Calgary Wedding Ceremony Venues

The wedding ceremony is the most important aspect of the whole wedding day. It may not get the most thought or be the most expensive pieces of the wedding day, but it is the reason everyone got together in the first place, right?

While a lot of the wedding planning gets focused on the reception, the meal, the party, the portraits and even the getting ready, the ceremony can become a bit of an afterthought for some people. It can be easy to forget what a unique and emotional experience your wedding ceremony will be so you want to make sure you get amazing photos to capture it. There are a lot of factors that going into choosing a ceremony venue, not just the photos. Your religion, customs and budget all play a part as well as weather, time of year and number of guests. Adding in thinking about the best spot for photos along with all the earlier factors can be almost impossible so this blog won't be about choosing your venue, rather it will be about how to make the most out of the venue you choose. So here are a few helpful tips to make sure you can have effortlessly beautiful photos that capture all the amazing feelings and moments without being distracting.

Think about the time of day

The time of day can play a major part in how your wedding ceremony photos look, and there is no one perfect time of day for every venue. In the best light for outdoor photos comes in the first couple hours after sunrise and the last couple hours before sunset. These times will change dramatically depending on where in the world your wedding ceremony is taking place. So if you have the felxibility to move your ceremony around to closer to these times you can be rewarded with beautifully angled golden light. For indoor ceremonies this is still a factor as light will be streaming in through different windows and at different angles depending on the time of day. Either way it's a great idea to check out your ceremony venue at the time of day you will be having your ceremony and consider where the light will be. It can be tough to change the time of day for your ceremony, but you can sometimes tweak the location to work best with the light. Being in the shade and being backlit by the sun can be a great combination and may only take a small change depending on your wedding ceremony venue. This way you have nice even light and neither you or your partner is staring directly into the sun and squinting though the whole ceremony.

Have an unplugged ceremony

A great option to help the photographers you've hired have the best chance at great photos is to ask your guests to put their phones away. It may seem counterintuitive to limit the total number of photos to get better photos, but you will still get tons of photos from the professionals and those ones will be great! Even a few great photos are worth more than hundreds of bad ones! An unplugged ceremony is great for helping to get great photos because it means the only people up and moving around during the ceremony are the photographers. This means there won't be anyone getting in their way, no extra distractions of guests moving around and most of all no one has their phone in front of their face.You will definitely value a picture of your mom tearing up at your ceremony without a phone in her hand much more than you'll value any phone photo she takes!

Room to move

Speaking with your venue or wedding officiant about where the photographers are allowed to go and finding a way to allow for as much movement within the space as possible can make for an amazing variety of photos. Make sure your venue has enough room for all your guests and space for an empty center aisle and aisles on either side of the guests to allow the photographers to travel freely and get the best angle for all the ceremony moments you'll want to look back on.

An officiant in the know

Getting a great officiant (the person performing your ceremony, it could be anything from a Justice of the Peace to a Minister) is about more than just what they say during the ceremony. It's also very helpful if they know where and when to go to allow for the best photos of just the two of you. Speaking with them and making sure they will be able to step out from behind you and your partner at key times will make for extra special wedding ceremony photos.

Make your own plan for the ceremony

Along with talking with the officiant about the last point you can also work with them to make sure the ceremony will fit with you and your partner's unique personalities. It can be nice to make sure you can be close, holding hands and facing each other is always much nicer than with your backs to your guests or sitting in chairs a few feet apart. Also taking the tie to write your own vows and reading them to one another for the first time on the wedding day can be a surprisingly emotional and special part of the day, not to mention make for beautiful photos! This can feel so much more personal than the repeat-after-me style vows and also allow for the officiant to step aside for this portion of the ceremony as well.

Beautiful Decor

Having the right decor that matches and compliments your venue can really help to beatify any venue and can also be used to block out other distracting elements that might otherwise be in the background of all your photos. It doesn't have to be a ton of work and money just something as simple as a white backdrop, flowers or string lights can make all the difference in making a space feel personal and romantic.

Enjoy it

The most important thing of all is that you are present in the moment and you enjoy the wedding ceremony no matter what! The venue, decor and officiant won't make a difference if you feel distracted or worried during the ceremony. So make sure you do the planning before and then be ready to roll with anything that comes your way on the day because you're marrying the love of your life all the rest is just details!

These are just a few little tips to help you get the best photos during your wedding ceremony. Of course every ceremony will be different and won't want to or need to follow all these tips, but we hope a few of them can help you to have an amazing wedding ceremony and amazing photos to look back on too!