How to BOSS social media for your wedding..

 

Well hello gorgeous people!

So. I was photographing a wedding recently, and one of the bridesmaids said to me ‘you’ve done so many weddings now, you must really know what you’re doing!’. Well, I’ll leave that to you guys to decide if I know what I’m doing (hehe). But to be fair, I have seen an awful lot of weddings. 116 to be exact!

As it’s a new year, going forward I wanted to create a few handy guides for you guys – my awesome couples!

First up, I thought I’d do a little ‘how to’ when it comes to sharing your wedding photos on social media. Sure, you might want to just keep all your wedding photos to yourself. But chances are you’re going to want to share a few pics on ‘the gram‘!

I follow a lot of my couples on social media. I get to see what works well when it comes to sharing wedding photos. Here’s a roundup of the lot!

Give your guests some social media ground rules before the wedding..

Everyone has a smartphone at their fingertips these days. It’s inevitable that your guests will take their own photos at your wedding. Whether or not you mind them taking photos in the ceremony, it’s best to let your guests know your preferences ahead of the big day.

There is however one thing you ABSOLUTELY MUST do, and that is to ask your guests to refrain from posting anything until you guys have done so first.

Let’s face it, you’ve put blood, sweat and tears into making your wedding day perfect. You don’t want the first thing that people see of your big day to be an out of focus, unflattering photo uploaded by your auntie Barbara!

I always aim to send out preview pictures within a couple of days of the wedding, and trust me, this is what people want to see first!

One really good way of doing this is to post a photo the day before the wedding from your engagement shoot. The photo should get people attention – just outline your preferences in the caption.

Space out your posts..

Not to be too dramatic, but you should leave your followers wanting more when it comes to social media. It’s SO exciting when you get your wedding photos through, but no one has time to scroll through 30 Instagram posts at once!

Sure, post a few of your favourite photos to start with, then leave it a few days. Hold some back for a post on your other half’s birthday, or your anniversary perhaps.

It’s also good to vary what you’re posting. One week you could post some beautiful portraits of the two of you. But the next time why not post some cute little details? Some hilariously embarrassing photos of your groomsmen? Your favourite dancefloor snaps? Spice things up a bit!

Remember to download your photos, not screenshot them..

Whenever I send out a gallery, there is always a code to be used for downloading your photos. PLEASE USE IT! I’ve seen couples in the past uploading screenshots to their social media and guys.. it looks scruffy!

I don’t want you guys having blurry photos clogging up your Instagram feed. I’d also hate to think your friends and family thought I’d been sending you rubbish pictures!!

So please please please just take a few minutes to download your photos. It might just take a little while longer, but trust me it is SO worth it!

Timing is everything..

We all want to get a good reaction when we post something on social media. If people say they don’t, they’re definitely telling you porkies.

Try to wait for a good time to post your photos i.e. when most people will be on their phones. You want to catch people when they’re mindlessly scrolling through their Instagram feed and then BOOM. There’s one of your wedding photos. *Double tap*

  1. Evenings tend to work best; after dinner when people are slobbing on the sofa and looking at their phones in the Love Island ad breaks.
  2. Try to avoid Friday and Saturday nights as a lot of people will be out and about.
  3. Sundays are prime time. Sunday mornings and evenings when people are chilling means that lots of people will see your post.

Be careful when adding filters..

Some photographers probably won’t bat an eyelid at this, but with others it can be a big slap in the chops.

I’ll explain what I mean…

Your wedding photographer will have spent hours upon hours making sure your photos are perfect before sending them to you. On every single photo, they will have adjusted the lighting, the temperature, got rid of anything that shouldn’t be there, cropped it if needed, applied their own preset, and anything else they think it might need in order for it to be ready to send. You might not think much of it, but if you decide to stick a garish instagram filter on it, it can feel a little bit sad for us wedding photographers.

This can also be a little bit confusing for anyone looking at your photo. If you’ve tagged your photographer (and please do!), then applied a filter of your own, it might seem to other couples that this is the style of your photographer, when in fact it might be the total opposite.

And finally.. show me your favourites!

After I’ve photographed a wedding, I absolutely love to see which photos you guys choose to share. I am ALWAYS surprised at which ones people pick! I usually have favourite photos for one reason or another, but for you guys a photo can have such a personal meaning and you might choose a totally different one!

Either way, it makes me really happy to see my couples sharing and loving their photos.

I hope you’ve found this guide useful, and if you have any suggestions for anything you’d like to know about weddings then please let me know!

 

INFO@LILYNORTH.COM