Why Your Wedding Needs an Online Photo Album

Ok, I think I’ve done this before but I wanted to reiterate why oh why you need an online photo album and why oh why it should be on The Wedding Lens!

10. Your friends are bringing their digital cameras to your wedding anyway and they need a place online to upload their photos. Plus their photos are fun and candid… like this….

Photo from The Wedding Lens

9. Your friends can share their videos of the wedding on The Wedding Lens waaay before your videographer gets back to you….

8. You want you & your guests to be able to upload and download ALL photos and videos at full resolution.

photo from The Wedding Lens!

7. You want to use a photo sharing site that has incredible customer service with real people who respond to your questions and concerns. 

6. You want to use a site that your guests don’t have to register for in order to upload their photos!

5. Your friends like seeing each other’s photos and the one album will be accessible to everyone. They can print or download whichever ones they like and want.

Photo from The Wedding Lens!

4. The Wedding Lens takes care of emailing reminders to your guests – so you don’t have to think twice about it, or feel like you’re bothering your guests.

3. You think that the person who writes The Wedding Lens blog is incredibly witty, knowledgeable, and, well, cute! (No comments from the peanut gallery, please!)

2. You thought you wanted to put disposable cameras on each table, but you realized it’s a lot easier (and cheaper) to ask your friends to upload all their own photos into your Wedding Lens album.  

1.  You really don’t want to have to go to 6 different websites to see all your friends’ photos of the wedding. It’s so much easier to have them all in ONE album online… on The Wedding Lens!

If that doesn’t convince you, let me know. I’ll work on it. 🙂

~ Natasha

How to Tell Your Guests about your Online Photo Album!

I know a lot of you have online photo albums & you want your wedding guests to upload their photos into that album. The only question – how?!

Sample Moo Card (Front)

If you already have an album, you can go to the “Share” tab and you have several options – both web based and printed cards! (For the card options, click on the “Share” tab and then go to the “Printable Cards” tab.)

• Email your guests! It’s the most cost-effective and green option for sharing the info on your wedding photos. You give us your guests’ email addresses and we email them to let ’em know! And we REMIND them; something paper options can’t do!
• Put an album widget on your website or blog that links directly to your photo album on The Wedding Lens!
• Use Moo Cards! You’ve probably seen those little cards that some wedding photographers pass out at weddings, right? They’re small, rectangular cards that tell you the name and link to the bride & groom’s photos. You can print Moo cards that have The Wedding Lens logo on it, the link to your personalized photo album (couplesnames.theweddinglens.com) and the access code so your guests can easily start uploading! They’re $19.95 for 100 cards.

Sample Moo Card (Back)

• Use our template to print your own business cards! Just download the template and replace the template info with your own (the personalized photo album address, access code, and your names. Then get yourself some business cards and print away! There’s no charge for downloading the template, either!

Sample Business Card Template

• Make your own cards! We have a link to the image for The Wedding Lens logo and then just be sure you include the personalized photo album address (couplesnames.theweddinglens.com) and the access code! Your guests will need both in order to get to your album!

By the way, in case you’re wondering, why the access code? The access code allows your guests to upload photos to your album without having to register first! It’s one less step your guests will have to take.

See? Easy as pie! And now your guests can share their photos of your pie (or cake, okay) without wondering where oh where your online photo album is located!

Engagement Photos: At the Beach!

After looking at some of my friends’ engagement photos, I realized that we could all use a little help on engagement photos — what to wear, what we be aware of — when planning them. With that in mind, I’m hoping to do a little mini-series on engagement photos in different locations. First up — the beach!

Photo from The Wedding Lens

Engagement photos at the beach is a great idea if you live near the beach or if the beach is significant to you & your significant other. The natural scenery allows you to be playful with your clothes or props — or do nothing at all and just enjoy the beauty behind you!

What should I wear?

First of all, make sure that you & your fiance(e) match. Obviously this means different things to different people. I just saw some great photos of a couple where the woman was wearing a floral dress and the man was wearing stripes. In my head, that sounded awful, but it really looked great. So that’s the lesson — try on the clothes together before you take the photos. You’ll be gravely disappointed if the proofs come back and you think “Oh goodness, we should have double checked that first.”

Second, at the beach, it’s fun to wear something other than blue so that you stand out a little bit. So, for example, one person can wear a white and the other can wear orange. (yes, I know orange isn’t for everyone!) Or blue and orange works too.

Third, consider changing clothes part-way through. This way, if something doesn’t work, you haven’t put all your eggs in one basket.

Fourth, BE COMFORTABLE! The last thing you want during this photo session is to feel awkward in what you’re wearing.

What should we do at the beach?

Well, there’s the beach – the sand, the water. You can do some shots walking barefoot.

Sometimes there are vendors nearby. They can provide a creative background and something different.

Think about using those plants and animals that are there! That seagull? What about a shot of him (or her, yes) looking at you two! It can be really cute.

What should the photographer be aware of?

Lighting! Hopefully your photo session will be a sunny day — but that also causes shadows. Be aware of the shadows when you’re taking the photos. This also might mean doing the photos at a time other than high noon. In fact, consider doing the photos an hour or two before sunset.

Did you take engagement pictures on the beach? Tell us about it!

~ Natasha

Share your beach engagement pictures in an online photo album!

Thinking About Engagement Pictures

I was recently talking with some friends about their frustration with finding information on engagement pictures. They have a photographer and they know what kinds of photos they like, but they felt a little stumped about WHERE to take the photos. With that in mind, I thought I could provide a handy dandy list of different things to consider when you’re figuring out what to do with engagement photos.

Location

Urban vs. Nature: Do you like cities? Or trees & greenery? Or gardens?

Some photographers have great photos with an urban city setting; often the grungy parts of cities provide the most clever, beautiful backgrounds. Picture a couple posing next to a wall of graffiti. In black and white. Could be very cool, if that’s what you’re looking for!

Other photographers prefer the outdoorsy setting. A couple peeking their heads out from behind a tree. Cute, right?

If you like both of these ideas — or want the option of having both types of photos — I recommend going to an urban setting, near a park. Most cities, large or small, have some kind of a park and some kind of a downtown area. And usually they’re not too far apart, making it easy to go from one setting to another.

Studio Setting: Like a clean-cut photo? Want to be able to control the lighting and background? Or want to have access to props?

The studio setting might be a good option if you like to have more control over the photos. There are a lot of different poses you can do: romantic, traditional, creative — you name it!

A Place with Meaning

If you are completely at a loss about what you might be looking for, how about picking a location that has meaning to you, as a couple! Maybe a park where you once strolled together or the restaurant where you met. These are great ideas and, with the right photographer, you can get amazing photos!

Style

There are some photos that are very traditional: the couple in various locations, looking into each others’ eyes, smiling side by side, kissing, laughing. Of course, these can be as creative as you want.

Other photos are completely creative and show the couples’ personality. I really liked these photos because they’re creative AND I feel like I already have an idea about their personalities.

What to Wear, How to Look

I’m a big advocate that you should look how you look! Don’t dress differently because of this photo shoot; that’s not the point. That said, there are some great tips for photo shoots: wear colors that match the location (eg. beach should be tans and blues) and ladies might want to consider foundation (even if you dont usually wear it) because it will look better in the photo.

Sharing

You want to make sure that people get to see these photos, right? Consider putting them on your wedding website, including them in your Save the Date (or making a postcard with that photo as the postcard), or post them on The Wedding Lens so that your friends and family can see, download & print whichever photos they love.

Do you have other tips for engagement photo shoots that you want to share? Let me know!

~ Natasha