I had the pleasure of shooting this wedding as a second photographer with Sara Griffin Photography. I’ve actually done quite a bit of second shooting with her over the last several months. It’s a lot of fun to fill in the gaps of my schedule helping out other photographers.  Second shooting is a lot of fun because not only do I get to help out a colleague, there is a lot less pressure, I get to experiment quite a bit more during the wedding day and it helps to keep my skills keen and practiced. Plus I get to meet lots of great couples! Today, I’m going to specifically address this couple’s creative session on the wedding day.

If it seems like I haven’t blogged in forever, it’s because I haven’t blogged in forever! I shot this wedding late last year, but it seems like only yesterday that I witnessed this beautiful wedding at the Oaks at Heavenly between Kelli and Jay. And, there was a bonus. I ran into Emily–a model of mine from earlier in the summer that helped me capture some extremely epic images of her in her prom dress in a gorgeous backlit cotton field.

Couple’s Creative Session

Today, I’m only going to post images from the couple’s creative session that happened immediately after their ceremony. I recently had a bride comment to me that she was so glad I had talked her into adding this into her timeline after their ceremony. She admitted that those images were her favorite, by far, from the entire day.  It is images like these, that you will end up hanging on the walls of your home.

It’s very important that your wedding day photographer help you to create a timeline that will maximize your time with them to create spectacular images and capture all the great memories of the day. This is vitally important even when you have hired a very knowledgeable wedding planner. Often times when the photographer is left out of the timeline creation, we are forced into impossible situations, and more often than not, set up for failure.  We are left having to take only safe shots and not having any time to exercise our creativity–which is, most of the time, why you hired us in the very first place.

Giving me time in your wedding day to capture those safe shots and then experiment with my creativity allows me to do things like double exposures, play with reflections, search for frames within frames (and other compositional layers), and identify unique patterns of light. Allowing me this extra time sets your wedding day images apart from all other wedding day images which were captured during a limited and basic timeline.

Second shooting allows me a bit of flexibility in being creative. While the primary photographer is securing all the safe shots, I can get creative and look for clever and imaginative shots.

I’ll be sure to make a compilation blog post about these creative shots in the very near future.

Here are some more of my favorite images from the bride and groom’s wedding day creative session—not necessarily very creative, but beautiful nonetheless.

Let’s “hangout!” I wanna hear about your love story!

About Ata-Girl

I am a San Antonio-based wedding photographer and I cater to outdoor-loving couples who prefer to have all the realness captured on their wedding days. I am the wedding photographer for the outdoor adventurers, the romantics, the laid back, the snugglers, and those who wish to capture all their realness.

I am absolutely in love with capturing the kinds of weddings where there are more hugs than handshakes, the dance floor rumbles all night long, and chairs are pretty much rendered useless after dinner. Whiskey bottles are passed around, most of the wedding party has been best-best friends since kindergarten, Grams is likely to lose her shoes and your partner is much more emotional than you are. These kinds of weddings are my jam!

You can always call or text, but if you really want to get to know me, schedule a meetup!

I started Ata-Girl Photography Co., LLC in 2010. I firmly believe that the unique set of circumstances I have faced in life has prepared me to take a personal and genuine interest in my photography clients. I enjoy documenting the important milestones and captivating moments in people’s lives. I love being a part of people’s journeys and consider myself privileged to document their legacies.

If you enjoyed this blog post and would like to get your hands on 20 FREE interactive wedding planning tools that every couple needs, please take a moment to access them here.

I am a published author (purchase my book here), a podcast host (listen here) (watch here) and a WPPI-C certified professional, full-time wedding photographer. I specialize in a 10-day image delivery, same-day prints, same-day slideshows, Italian handcrafted wedding albums and I have a mobile meeting space.

When I’m not behind my camera, you can find me hiking, cycling, backpacking, camping, enjoying water sports, listening to music (Elvis and Prince), hunting for arrowheads, reading audiobooks, occasionally eating a few glazed donuts (my only weakness to sweets) and then re-starting my keto diet about every 10 days. The most important things in life are for me to see my two daughters happy and to create a family history my grandparents and grandson would be proud of.

The post, The Oaks at Heavenly Wedding, first appeared on Ata-Girl Photography Co.’s website and blog. Please feel free to comment here, or share this post with your friends via Facebook, Twitter or Pinterest. Please email me if you have any questions about this article or want to share a neat idea for a future blog post with me.