Weather not only affects your wedding's style and location, but may set a completely different mood. If it's snowing outside, or it's 90 degrees, people will behave differently. Consider your wedding personality, then choose your season accordingly. Free-spirited fun, sun-dappled settings, wild and sweaty dancing: Stick with a summer wedding. Opulence, snowfall, holiday sparkle: Try a winter wedding. Rich colors, nostalgia, mulled apple cider: A fall wedding is for you. Freshness, pastels, a daffodil bouquet: A spring wedding is your thing.

Budget may affect your choice. June, August, and September are the most popular times to marry, so, prices are inevitably higher. But if, for example, you're planning a wedding in January, March, or December, it may cost less because 50 other couples aren't lined up behind you offering to pay top dollar. Days of the week also matter: Saturday nights carry a hefty price tag, but marry during the week and the world is your oyster (venues may even bid against each other to get your business)!

Speaking of guests, but only of the top-tier, wouldn't-get-married-without-them variety: If you have limited preferences, you may want to ask your nearest and dearest about date conflicts and plan accordingly. Be forewarned that this is a slippery slope if you ask anyone outside your essential circle of parents, siblings, and honor attendants. Keep it simple and don't budge once the date's set.

1. When do you want the coverage to start? Most couples like to start taking photos while they’re getting ready. This way their hair and make-up getting done is documented, as are your interactions with your helpers, intimate moments you may have before the ceremony with your friends and family, as well as the more casual photos that often happen when everyone’s just hanging out. We recommend 45 minutes to 1.5 hours for the getting ready shots.

2. How many formal shots will you have? This is where your Photo must take list comes in handy. Of course, it all depends on the size of your family and the depth of your shot list but we usually recommend: 45 minutes – 1 hour for family shots, 20 – 30 minutes for groom and groomsmen photos, 20 – 30 minutes for bride and bridesmaid photos and 15 minutes for photos of the entire bridal party together.

3. How far will we have to travel? Typically, couples want their “bride and groom formal shots” (the wedding photos of just you two together) at a separate location from the rest of their wedding photos, which often involves some travel. To ensure that we have plenty of time to get to the other location and back with the least amount of stress we recommend 45 minutes to an hour for your couple formal shots..

4. Do you want to see each other before the ceremony? If you don’t mind seeing your fiancé beforehand, we can usually get the majority of your formal shots taken care of before the ceremony, leaving you free to party once you’ve said, “I do.” If you prefer a more traditional approach and want your first meeting to be during the ceremony, I recommend adding an additional 15 – 30 minutes to reorganize your wedding guests and finish up your formal shots.

5. Are there any special shots you want to get? We can usually fit in requested shots into the timeframe we set out but it’s always good to know beforehand of any special requests you may want (photos of your wedding dress, wedding shoes, special dances, toasts, etc). Depending on the sequence of events at your wedding, we’ll want to make sure we have ample time (allowing some room for movement), in case things are running late or slightly off-schedule.

If you have a very large wedding where it is going to be difficult (or impossible) for one person to capture most people or most of the action at once it is a good idea to have two photographers. Of course, if you have a wedding with 500 people, it might even be a good idea to have 3 photographers. We have had many weddings where we thought it would be beneficial to have 2 other people with us and suggested to the bride and groom as such.

Another reason where it would be beneficial to have two photographers is if you would like multiple angles of something simultaneously. For example, if you know that you are getting married in a large, beautiful cathedral with a balcony, and you’d want a shot of you and your dad walking down the aisle from above and from front on, you will need to have two photographers. The father and daughter walking down the aisle in a cathedral from above is one of our favorite wedding shots, but you can only get that if you have a second person in the balcony, because, of course, you can’t have the entire wedding party shot from above.

Some other times that it is very nice to have more than one photographer is if you and your fiancé are getting ready in two different locations. While it is possible to drive from place to place and get shots of each of you getting ready, there is bound to be something missed while in transit. Having two photographers makes it possible to have both groups getting ready with nothing missed.