Long Island Wedding Photos
This photo of a budding Long Island wedding photographer reminds me of me! © Dan Wagner 2023
Long Island wedding photos consist of getting ready, ceremony, cocktail hour, reception, and a bridal party and family photo session. I’ve written this Long Island wedding photography article to help you get the best wedding photos, and hopefully choose me to be your Long Island wedding photographer.
Understanding the wedding photo needs of the bride, groom, bridal party, family, and wedding guests enables me to make each photo related part of your day more enjoyable, less expensive, and more productive. Knowing the pros and cons of shooting getting ready photos, and when and how to do bridal party and family photos will make your wedding day less stressful. That’s the beauty of hiring me—an experienced Long Island wedding photographer with a plan.
Bride and groom after their Long Island wedding ceremony. © Dan Wagner 2023
I believe the bride and groom are the heroes of every wedding. Great wedding photographers lead to great wedding photography outcomes, while also avoiding bad photography outcomes. What’s a great wedding photo outcome? That’s easy! I define it as a friendly, empathetic photographer who puts your needs first. This means that they shoot each wedding personally, offer reasonable prices, are always available and happy to discuss your wedding photo needs, are friendly and pleasant, exceed expectations, and deliver your wedding photos within a week of your wedding.
Everyone has heard the expression that one bad apple doesn’t spoil the whole bunch. Sadly, nobody wants to be the person “eating” that bad apple. We’ve all heard the stories of bad apple photographers who overpromise and underdeliver. The worst ones ghost the bride and groom after being paid, and make every step of your wedding photography journey miserable. As a Long Island wedding photographer, saying I don’t like the photographers who give my profession a bad name is an understatement. When I say that I believe every bride and groom deserve beautiful wedding photos, it’s not just talk!
Bride having her makeup done for her getting ready photos. © Dan Wagner 2023
Long Island Wedding Getting Ready Photos
For your Long Island getting ready photos I arrive two hours before you leave for the church, or other ceremony location. This gives me time to photograph your wedding gown, invitation, bridal party bouquets, and other detail shots. That’s why it’s important to provide a wedding invitation, and to make sure the flowers are delivered shortly after I arrive.
Before going further, I should mention that some brides prefer not to do getting ready photos. Their reasons include not having enough time to get ready and take photos, wanting to save money on photography costs, and being satisfied with shooting a few cellphone photos. So, unless you’re ordering a wedding album, and want to devote two pages to getting ready photos, you might feel these photos aren’t necessary.
Back to shooting getting ready photos—while at your home, hotel, wedding venue, or other getting ready location, I also take hair and makeup, parent, sibling, family, friends, and bridal party photos. As such, you need to ask everyone to be dressed and ready an hour before leaving. Often this is an impossible task. (I remember one time a bride took the limo to her wedding ceremony alone because her bridesmaids couldn’t get ready on time.) If this happens we simply photograph the people we missed later.
Bride having her makeup done for her getting ready photos. © Dan Wagner 2023
Time permitting, I also take shots with your limo. These photos often include shots of you with your bridesmaids, and separate shots with your parents. Remember to save a parking spot in front of your house for the limos. If you’re traveling with your parents in a separate limo—it’s nice to get exterior and interior photos of that as well.
Having photographed hundreds of getting ready photos, I don’t require a shot list. That said, you’re always welcome to let me know if you have any requests. Throughout your wedding day, I’m always on the lookout for photo opportunities that will have you saying, “I’m so glad Dan got that shot.” There’s something about a special wedding shot that I’m often able to sense before it happens.
Whether it’s candid getting ready, ceremony, cocktail hour, or reception photos—people often compliment me by saying they didn’t remember my taking certain photos. I believe that being as unobtrusive as possible, and asserting oneself only as needed, is the mark of a good wedding photographer. After all, it’s your wedding, not a photo shoot!
Bride having her makeup done for her getting ready photos. © Dan Wagner 2023
7 Getting Ready Wedding Photo Tips
Consult with your photographer regarding arriving 1.5 to 2 hours before you have to leave for your wedding ceremony.
Make sure the flowers are delivered to your getting ready location in time for photos. If needed, make sure the groom’s boutonnieres and mom’s flowers are delivered to their location.
Not every bride cares about having the photographer shoot a photo of her wedding dress without her in it. Usually, she’s already shot dozens of cellphone photos of the dress alone. Or she might already be wearing her wedding dress when the photographer arrives.
Ask your limo driver to arrive early enough for getting ready photos.
Make sure key people have your getting ready and ceremony addresses and contact information.
My policy is to always follow the bride’s limo from the getting ready location to the ceremony location. To this end, it’s important to ask the limo driver to make sure I’m behind him. This means no excessive speeding or blowing through yellow lights—yes it does happen.
After reaching the ceremony location, the limo driver should have everyone wait inside the limo until the photographer is in position. If you’ve hired a videographer to shoot from the ceremony through the reception, then they will be at the ceremony location to film your limo’s arrival.
Bride and groom ceremony at the Long Island Metropolitan Club. © Dan Wagner 2023
Long Island Wedding Ceremony Photos
For your Long Island ceremony photos, I arrive one hour before you arrive at the church, or other ceremony location. This gives me time to photograph the ceremony location, speak with the clergy person or wedding officiant, photograph the groom and groomsmen, and your arrival. In many cases, the bride and groom will schedule a photo session before the ceremony. This is very useful when we don’t have time for bridal party and family photos after the ceremony.
Before going further, I should mention that some brides prefer to begin their wedding photography coverage at the ceremony. Their reasons include not needing coverage earlier because they’re getting ready at a salon, scheduling issues, and wanting to save money on photography costs. So, unless you’re ordering a wedding album, and want to devote two pages to getting ready photos, you might feel getting ready photos aren’t necessary.
Prior to your wedding ceremony, I always confer with your clergy person or wedding officiant to make sure I know their ceremony and location rules and when key events will occur. Taking time to make friends with them, and showing respect is very important. Some rules might apply to where I shouldn’t stand, and when I not to use a flash.
Bride and groom ceremony at the Long Island Metropolitan Caterers. © Dan Wagner 2023
During your wedding ceremony, I will also take detail photos of your wedding program (if you have one), bridal party, family, and wedding guest reaction photos, interior and exterior photos of the ceremony location, and as many candid photojournalistic photos as possible. My goal is to tell as complete an emotional story of your wedding ceremony as possible.
10 Long Island Wedding Ceremony Photo Tips
Consult with your photographer regarding arriving a hour before your wedding ceremony.
Make sure the flowers are delivered to your wedding ceremony location in time for photos.
Ask your limo driver to arrive early enough for your photographer to take arrival and limo exiting photos.
Make sure everyone has your wedding ceremony addresses and location contact information.
After reaching the ceremony location, the limo driver should have everyone wait inside the limo until the photographer is in position. If you’ve hired a videographer to shoot from the ceremony through the reception, then they will be at the ceremony location to film your limo’s arrival.
Make sure all the wedding guests know not to step into the aisle, or hold their cellphones in the aisle during the wedding processional and recessional. If they do, they run the risk of ruining the photos taken by your photographer.
Let everyone know if there will be bubbles, rice, birdseed, or flower petals being thrown after the ceremony. For rice and birdseed, be sure to remind people to throw up in the air and not at you. Sometimes people, especially children get too enthusiastic.
Make sure your bridal party knows to stick around and be ready for photos in front of the church or elsewhere.
If taking bridal party and family photos, make sure people know what to do, and where to go. For photos during your cocktail hour, it’s a great idea to ask your bridal attendant or someone else to “herd” people to the photo location. That way they can join your cocktail hour ASAP.
During your processional and recessional, please remind the people walking down the aisle not to walk too fast. In my roll as your wedding photographer, I aim to take three photos of each person walking down the aisle.
Bride and groom cutting the cake at their Long Island wedding reception. © Dan Wagner 2023
Long Island Wedding Cocktail Hour and Reception Photos
For your Long Island wedding cocktail hour and reception photos, I begin shooting after your ceremony. This gives me time to photograph the wedding guests enjoying your cocktail hour, detail shots of the food and decorations, and photos of you and your spouse partying. Hopefully, we’ve already taken the bridal party, family, and couple’s photos. If not, then we’ll most likely take these shots during the cocktail hour.
Trying to squeeze these shots into a short timespan isn’t easy. The reasons for this are numerous. Some people will go AWOL after the ceremony, others will be in a rush to join the cocktail hour, and the maitre d, DJ and others will want your attention. That’s why I recommend having a gap of one or more hours between the ceremony and the cocktail hour. Unfortunately, this is only doable if your ceremony isn’t at the same location as your cocktail hour and reception.
However, if we’ve already taken the bridal party, family, and couple’s photos, then I will be busy taking shots of your reception ballroom. My goal is to take detail shots of your seating cards, menu, centerpieces, table settings, and the empty ballroom after the waitstaff finishes setting it up. Time permitting, it’s nice to get a shot of you and your spouse in the ballroom before the wedding guests enter.
Bride and groom in the Fox Hollow Reception Somerley Ballroom.. © Dan Wagner 2023
Most people don’t realize how busy the wedding photographer is during the cocktail hour. If the photographer is lucky, they have five minutes to grab a quick bite. The rest of the photographer’s time is spent taking photos of the cocktail hour, stowing their photo gear near the DJ booth or other secure spot, taking ballroom photos, and conferring with the maitre d and DJ. Once all this is done, my job is to photograph your wedding guests as they enter, and get into position for shooting the entrances.
Long Island wedding reception table setting photo. © Dan Wagner 2023
10 Long Island Wedding Reception Photo Tips
If pressed for time, consider taking all the bridal party, family, and couple’s photos before the ceremony. I know many couples want to see each other for the first time at the start of the wedding ceremony. In which case, owing to a lack of time, some compromises will need to be made.
Sometimes it’s possible for the photographer to grab some shots of the cocktail hour location before the guests arrive. This usually happens when champagne or other drinks are served before the wedding guests enter the cocktail hour room.
Let your photographer know if you want table shots of the wedding guests. These days, most wedding photographers only photograph the head tables. Ballrooms with tables approaching maximum capacity can make it difficult to shoot table shots. The reason for this, is that there might not be enough room for half the people at the table to stand behind the people who are seated.
Remember that while tall centerpieces look spectacular, they can make it harder for people seated across from each other to converse, and are often to heavy to remove for table photos.
Consider uplighting for the reception. Many DJs are happy to provide this service. Uplighting looks great in photos, and can make your reception ballroom feel more intimate and clubby.
For the first dance, toasts, cake cutting, and other wedding reception highlights, it’s always nice to get reaction shots. After the toasts, I always try to get photos of the people who made toasts with the bride and groom.
If your wedding isn’t too large, you can consider asking your DJ to call everyone to the dance floor for a group photo.
Great maitre d’s always consult the photographer before positioning the cake cutting table. As a photographer I try to pick a spot that’s easy for everyone to see, has space for wedding guests who want to come close for cellphone shots, and that provide me good photo angles.
Some photographers use a ladder during the reception to get higher angle dance photos. Others stand on a chair or hold their cameras as high as they can. Personally, I prefer holding my camera above my head. This allows me to be move around. If there’s no other option, I wear slip-in shoes so I can quickly remove them when standing on a chair. What I don’t like about ladders, is that people often bump into them. Safety never “hurts.”
Not really a reception photo tip—but at every wedding where guests decide to drink and dance, it always results in spilled drinks and broken glass. Deciding how of if you want to ask people to refrain from doing this is up to you.
Long Island wedding reception table seating number. © Dan Wagner 2023
Long Island Wedding Venues
As a Long Island wedding photographer, many of my favorite wedding venues are located near my Huntington office. I frequently photograph weddings at the Harborclub at Prime, Crest Hollow Country Club, Centerport Yacht Club, Chateau at Coindre Hall, Crescent Beach Club, de Seversky Mansion, Fox Hollow, Larkfield Manor, Mansion at Oyster Bay, Milleridge Inn, Mutton Town Club, Pavilion at Sunken Meadow, Seawanhaka Yacht Club, The Metropolitan, Three Village Inn, Water’s Edge, Watermill Caterers, Westbury Manor, Willow Creek, and other venues located further away such as in the Hamptons.
I believe every bride and groom deserve beautiful wedding photos, friendly service, and reasonable prices. To make sure your wedding photos will be beautiful, I’ve spent years honing my craft. Photographing every wedding myself means you know what to expect. Every Long Island wedding photo you see on this website was shot by me.—Dan Wagner
Please view my Long Island Wedding Getting Ready Photos article, Long Island Wedding Ceremony Photos article, Long Island Wedding Reception Photos article, wedding photography testimonials, packages, and wedding photography shot list article.
Stay tuned for more Long Island wedding photography blog articles!
“Dan Wagner came highly recommended by a very good friend who is also in the photography business. To be recommended by a competitor, I think, is one of the greatest compliments…and Dan most certainly lived up to his reputation. Dan’s work and professionalism are exquisite! Our wedding pictures are beautiful, romantic, creative, tasteful, spontaneous, some traditional & some modern. The wedding party had so much fun during the photo shoot in the gardens, that they didn’t even mind the cold, windy weather! We are extremely happy with our wedding pictures and video—they are wonderful lifetime memories.”
—Elaina and Scott
Every Bride and Groom Deserve Beautiful Wedding Photos!
Please feel free to share your thoughts and experiences about Long Island wedding getting ready, ceremony, cocktail hour and reception photos in the comment box below. Have a wonderful wedding, and many thanks for visiting my Long Island wedding photographer blog!