From Booking to Gallery Delivery

I’m Sarah, a Massachusetts based wedding photographer with nine years and more than 150 weddings behind me. I shoot bright, joyful, and intentional, photos that feel like you, not like everyone else’s wedding. If you are the kind of person who has a plan for everything, from your florals to your stationery suite, I want you to feel just as clear and just as taken care of when it comes to your photography.

Booking a wedding photographer can feel like a leap, especially if you have never done it before. You are trusting someone with the only record of a day that will never happen again. I want to walk you through exactly what working together actually looks like, from the moment you inquire to the moment your final gallery lands in your inbox.

Step One: Your Inquiry

Once you reach out by filling out the contact form, you’ll get an auto email so you know it went through. I then respond as quickly as I can, usually within a couple of hours. I’ll let you know if I’m available on your date and send over my investment guide so you have a clear sense of what working together looks like financially before we ever get on a call. After you look that over, you’ll click the link in the email to schedule a call.

Step Two: Our Call

If it feels like a good fit on both sides, we hop on a call. I want to hear about the two of you! Your meet cute story or that time you almost deleted all the dating apps but your roommate pushed you to go on one last date and now you’re engaged! I want to know about your wedding, what you are envisioning, your worries, and what matters most to you. And I want you to leave the call with a clear next step, whether that is booking or taking time to think it over. When we hang up I will send you a custom proposal of options we talked through, a rough timeline and some inspiration and a full gallery.

Step Three: Booking

Once you decide to move forward, booking is simple. You will get a contract and an invoice, and once both are handled, your date is officially held. From here, you are locked in, and we start the planning process together.

Step Four: Your Engagement Session

If your collection includes one, we’ll schedule your engagement session. It can happen anytime before the wedding depending on the season you want, location or if you want to use them for Save the Dates. They always happen on weekday evenings since the weekends are for weddings! And when I don’t have a wedding I’m spending time with my friends and family who work a normal work schedule and have weekends off…

The engagement session is often the first time couples experience being photographed with real direction, and it tends to ease any nerves about portrait time on the wedding day itself. I’m always open to location ideas and places that are meaningful to you, but I also have a guide of some of my favorite go-to locations that you’ll receive when it’s time to schedule it.

Step Five: Planning Your Day / Questionnaire

This is where I focus specifically on your photo timeline. I want to be clear about what this means, because it is a common point of confusion. Your wedding planner or coordinator handles the overall logistics of your day, things like vendor coordination and the run of show. My role is narrower and more specific. I build and manage the timeline for your photography, making sure portraits, family formals, and key moments are placed at times that actually work, based on your real ceremony time and the real sunset time for your date.

Two months before your wedding, you’ll receive a questionnaire that you’ll fill out to help me build your timeline more specifically. I grab maid of honor and best man’s phone numbers, your family situation for formals, and any specific shots or details that matter to you, other vendor information etc. Nothing gets left to guesswork.

Step Six: Your Wedding Day

On the day, I am there early enough to capture details, getting ready, and I stay through the moments we planned for, guided by the timeline we built together. My focus the entire day is capturing what is actually happening, and adding in plenty of movement and direction during formals to keep everyone looking their best, creating natural feeling images.

Step Seven: Sneak Peeks

After the wedding, I cull through all the images, marking my favorites as I go through them. Then they get uploaded into Lightroom where I edit my favorite images from the day and that becomes your sneak peek! You’ll get enough to hold you over until the rest of the gallery is finished. I get them to you within a week of your wedding. Often 2-3 days after!

Step Eight: Editing

After the wedding, every image goes through a careful edit. This is where color, tone, and consistency come together, and it is also where the Direct-Flattering-Natural look you booked me for really comes through.

Step Nine: Gallery Delivery

Your online gallery arrives within 6-8 weeks. You will be able to view, download, and share every image, and order prints directly from the gallery if you choose to. I highly suggest waiting to find a time you can both snuggle up on the couch with some champagne and go through them all together!

Step Ten: Albums

If you added an album to your collection, this is where we start designing it together. I will put together a design, and we will go back and forth until it feels exactly right before it goes to print.

That Is the Whole Process

Nothing about working together should feel like a mystery once you have booked. If you have questions about any part of this, or you want to talk through what it would look like for your specific wedding, reach out and I am happy to walk you through it.