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If you are on the search for your wedding photographer then this is one post you need to read. It’s a fantastic guest post by the very talented photographer, Rebecca Douglas, who is going to give you the low down on what you need to look for when booking your wedding photography.
She’s also got a fantastic offer for you at the end of the post so make sure you read on for more info. Over to you Rebecca.
Rebecca Douglas – In front of the camera for once!
”Hi Everyone, I hope that this quick tutorial will give you enough info to confidently pick your photographer but before we get onto us photographer types remember that to start with its all about you…
What do you want from your wedding photography?
Start by asking yourself some simple questions.
What’s your style? Do you like traditional, documentary, modern and edgy or retro and vintage?
What do you want captured on the day? Is it from arrival at the ceremony until the last dance, longer or less?
Do you want an album or DVD only with all of the images, or both?
What is your budget? Photography is the only lasting reminder of your day so think carefully about what have you budgeted. Is it realistic?

Let the Research Begin
Start by searching for photographers on Google and look at review websites, blogs and social media.
If you see a photographer you like what is your gut reaction to their images? Do you love, like or just think ok? You should LOVE LOVE LOVE!
Draw up a short list of possibles, then try pinning their images (Pinterest is a great research tool) and keep comparing. Contact them to see if they are free on your wedding date. It’s also a good chance to see what their speed of response is like. Are they efficient and good at getting back to you as the customer?
The Images
When you’ve done enough pinning take a good look at the photos and ask yourself the following questions:
Can you see yourself in the images? Are the key moments captured? Are the images sharp? Do the images look well lit? Do the people look comfortable and relaxed? Are the images taken from flattering angles? Hint: all the answers should be YES!
Meeting your Photographer
When you meet with the photographer have a checklist of questions that link to your list of priorities. It’s also important that you strike up an instant rapport and you’re happy that they are focused on you and your day.
The Essentials
Lastly you need to do a bit of admin! Make sure your photographer has public liability and public indemnity insurance as well as professional (full-frame cameras) and back up gear. Read their terms and condition carefully. Also check they have back up on and off site for images so they are not lost forever! It’s also helpful at this point to see what images you will get (how many and what resolution) and your rights to print and upload. It’s worth asking how they will use them and will they Photoshop and edit images, plus you need to find out how quickly you will get the images and/or albums after the wedding.
It’s really important too that you can see yourself smiling at your photographer for the whole of your wedding day and you are super comfortable with them. If so, the experience will be so much more enjoyable especially if you are a bit camera shy.
It’s also a great idea to have an engagement shoot to get comfortable as a couple in front of the camera and work with your photographer prior to the day. At the moment I’m offering a free engagement shoot to Wedding Dolls readers so click here for more info.
Good luck with your photographer and have a fantastic wedding day!”
Massive thanks Rebecca and if you’re just starting out on your wedding planning, we cover how to pick your suppliers in our workshop so take a look here for more info.
All images: Rebecca Douglas Photography
Are your nearest and dearest a big bunch of show off’s who would love nothing more than starring in their own music video. Yes? Then you’ve found the perfect thing to make wedding memories that may well make you cry. With laughter.
TDH Media’s Marryoke gives you a wedding video with a difference. You can pick any song, then they’ll bring a stereo and the words. Then it’s over to your guests to mime the words, one line at a time, into the video camera. TDH then edit all the footage to make a marryoke video as a lasting, and very funny, reminder of your big day.
Check out Rebecca and Guy’s Marryoke with their fantastic rendition of “Move like Jagger” to see for yourself what you can expect. Or there’s loads more to view online to give you inspiration. As Terry from TDH Media told us “the tough job is choosing the song!”
Amy and David were married in September at the gorgeous Speldhurst Church and then had their reception in a marquee at home. We just love the croquet playing Bridesmaids and the intimate feel of the wedding. Enjoy the inspiration and the gorgeous day everyone!
All images by Alan Harbord Photography
Click here to see a beautiful inspirational vintage shoot by Alan Harbord
The Wedding Dolls have worked with the lovely Kay Young for over five years now and so we are thrilled to share with you her beautiful new website.
Typically at the Wedding Dolls we both feel differently about having our picture taken. Joanne (although will deny this when asked) loves having her picture taken. Me, No. It’s painful and I would sooner chew off my right arm. This is why Kay is our perfect photographer.
She’s fantastic at making you feel comfortable and at ease in front of the camera. Not only does she work wonders with photo shy wedding couples she’s a dab hand at sorting kids and animals too! Plus if you’re not backwards in coming forwards and can turn on the smiles Kay will have all sorts of wonderful ideas to get some really stunning shots.
We have seen her work her magic many times at weddings and could not recommend her highly enough. Check out her new website and see what you think, you might even spot us lurking there!
It’s been a great week at Wedding Dolls HQ, we’ve had such great feedback about the new look website. The support has been unbelievable, so thank you to every one for your kind words and best wishes, we are very excited about working with so many talented Kent Wedding Suppliers over the coming months.
If you are a Kent Wedding Supplier and would like to showcase your work right here on the blog please get in touch, you can email us at hello@theweddingdolls.co.uk or call 07872 160 911.
This week we spent the day with the lovely Amanda Haywood of Bliss Makeovers and a great friend of ours Kay Young of Kay Young Photography. We thought it would be nice to show our readers who we are and had lots of fun getting some snaps taken. We are alike in many ways, but yet so different and it was a fantastic day capturing this and what makes The Wedding Dolls work. Come back soon to see the results of our photoshoot! Thanks Amanda and Kay x
Something we talked about this week is Anti Gravity Yoga. This fitness regime has been designed to increase your overall health and physical agility whilst having fun swinging about in an AntiGravity Hammock, it’s definitely for those brides out there wanting to try something a little bit different. Have you booked your class with Heavenly Fitness yet? We’re up for giving it a go!
This week we also gave you info on where you can send your groom for some advice and pre wedding help. Those husbands to be struggling with all this wedding malarky have got help and advice from the male experts over at Staggered. It’s a blog totally dedicated to getting the man in your life on the right road to wedded bliss. If you haven’t already get him over there immediately!
Have you entered our Wedding Planning Workshop Competition yet?
If you don’t know where to start or are feeling a bit panicky about everything you need to do don’t panic we’ll show you how to turn your wedding vision into a reality. At our workshop you’ll learn how to break down the planning stages so nothing gets on top of you, set your budget so costs don’t spiral out of control, discover your own wedding style and help you find the best suppliers for what you need. You’ll also learn how you can get everything done in time with an easy to follow schedule. You’ll leave the workshop feeling calm, excited and ready to plan the wedding you want.
All you need to do to win your place at one of our workshops is email hello@theweddingdolls.co.uk and tell us your name, the date of your wedding (if you have one yet!) and why you feel you need some wedding planning help.
See you next week
x
Photobooths have become really popular over the last couple of years and lots of photographers now add this type of thing to their wedding package. But if you are looking to do it that little bit differently then our money would go on Leo Ferenc and his team from Coco Photobooths.
We met photographer and film maker, Leo, at a wedding fair earlier this year and his unique idea of putting a photo booth into a taxi really stood out from the crowd – we just loved it. If you are looking to inject something memorable into your day then we’d say give it a go. All that will be left to do is SMILE!
All images from Coco Photobooths
Today Phil picks up from yesterday, sharing with us her dream English Country Garden Wedding. This post starts back at their Vintage Tea Party reception.
“The idea of having the reception at my sisters home seemed really relaxed, the reality was slightly different! The week of the wedding the rain just didn’t stop. Carron Marquees put up the marquee three days prior to the wedding so we could get all the decoration organised but with Aprils rainy weather not letting up the garden was getting muddier by the minute.
But then on the day the sun came out and pretty much stayed out for the rest of the day. The Wedding Dolls were on hand from early morning leaving me able to relax and get ready. They completed the dressing of the marquee, finished the favours, organised the car and ribbons, were available to help the florist and even fixed a problem with the portable toilet! They made sure suppliers were set up and that the delivery vehicles were moved into a local car park. The Wedding Dolls were fantastic and really helped with keeping the nerves at bay. I didn’t have to worry about what the time was and where I needed to be as they quietly guided it all into place.
Our table centers were vintage cream jugs filled with country flowers and tied on the jugs were sprigs of lavender to give off a beautiful scent. The favours were tiny metal buckets filled with mini eggs. Small brown luggage tags were used as name settings and tied on with colourful ribbon and heart and pearl beads made by my friend Laura.
The table plan was a cream heart shaped metal wire notice board with cream luggage tags with the names of the guests on. All over the heart wire I tied colourful paper flowers from Hobby Craft to give a rustic country feel. My friend Laura helped with the writing of the guests names as she has the best handwriting!
We also had a wedding tree drawn by Laura on a large card. People could leave their finger prints on the tree in different coloured stamps then write their names above. It was a lovely alternative to a guestbook as we are having it framed to put up a home.
Our wedding cupcakes were made by my sister-in-law’s father as a wedding gift and they looked absolutely beautiful on their stand. They were a mix of Chocolate with chocolate ganache filling, lemon with lemon curd filling and Vanilla, all with buttercream icing on top.
Gastro Catering served us a gorgeous dinner of Thai-marinated Tiger prawns or fresh Asparagus salad with duck egg and pomegranate dressing followed by Salmon fillet or slow roasted spit lamb and Yorkshire Pudding, all with potatoes and seasonal veg.
Dessert was chocolate and hazelnut brownie with vanilla ice cream or individual apple crumble with cream. Our favourite drinks were served and included Bottled Corona with lime, Beaufort Brut Reserve and a cask of local ale.
Our first dance was At Last by Etta James ……its all in the words!Billy’s good friend is in a fantastic band, The Rise. They played sets for us at the wedding and a friend DJ’d. We had a big party that could have gone on all night but finished at 12.30 – even though some of the guests attempted to bribe the band and DJ to play on!
And finally Phil gives you all brides-to-be out there a little bit of wedding advice. “Take time and really think about what you want and if you are struggling get some help -it’s definitely money well spent. Things can get a bit crazy but remembering why you are getting married brings you back some perspective. Make the most of having all your friends and family under one roof as you won’t get that opportunity many times again”.
Congratulations to Phil and Billy and thanks for letting us be part of your day x
All images: Josh Spencer Photography
Back in April we helped Phil and Billy plan their big day. Here in Part One Phil tells us about the planning of her wedding and takes us through the ceremony.
“Our wedding was at St Marys Church in Thorpe with the reception in the grounds of my big sisters beautiful Georgian home. We had looked at venues in the UK and overseas but when my sister offered us her house we knew it would be perfect. We wanted a relaxed day with a vintage garden party feel and a really romantic setting, with lots of twinkling lights as the sun went down.
First on my to do list was the Dress! My dress was by Ella from La Boutique in Beckenham. It was one of the first ones I tried on and loved it instantly. I tried on about 15 dresses after but kept comparing them to the Ella dress as I just fell in love with the champagne colour, it was different to the traditional white or ivory. My shoes were by Diane Hassal and I wore a side clip with pearls and small crystals from Glitzy Secrets.
I’m not overly adventurous with make up so did this myself. Louise from Beauty Call enhanced my eyes with some false eyelashes and put my hair up in a gorgeously simple style.
My sister and best friend were bridesmaids and wore dresses by Ghost at John Lewis. I had three flower girls and two page boys.
I hired Daisy Chain Florists to do my wedding flowers. My bouquet was made up of Naomi, Pacific Blue and Ocean Song large roses with Veronic, Senecio foliage and Lisianthus. I chose these flowers because they complimented the vintage garden feel I wanted to create.
The guys suits wore very simple, a navy morning jacket, grey waistcoat with grey and navy pin stripe trousers all hired from Moss Bros
The wedding car was a 1950′s Zepher borrowed from a neighbour.
Josh Spencer was our photographer. I loved the pictures on his website and so I gave him a call. I found a rapport with him straight away and he understood what I was looking for. I got about 5 other quotes but went with Josh because of his style of photography, his personality and I was confident he would deliver on the day. We had a pre-wedding shoot in Windsor Park as a practice before the wedding and this was really helpful. On the day he was brilliant. The photos are fantastic and he has captured the feel of the day perfectly.
We used Joanne from The Wedding Dolls to help us with planning from 10 weeks prior to the big day. She was also there on the day to organise us and keep an eye on the schedule. She helped give advice and support on tasks, time lines, site inspections and layout of the marquee and liased with suppliers and caterers. Her knowledge was invaluable and she supported us throughout with help and advise when issues cropped up. We had face to face meetings to get to know each other and build a relationship and she knew exactly how to get the best out of our day and reduce the stress levels!
Come back tomorrow for Part 2 when Phil will be sharing the reception with us.
Image Credits: Josh Spencer
Today we can share with you a little taster of a pre-wedding shoot by fabulous photographer and all round talented gal, Kerry Ann Duffy. The shoot was on the Downs in Thurnham, Kent, with engaged couple Danielle and Chris, who got married last month. They will be sharing their gorgeous English Country Fair wedding with us next week. Don’t miss it!
Welcome back to Part 2 of our behind the scenes of a wedding planner. Yesterday we shared how the first part of the wedding day went and here I pick up from the arrival of the Bride at the Church.
As the Bride pulled up to the Church final touches were done to her make-up and smiling brightly she took her place at the start of the aisle. The ceremony had started, but back at the house there will still lots to do. With the broken toilet and missing car to sort out the plans to finish off the marquee had been delayed so Emma did the finishing touches to the marquee. This included completing the table decor and favours, hoovering up the marquee carpet, finishing of the chill-out area, overseeing the set up of the band and DJ and getting suppliers to move their cars to the supplier parking area.
At this point I was at the church coordinating the photos of the new Mr and Mrs and their bridal party. I called Emma so she knew that some guests would be arriving back at the house shortly – at this point the rain started. Making sure the bride had her white umbrella and all the family photos had been taken I left the couple to have some photo’s done on their own and headed back to the house. Emma was under her umbrella guiding guests cars into parking spaces. I then became the watchful eye in the back garden, making sure guests were happy and that the champagne and canapés were circulating.
With the rain now falling and the bride and groom expected at the house we needed to make a decision. The plan was for drinks and canapés on the lawn with photographs in-between but now we had to ask all guests to go straight into the marquee. With drinks circulating and the bride and groom in the house the sun came out, so I invited all the guests out of the marquee and onto the lawn. I then assisted the photographer to make sure every requested photograph was captured.
The couple had selected a good friend to be MC for the afternoon and so it was my job to make sure he knew when to get the mic and start talking! Dinner was served and so we took 10 minutes to grab a bite to eat back in the house and look through the plans that would take the afternoon into the evening reception.
By now it was early evening and there were still the speeches, cutting of the cake, greeting evening guests and the first dance to do. So with our eyes fixed firmly on our watches we made sure this all happened ensuring the bride and groom were relaxed and enjoying themselves. Then before we knew it our job was almost done. Just before saying goodbye and quietly slipping away we lit over 50 candles in the marquee and lanterns in the garden. We also organised some extra lighting for the path to the toilets and then finally made our way home. Exhausted but exhilarated by the day.
If you would like to know more about how we can help you on your wedding day please drop us an email.
Joanne x
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