It’s time for the final post in my Wedding Day Must have Mini-Series (and another video blog)! To view the previous parts, click below:
Part 1: Business must haves (equipment)

Part 2: Personal must haves 

Today is part 3, and it is all about the extras. I want to start by saying that many photographers shoot weddings brilliantly without much from part 3.  The basics that I do think most bring are a stool of some sort for the vertically challenged like me, and a reflector of some sort. While I think they are deeply useful, I don’t find myself using them regularly during portraits because I just like everything to be as little fuss as possible, and they are extra fuss to me. So I try to leverage natural reflectors instead. But I do use them while photographing details, since usually no one is around to see the fuss! 🙂 I use a step stool often (and should probably more). But the content of this video includes a lot of extra fun tools that I use some days a lot, and some days don’t touch. I stress it in the video, but it is important to me to point out that I would never add major or non-fitting pieces to anyone’s detail shots. These details never become the focus- just extra little texture or color as needed. I hope it makes sense once you see all the images and how some of these pieces are used below the video!

**Note: The ring box giveaway mentioned in this video is expired (but keep an eye out for more giveaways in the future!).

Most of the items I showed were purchased at Michaels.  All of the scrapbook paper, the box (which is apparently made for scrapbooking and not fishing ????), and most of the ribbons/fabrics can be found at any local craft store near you.

There are 2 other details I bring that I didn’t discuss!

1). 2 pieces of long tulle (one cream and one white) that can replicate a veil and add great softness to a background of images without having to use your bride’s actual veil and risk wrinkling it!

2). A plain wooden hangar

Brides or bridesmaids so often forget about a hangar in their planning- and it is really unideal to have to photograph on a plastic hangar so I always bring one just in case!

You can also see the fold up table that I bring in the photo above- I bring and use that on many wedding days when there isn’t an uncluttered or non busy space for me to photograph. We can put that up ANYWHERE (driveways, lobbies, etc) to photograph details on and it is so so helpful!

Here are some pictures that I took while prepping this post using the scrapbook paper for ring shots:

Below is an example  of using my tulle on a real wedding day for softness in the background, and some other images using details I showed in the video above at weddings!

And last, a couple pictures of the setup I used to take these ring shots on the paper today (so you can see what it could look like on a wedding day) and a few of the box all put together!

That scrapbook paper is propped up on a book in lieu of a second shooter to help 😉

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Do you have questions about photography or small business? Email them to me at jill@jillgum.com for this Ask Anything series!