How to Photograph the Reception | Education for Wedding Photographers

Ever wonder how to achieve beautiful reception images? I’m sharing how! But first, it’s important to get these images for a few reasons!

First, the bride has put a lot of time, money, and effort into her reception space. The first reason to get amazing images of the reception set up is for her! Also, this is the time the bride gets to see and dance with her friends and family! She invited the people most special to her! Capturing the events of the reception, who attended, the speeches, cake cutting, and who she’s on the dance floor with will help her remember and cherish this time!

Second, publishers love beautiful reception details! If you’re working on getting published, getting shots of the entire room and also décor will help!!

And last, it builds credibility to yourself as a photographer when you can show that in ANY lighting situation, you can provide beautiful images that match your style!

Here are some tips on how to photograph the reception:

Photograph the reception details before the ceremony.

I leave 30minutes-1hour of down time after portraits before the ceremony. This allows me to photograph the reception un-touched before any guests fill the room! Photograph wide shots of the room, as well as each detail, centerpiece, and the cake! This also gives me time to set up my off-camera flashes!

Have the second-shooter photograph guests while you stay with the couple.

When guests start to fill the room after, I stay with the bride and photograph candids of whatever she and her husband are doing! I have my second-shooter walk around getting images of the guests together! This helps her see who was there and have images of them, and the guests love when they see her images shared and there’s one of them! And then she also has images of whoever she was chatting with, her bridesmaids with her on the dance floor, or whatever she was doing!

Use flash!

Receptions are normally in the evening and most venues will have the lights low. Sometimes, the lights even go about all the way off when the dance floor opens! But using my off-camera flash system, I’m able to still take bright, airy images! I used to be SO afraid of using my flashes, but figured out an amazing system that worked! And even when I switched from Nikon to Canon, I was able to understand both flash systems!

Do you feel stumped by off-camera-flash?? Trust me, you are NOT alone! It’s so common to feel unsure about this, but is easier than you think! I have a guide in my shop just for you all about understanding off-camera-flash! I share my step-by-step process, the equipment I recommend, and different set ups so that you can have amazing images in the darkest receptions! Understanding flash really can separate a good photographer from an amazing one! You can learn more and find the Off-Camera Flash guide over in the shop!