Now that you’ve found the perfect San Juan Islands wedding location, you’ll want to remember every detail of this once-in-a-lifetime event, so choosing a photographer and/or videographer is extremely important, because the results will last for generations to come. 

Because the San Juan Islands are so scenic, many photographers have come to live here because of the amazing photographic opportunities, so you’ll have a wide selection to choose from.

Photographers and videographers living in Friday Harbor, on Orcas Island, or elsewhere in the San Juans... can create a timeless record of sound and images, and you’re going to want the highest-quality images you can get. When it comes to hiring a photographer or videographer, it’s vital that you spend time looking at samples and checking references. A photographer may have gorgeous shots on his website, but without checking his references, you’ll never know if he showed up late, overcharged or was difficult to work with.

My primary piece of advice about wedding photos is this... do them before the ceremony. A good photographer will need to spend at least 45 minutes setting up various posed shots of the couple, the family and the wedding party. While this may seem like fun, it’s actually quite tedious, and if you do it after the ceremony, you’ll miss half the party. The photographer will take you away from your friends (and the food and the bar) and keep you there for what will seem like an eternity.

It is far better to get those photos out of the way early on, before the guests start arriving. If you’re a bride who doesn’t want the groom to see you before the ceremony, then ask the photographer to do all the other shots first -- the wedding party, the groom and his parents -- everything that doesn’t require you. Then you can fill in the rest later.

But this brings me to another important point (while I’m on the soap box). The tradition of not seeing the bride before the wedding is ancient and religious, and has nothing to do with modern couples in today’s world. In short, it’s based on arranged marriages where the couple doesn’t actually meet until they’re standing together at their wedding. Playing “hide the bride” can and add a lot of stress on your wedding day (including the stress of two separate photo sessions), so my suggestion is to scrap the whole idea and let the bride be out there mingling with the guests when they arrive rather than sequestered in an ivory tower. © 2010 Terri Daniel

Photographers & Videographers