Welcome Guide!

You just said your next biggest “yes!”

I’m so excited we’re working together! Seriously, thank you so much for choosing me and allowing me to capture your day. It’s not something I take lightly and I’m so excited to get started.

You’re probably wondering what the next steps are now that you’ve signed and paid, and that’s what this guide is all about!

ENGAGEMENT SESSION

Your collection may come with an engagement session which I’m so excited to plan with you!

This session is designed for us to connect before your wedding day so you can get a feel for my style and start feeling more comfortable in front of my camera.

We can shoot at up to two locations, and you can do an outfit change as long as all the travel and getting ready can be complete within the hour of shooting. This typically works if the locations are within 15 minutes or less of each other.

If you need help choosing a location, I’d love to offer recommendations. The first thing to decide on is the scene—do you want a nature scene? City? A location that’s special to you? Once you nail that down, I’m happy to provide you with locations that fit your vision.

As for scheduling your session, you can now also schedule your session as soon as you’d like with the link I sent you when you booked!

“What do I wear for the engagement session?”

Wear whatever you feel great in! This is your chance to go big, get your hair and makeup done, treat yourself to a new outfit, and show up feeling good!

For ladies, flowy dresses and skirts photograph really well. You’ll want to avoid busy patterns as those can be distracting in the photos.

For guys, you can wear a nice button-up and dress pants (or jeans)—you can even throw on a jacket if you want to step it up a notch.

If you choose to do an outfit change, some couples will do a formal outfit and a more casual outfit, but really the only thing that matters is that you feel comfortable and like yourselves!

“What should I expect after the engagement session?”

After your session, you can expect your engagement photos delivered to your inbox within two weeks. You’ll receive your photos through a digital album called Pixieset. There you’ll be able to download full-sized images individually or as a gallery (you’ll receive a specific pin in the email to do this). Please don’t right-click and save the photos, but download them for the best quality.

While you are free to print the images wherever you please, I recommend printing through Pixieset to receive the best quality and most true-to-color prints, these prints are also competitively priced! You can also share your images wherever you would like. The only thing that is not permitted without permission from me is commercial/business use.

Additional portrait sessions

Are you interested in booking a Bridal Portrait session or a Boudoir session?

These sessions are available to purchase separately at $1000. Typically, bridal portraits are usually scheduled on the same day the bride schedules her hair and makeup trial. If you want to have prints ready for your wedding day, I do recommend scheduling the session at least two months in advance.

We can also do Boudoir sessions, these are intimate portraits often done in lingerie to celebrate your body that some brides enjoy doing for their groom. They’re very empowering sessions and can be done just for you.

These sessions will be delivered within two weeks on Pixieset, and you can expect to receive 30-50 edited images.

What happens next

WEDDING DAY PREP

Leading up to your wedding day, you have the freedom to reach out to me whenever you need. I’ll get back to your emails during business hours as soon as possible!

One month before your wedding day, I will send you a questionnaire to complete to get all the necessary information about your big day! Then we’ll schedule a call to go over your timeline and create your shot list.

If you’re local to Charlotte, we can even meet up for coffee to go over these items!

THE DAY OF

On your wedding day, I’ll arrive at the time agreed upon on our timeline and if your collection included a second shooter, they’ll be there with me too. We’ll be there to capture as many moments as we can, both candid and posed.

We do our best to stay on the timeline in order to ensure that you get through everything you want while still allowing you the space to enjoy the day as much as possible!

We want to be incognito throughout the day while making sure we do step in where needed. If you have any special requests throughout the day, be sure to let us know! We are there to serve you, and we want you to be head over heels in love with your wedding day experience!

If you’re having so much fun and need us to stay later than our allotted time, we can, it’ll just be an additional hourly fee of $500 and will be required before final photos are delivered.

AFTERWARDS

You’re married! Now it’s time to get you on your honeymoon and for me to start post-production work on your wedding album! The week after your wedding, I will try to post at least one sneak peek photo for you to marvel over on my Instagram (@christianreyesphoto)!

Then I get to work culling, editing, and creating your full album, which takes 8-10 weeks to perfect.

The photos will be delivered via Pixieset just like your other galleries, and the same rules apply—you can print where you want and have freedom of personal use.

If other vendors want the photos, point them in my direction as I’d like to share them. They will be required to appropriately credit me so that’s a conversation I can have that you don’t need to worry about!

When I deliver the photos, I’ll also request reviews on WeddingWire, The Knot, and Google—these reviews really help my business and I want you to share your experience with others who are considering me!