Photography List of Must Haves

One of the things I first noticed when I started going on wedding boards were how many brides put together lists of must have photos for their weddings. I checked some of them out, liked what they had, smiled at some of their inspiration shots and called it a day. It didn't occur to me that I should be making one of these lists, too. I didn't think that we needed one.

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You see our wedding photographer, Sara Sanger, and I have known each other since we were in 6th grade. That's over 20 years. That's a lot of time to get to know someone, know what they like and know how they would want things. Because of this, I never thought Drew and I needed to make a list of photography must haves.


Then a few brides on one of the destination wedding boards started to post how they hadn't made lists and they wish they had since some of the photos they wanted to get taken didn't happen. None of them were the important pictures like with family or long time friends. They were fun kind of photos. For example, photos of the bride and groom in a certain beach chair. It still got me thinking though, do we need to make a list of photography must haves?

I emailed Sara letting her know what I was thinking about asking her for her feedback. She replied that she didn't think we needed to make a list for the exact same reasons I thought we didn't need to make one. Plus, we had many days to get pictures of all the details, not just the wedding day since she was going to be taking pictures for all 5 days of the festivities. Something I'd also thought about. She also let me know that she thought these lists stressed the bride and  groom out more than not having a list. A really good point. She then emailed me links to a bunch of other weddings that she had taken to check out. Going through those photos is when I knew for sure that we didn't need a list of photography must haves.

I realized that the photos I wanted most where the candid ones. The ones were everyone looks like they are having a great time, living in the moment and being a part of this incredibly special day. Sara is amazing at getting these kinds of shots. Shots that tell a story of people laughing and loving. Those are the photographs that are on our must have list. Photos that we could never make a checklist for because they are all about being in the moment. This is one thing I cannot plan and will have to throw caution to the wind trusting our photographer will do exactly what she's best at doing; taking incredibly amazing photographs.


Are you making a list of must have photos for your wedding?