White Barn Wedding | Prospect, PA | Carly & Tyler | Modern Wedding Photography | What to Expect

We were back at White Barn in Prospect, PA for Carly and Tyler's wedding last month! We love this location because it has it all. Modern barn venue, lots of acreage of tall grass or short grass, pond, beautiful gazebo, options for indoor or outdoor ceremony, separate rooms for cocktail hour and reception, pleasant experienced staff. The weddings always go off without a hitch and that makes our job a lot easier.

In this blog post, I would also like to highlight what it is we include in our packages, by showing you what we do in a full wedding day. First of all, I want to say that we spend many hours talking to the bride and groom about their plans, timelines, expectations, getting a list from them of group shots they wish to get, scouting the location, and planning the wedding day.

Now, day of, my second shooter and I almost always arrive early (no extra charge) just in case there is unforeseen traffic, we get lost (it happens to the best of us), and the extra time is used to find the bride and groom to let them know we are there, unload equipment and get set up.

Once we are set up, one of us will find the bride, while the other finds the groom so we can do our "getting ready" images. Here we will shoot details like the dress hanging, nice details of the bouquets, the rings, shoes, other accessories and jewelry, as well as the bride and groom getting dressed, which is really just the dress getting zipped up, ties being tied, candids of the bridesmaids and groomsmen helping get everything ready. We will also do some group shots of the bridal party (guys and girls separately of course), if the parents are there, we will take some of them. Some brides like to have a first look with their father and we shoot him seeing her for the first time in her dress (super sweet).

Of course, this is optional as well. You can spend your KWP time however you want. If you want us at the reception longer, we can arrive just before the ceremony and skip the getting ready images. It's completely up to you and we are pleased to help you choose what is most important to get photographed on your big day!

Here are some getting ready images from Carly and Tyler's wedding:

The ceremony is the most anticipated part of the day. Everyone has the jitters and or are just really emotional. We will leave you in the getting ready room or location and head to the ceremony location to find a good spot to get close ups and wide angle shots of everything.

While we wait for the ceremony to begin, we take this opportunity to get some guest shots like this cool little guy! :)

And we almost always get a good shot of the groom seeing his bride for the first time!

Natural expressions are our bread and butter. We will pose you later, but we try to get the natural happy expressions when we can and right after the officiant announces that you are officially Mr. and Mrs. and you look out to see all of your closest friends and family there to support you, it's one of my favorite times to take that "We did it" shot.

The family group pictures usually happen right after the ceremony, so it's important that the ones you want in these photos stick around and don't head to cocktail hour just yet, especially the bridal party. We will do our best to get the family and bridal party shots done as quickly and painlessly as possible, so they can enjoy cocktail hour, then we will be able to concentrate on bride and groom shots. We will ask for a list of these group shots ahead of time, so you have time to really think about what you want and so we can be prepared.

We LOVE this part of the day, and plan for it thoroughly. We will have poses ready, the best locations planned and lighting if needed. Of course we will get any specific poses that you request, we will ask for this information ahead of time in a questionnaire along with the family group shots list so we do not miss it.

We will spend as much time on the bride and groom pictures as you allow us. Some couples will spend the whole cocktail hour and plus some on pictures because they are that important to them. Other think it's important to be at the cocktail hour with the guests and start mingling, which is perfectly fine, however that takes away from photo time and you will have less final images.

Of course we don't want to be the ones responsible for your schedule running behind, so we will get you to the reception location in time for you to be announced, if not before.

At some point in the day, usually as soon as we arrive, we will also snag shots of the decorations and table settings before the guests arrive, so they will be fresh and untouched.

Here are a few of Carly and Tyler's reception photos. If people are dancing, we are taking pictures! During the dancing, this is also a great time to get any shots that we may have missed during the day, specific group shots or whatever.