You’re engaged!! First of all, congratulations. Before you immediately start picking dates, touring venues, and filling your calendar with wedding appointments, give yourselves a minute to actually enjoy being engaged. There will be plenty to do soon enough! As an Oklahoma wedding photographer. I get to come into the process at such a fun point, and I’m there for so much more than just showing up with my cameras on the wedding day. From engagement photos and vendor recommendations to timeline help and finally delivering your full gallery, here’s a little look at what the whole process looks like from start to finish!
Before You Book Your Oklahoma Wedding Photographer, Start Here
If you’re getting married in the Catholic Church, one of your first steps should be reaching out to your parish. Depending on your church, that may mean contacting your priest, deacon, or marriage coordinator to get the Pre-Cana process started. Every diocese is a little different. And marriage preparation can take anywhere from several months to a year. So this is something you definitely don’t want to leave until the last minute.
For couples getting married within the Diocese of Tulsa and Eastern Oklahoma. The process includes an initial meeting with clergy, choosing a marriage preparation program, Natural Family Planning, completing the FOCCUS inventory, and eventually planning the details of your wedding Mass. If you’re not having a Catholic wedding, you can obviously skip this part! Either way, once you start narrowing down when and where you want to get married, you can move on to getting the rest of your wedding plans in place.
Locking In Your Date and Your Must-Have Vendors
If you’re working with a full-service wedding planner, I recommend bringing them in early, before you even book your venue if possible. They can help you find spaces that work for your guest count, budget, and overall vision while also helping you figure out which vendors you’ll need. If you’re planning without a full-service planner, your church and venue are usually the places to start when figuring out your actual wedding date.
Once the date is official, start reaching out to the vendors you really care about. Your photographer, coordinator or planner, florist, hair and makeup team, DJ, and other priority vendors can book pretty far in advance, especially during popular Oklahoma wedding seasons. And if you’re stuck on venues or vendors, you can always reach out to me. I have plenty of recommendations!
Booking Me as Your Oklahoma Wedding Photographer
Once you have your date, you can officially inquire! After you fill out my inquiry form, I’ll reach out within 24 hours unless I’m traveling out of the country. I’ll also contact you using whatever communication method you selected on your form. Whether you’re more of an email, text, or phone call person. From there, we’ll talk through your wedding, what you’re planning, and what you’re looking for from your photography.
If we decide we’re a good fit, I’ll send everything you need in one proposal. Your contract and payment portal are all together. And once the contract is signed and your first payment is made, you’re officially on my calendar! Payments can be divided into two, four, or six installments spaced between booking and the week before your wedding. I intentionally don’t leave a payment due during wedding week because you already have enough going on by then.
Your Engagement Session & Everything Leading Up to the Wedding
Next up is your engagement session! We’ll find a date that works for both of us, and you can choose whatever location feels right for you. After your session, you’ll get highlights within about three to four days and your full engagement gallery within one month. I don’t like making you wait forever to actually see your photos!
And then, we stay in touch. You don’t book me and suddenly not hear from me again until the week of your wedding. If you need vendor recommendations, have timeline questions, or just need some photography-related advice while you’re planning, email or text me. Pinterest boards are welcome too! I love seeing what you’re drawn to, and we can use them as inspiration without trying to recreate someone else’s wedding photo for photo.
The Final Six Weeks With Your Oklahoma Wedding Photographer
About six weeks before your wedding, I’ll send over a questionnaire so I can get all the little details I need before the day arrives. This is where you can tell me about family photo combinations, vendor information, special requests, family dynamics or tensions I should know about, and anything else that will help me walk into the day already knowing what matters to you.
During the week before your wedding, we’ll check in again for any last-minute updates. I’ll also send you a list of what to include in your details box so those things are ready to go when I arrive. By this point, we’ve already done the planning and talked through the important stuff. So wedding day can actually be about enjoying your wedding instead of trying to figure everything out as we go.
Wedding Day to Your Final Gallery
And then it’s finally wedding day!! This is where all of that planning comes together. I’m there to document the big moments, of course. But I’m also watching for all of the smaller things happening throughout the day, the people, reactions, details, and moments you may not even realize happened until you see your photos later.
You’ll receive wedding highlights within three to four days because I know waiting weeks just to see anything from your wedding is hard. If I photographed film throughout your day, those scans will be uploaded to your gallery once I receive them from the lab, typically within one to three weeks depending on lab availability. Your full wedding gallery is delivered within one month. Again, I don’t like making you wait!
Looking for an Oklahoma Wedding Photographer? Would Love To Chat!
I want the photography part of your wedding to feel easy from the beginning. Not like another thing you have to figure out on your own. Whether you need help finding a vendor, have questions about your timeline, want to send me a Pinterest board at 10 p.m., or just need someone who understands the logistics of an Oklahoma Catholic wedding, I’m here throughout the process. If you’re planning your wedding and think we’d be a good fit, reach out and tell me what you have planned so far. If you want to learn more about me and what I do, click here. I can’t wait to hear about it!
Engagement session: Woodward Park and downtown Tulsa
Wedding: Holy Family Cathedral and the Mayo Hotel
