lab so you can order prints as soon as your gallery is delivered. Though you can download them and print at home, we do recommend trying to get a few done professionally so they last longer.
We also have two beautiful albums to choose from. These can be ordered after your wedding if you’re not sure about one right now. We actually don’t take any payment up front at the time you book in so you have loads of time to choose which album you would like and when you’re ready, get in touch with us so we can start on your design! Album payments aren’t included in the package price. You can read more about those in our info section.
WHAT ABOUT MY PARTNER? WILL YOU BE WITH THEM IN THE MORNING?
We can totally cover your partner in the morning! We love covering the full ‘story’ which means we can be there with them before the ceremony too. I (Lisa) can’t be in two places at once so you can choose to hire both of us for the day. Chris or one of our lovely associate photographers can be hired to come photograph your partner for an extra fee of £150. To have them there for the full day (which we highly recommend for weddings of 150+ guests, you can have them for £300.
WE DON'T LIKE HAVING OUR PHOTO TAKEN AND SPENDING THE DAY WITH OUR GUESTS IS MOST IMPORTANT TO US. HOW LONG WILL YOU KEEP US AWAY FROM EVERYONE?
For our portrait session together, I will usually pick a location on the way to the reception or use the grounds to create some naturally beautiful shots of you together. It’s always quite short and simple with some slight direction given if you feel nervous and I’ll never take you on a two hour hike. I can promise you it will be very easy going, a bit of craic and a few moments you can steal together before rejoining everyone for the rest of the day. There’s never anything to worry about. Just hold on to each other, hug, kiss, chat, have the craic! The best way to approach the portrait session is to pretend I’m just not there. Let your hair down, grab your other half’s hand and enjoy these few moments together. My guess is most photos of the two of you are selfies, a few drunken ones or you haven’t had a photo together in ages! Just embrace it. It will be over before you know it. I have only had one couple who didn’t want any photos of them on their own an they told me very quickly afterwards they regretted it. It’ll be grand!
We ask that you give us 30 minutes alone time with you both. This ensures we get the kind of photos that made you want to book us in the first place. We’ll never take you away for over an hour and we won’t venture away from the reception unless there’s somewhere you had in mind. We’ll chat to you about it before the day and fit it into your timeline. We’ll always aim to take less time than this and we often do! But 30 minutes is that sweet spot. We can split this up during the day, especially if the weather isn’t on our side. That could be rain or sun. If it’s a rather sunny day, it would be a better option to do the portraits later on, when the sun is less harsh and more flattering.
WE'VE HEARD OF OTHERS HAVING TO PAY THEIR PHOTOGRAPHER EXTRA FOR THE FULL SET OF IMAGES. DO YOU LIMIT THE NUMBER OF PHOTOS WE GET?
Good lord no! We don’t limit the photos we give to you and there’s certainly no extra charge for anything over a certain number. We deliver all useable photos to you in your online gallery for you to download, print, share as you wish. Non-usable images are duplicates or where someone was blinking etc so literally every lovely photo is edited and handed over to you. We’re not monsters. 😉 There’s no set number of of photos we deliver. Depending on what you have going on on the day, the number can vary. So if you have loads of activities planned or you have a rather large wedding, you may end up with more images than if you had a small number of guests with short wedding. But you’ll get them all. Don’t worry.
WE'RE HAVING A LARGE WEDDING OF 150+ GUESTS. ARE YOU COMFORTABLE PHOTOGRAPHING THIS?
Weddings come in all shapes and sizes. Booking the ‘Modern Love’ package means you will have me (Lisa) with you for the day right up until you sit down to dinner. But if you are having a large wedding, we do recommend you consider booking the two of us. More guests means more coverage is generally needed to ensure we get a better documentation of your day. This is a good option to consider.
Hiring a second photographer for the day is £350 on top of the Modern Love package. This will also mean your partner can be covered in the morning.
If you’d like us both til dancing, the ‘Let’s Dance’ package is your best option.
WE'RE PLANNING A SMALL WEDDING. IS IT CHEAPER?
That depends.
If you are having less than 150 guests, our package price stays the same as our pricing covers hours spent with you, not how many guests are attending. We mainly shoot documentary which means we can’t guarantee literally everybody’s face will appear in your photos. This will be quite standard for every photographer (though a good way to ensure everyone is captured is with a big group photo!).
If you are having less hours however, we can work out a price to suit you. We reserve key dates during high season (June though September) for full days, either the Modern Love or Let’s Dance packages). Our Little Wonder package covers up to 4 hours which is perfect if you are looking for coverage from the ceremony, portraits and up til dinner. We try to keep the Little Wonder for mid-week weddings and during our quieter months but don’t hesitate to drop us a message and see if your date can be covered!
WE’RE HAVING AN ALTERNATIVE WEDDING. WOULD YOU BE INTERESTED IN OUR DAY?
The more alternative wedding, the better! I love shooting all weddings. Photographing love stories is a huge privilege for us. Being invited by a couple to spend one of the monumental events in their life is something we are eternally grateful for. We’ve shot small and simple weddings, vintage themed weddings, weddings in tipis, traditional church weddings, estate weddings, civil ceremonies, same sex weddings, boho themed weddings, humanist weddings, first looks, handfasting ceremonies, outdoor weddings. All of them beautiful, all of them special to each couple. We don’t consider ourselves a traditional kind of coupleso anything out of the ordinary is music to our ears. Let us know what you have planned!
WE'RE GETTING MARRIED ABROAD AND CAN'T FIND A PHOTOGRAPHER WE LIKE. CAN WE BRING YOU?
HELL YES. We would absolutely buzz off a destination wedding. We love travelling when we get a chance (which isn’t often with two kids) and photographing a wedding outside of Ireland is a dream of ours. There would be extra charges to cover our travel and accommodation but we will endeavour to keep this as low as humanly possible. Let us know your plans and we can get chatting about your options.
DO WE NEED TO FEED YOU?
Yes please. Weddings are a long, busy day and like everyone else, we’ll need to eat for energy. When you sit down to dinner, we take this time for a break and to re-energise too. We do ask that a hot meal is provided, for both of us if you’ve booked two photographers. We don’t need a 5 course meal (but we’re open to the suggestion?) but something filling and warm for our bellies if we’re photographing the dancing.
We don’t ask to sit with you and your guests. We actually prefer to give you this time to have a break from seeing our mugs and as we don’t photograph anyone eating (nobody wants photos of people eating) we use this time to re-energise, take some photos of the grounds and back up photos until we start back again when dinner has finished.
We’ll normally sit a neighbouring room or the bar and rejoin you when it’s time to cut the cake!
WE'D LIKE AN ENGAGEMENT SHOOT. DO YOU DO THOSE?
Of course. And we love them! They’re a great way to get a feel for how we will be with you on our portrait session on the wedding day. It’s actually a bit of craic which can quickly turn into some proper gooey eyed alone time you didn’t realise you needed! We can usually work this into our pre-wedding meeting a month or two before the day, relax with a coffee or beer and then go have a bit of fun. You’ll quickly realise how pain free it can be in front of the camera. We know theres a tendency to think of engagement shoots as cheesy but we like to refer to them as ‘pre-wedding’ shoots. They’re not cheesy at all. We won’t have you doing anything that’ll make you cringe afterwards. They’re actually quite lovely. You can check out a shoot we did for a fellow photographer last year. We damn well loved it in the end! Check out our ‘posing guide HERE
Couples in the past have used the photos for guest books on the day but the shoot itself will set you up for how your portrait session will go. By the time the day comes around, you’ll be totally ready for your close up. 😉
Our pre-wedding shoots are £350. For those who have booked us for the ‘Let’s Dance’ package, it’s £250.
WHERE WILL OUR PORTRAIT SESSION BE? CAN WE CHOOSE THE LOCATION?
By all means, if you have a place that is dear to you, we will certainly aim to fit that in on the day. We don’t like to take you away from everyone for a long period of time so we normally will stop somewhere on the way to the reception, or use the grounds. If you have somewhere in particular in mind, let us know and we will work that into the day!
WHAT HAPPENS IF IT RAINS?
Embrace it! If you’re lucky enough to be living in our beautiful Emerald Isle, you’ll know that our weather is highly unpredictable. It could be the height of Summer but it may rain all day. Don’t let it bother you. For our portrait session, we will always aim to have a back up of places for photos inside, though we normally incorporate this on any wedding day. And if the rain isn’t that heavy, we can grab an umbrella and embrace it. Some of my favourite wedding portraits have come from being in the rain. It lends itself well to the photos, giving a different texture and and element of moodiness which we love.
We won’t ask you to get drenched but we normally stick a pair of wellies in the boot which can be whipped out in place of your wedding shoes; allowing you to feel a bit more comfortable on wet ground. And a brolly is always a good choice too.
WE KNOW YOU'RE NOT 'TRADITIONAL' BUT CAN WE HAVE FAMILY PHOTOS?
Oh of course. We actually encourage it! Family is important and even if you would prefer no family photos, chances are, your family will. Especially if you have family and friends coming long distance. It’s not often you have everyone in one place and those you hold dear, are going to want to have a wee memento of your big day.
We do try to keep the number of group shots low. For the sole reason that they can end up taking up more time than you might realise but getting those important ones is definitely on our list of suggestions. If you think you want your wedding day to be full of combinations of every single person at your wedding, then we might not be the right photographer for you. You won’t get to enjoy the day you’ve worked so hard towards and paid for! If you consider that each group shot will take an average of 3 minutes to set up, that’s 30 minutes for 10 group shots. That’s fitting in time to find your aunty who has sneaked off to the bar or if you dad is away to the toilet.
We recommend trying to keep the number to 10 combinations which is more than enough for anyone we’ve worked with in the past.
Typical combinations include; both partners with family; separate and together. Both partners with parents, grandparents and siblings. Bridal part; together and separate. Photographs with friends.
We tend to do this after the ceremony when everyone is in one place or can get a bit chaotic later on trying to find everyone. We will ask you on your questionnaire for a list of required shots so we can be prepared for the day. It’s a good idea to have one or two people from the bridal party who know the faces we should be looking for and to help gather everyone.
We will photograph you with your bridal party, normally at the reception venue, just before we take you away a wee while for your portraits.
If there is anyone throughout the rest of the day you want a photograph with, just grab us and let us know!
DO YOU PHOTOGRAPH IN BLACK AND WHITE?
We do! My background is in film photography and working with black and white in the dark room so we love a good black and white. But we’re big colour fans so the majority of your photos will be in colour. We do a few in black and white when the image is particularly emotional or we feel black and white will add a bit more to it. For the most part though, we will be photographing in colour.
We don’t do black and white copies of every image and if you really wanted, you can request a black and white version of an image though anything over 10, we will ask for an extra charge for further editing time.
WHEN DO WE GET TO SEE THE PHOTOS?
Depending on the time of year, the turnaround time can vary. Typically, it will be 8-10 weeks for your full gallery though before this, we will have sent you some lovely previews to keep you going. We always aim to have your gallery with you sooner though if we’re busy photographing weddings, this can take a wee bit longer.
At high season, you can expect to have your images delivered between 8-10 weeks after the wedding. Again, you will have had previews in this time which you can download and share with everyone.
If you need images for Thank You cards, just let us know and we will send you a few photos to choose from. We do ask you give us a 2 week period after the wedding before requesting photos for Thank You cards. Chances are, we will have a lot of weddings to get through before yours but we will always do our best to get you some photos asap.
DO WE OWN THE COPYRIGHT?
No. Copyright of images remains with the photographer but you do have a license to print, share, give some to your family etc as you please.
This means you cannot use the images to promote your own business, sell on your images or give them to publications without contacting us first. So if you were wanting to send your photos into a magazine or wedding blog, get in touch with us about this and we will contact them for you. We need to ensure they are crediting us properly as the copyright owners but we would absolutely love it if you wanted to do this! We love it when wedding blogs approach us about your wedding so we will get in touch with you too if this ever happens.
OUR FLORIST WANTS TO USE SOME OF THE PHOTOS ON THEIR WEBSITE. IS THIS ALLOWED?
We don’t mind when another wedding vendor wants to share your wedding photos! We actually get in touch with them after the day, tag them on instagram etc and show off their lovely part of your wedding. We do ask that you send any wedding vendor our way if they are looking to use images. As with publications, we need to ensure that they are sharing our images properly, in high quality and that the images have not been altered in any way; cropping, applying filters etc. This goes against our copyright and can be a bit of a pain in the arse to see our hard work altered which doesn’t show off our brand in the right light.
We will happily provide them with images to share on their Facebook page or website. Though we need to make sure proper credit is given when doing so and we may need to add watermarks etc. So please feel free to direct them to us and we will sort them out!
DO YOU HAVE INSURANCE?
MOS DEF. We wouldn’t work without it!
Can we meet up?
Of course! Most couples book in without meeting up but if you want to get a chat beforehand, we can certainly do that. Our meetings take place in Derry as we can’t travel all over for every couple we meet with, especially when we’re busy with weddings.
We will mainly meet up mid-week as mostly, we’re photographing weddings at the weekend. If we’re not in peak season though, we can be available some Saturdays.
If you live away, we can always chat on the phone or Skype. I’m still a bit weird with Skype but it’s always a nice way for a face to face when it’s not possible to meet physically.
We will always aim for a meet-up before the wedding day itself when we can get a run-through the day and a wee chat over a coffee or beer.
how do we book?
Your date is booked in with a booking fee of £400 which comes off the total package price, the remainder of which is due on calendar month before the wedding. until we start back again when dinner has finished.
We unfortunately cannot hold dates without a booking fee. For popular dates, we will have a few enquiries through a year. It’s pretty much first come first served but if you were eager to book and have not yet sent through your booking fee, we will always aim to let you know someone else is interested in your date.
Once the booking fee is paid, you’re in! We’ll then send you a receipt for your records!
If there is anything you feel we have missed, just give us a shout. We’re more than happy to walk through any queries you may have.
Holly and Lime Photography
Relaxed, Creative Modern Wedding photography based in Donegal and Derry, Northern Ireland.
