Once I held a rehearsal with a very enthusiastic photographer. What does a photographer and officiate have in common? Their client. It hadn’t occurred to me before, but while we are marrying people, everyone else has their job to do too and the synergy between the vendors working your wedding will put the wedding over the top.

What I learned from the photographer are many things actually. This has been so many years ago but the lessons remain. Here are my top 10 things I learned from a Photographer:

1. When the bride and groom kiss, and after the announcement of husband and wife…  I move the heck out of the way. Nobody wants their first kiss photo with my mug in the shot. Big no no.
2. When the bride comes up to the aisle, I always rehearse to pass off the flowers theater style, facing the guests.
3. I angle the bride and groom somewhat parallel to one another holding hands so that the guests (ahem, and the photographer) will get the tears, the expressions, the smiles…. so important.
4. While handing the rings to my groom or bride I rehearse to position the hands so they are visible.
5. I am personally, a big fan of the “unplugged” wedding for the sake of the photos, although I know that’s each couples individual preference of course. I only like it because the guests can be in the moment with you, the photos turnout better, and you never wind up with odd angles because the photographer is dodging the darting cell phones.
6. The line up- when I rehearse, I also encourage some symmetry to the bridal line up, maybe the positioning of how the grooms hold their arms, or the bridesmaids holding their flowers…
7. At sand ceremonies, I like to stand BEHIND the table so that the bride and groom can approach the table at a 45 degree angle and all of the guests can see what they are doing.
8. I don’t like to use a mic stand for the sake of photos either. A big black pole in the photos I find unnecessary, and I will always hold the mic for my brides and grooms to speak so they aren’t bent down trying to reach the mic. I also don’t think that your guests want to hear me do all the speaking. It’s not ME that’s getting married, after all 
9. I try to coordinate my dress to the appropriate theme, color and style of the wedding wearing neutral colors.
10. And lastly, I always give you the option to stick around after the ceremony for “witness” photos. It’s not mandatory in the state of Florida to have witness’ but it does offer a nice photo op if it’s something you like.