4 Pro Tips for How to Photograph a HOT Wedding Day
June 9, 2022
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Hey photographers! It’s no secret that here in Virginia, it can get HOT in the summer! From late-April all the way through the middle of October, we’ve photographed wedding days where the temperature topped 90-degrees Fahrenheit! And with the high humidity that we here in the American south-east just ~love~ (☠), a wedding photographer really needs to know how to handle themselves on hot wedding days! So today, we’re giving our 4 tips to get the most out of a HOT wedding day! ????????
4 Pro Tips for How to Photograph a HOT Wedding Day
Before we jump in to this week’s content, in case you missed it, last month we finished up our Post Production Secrets video/blog series! This 6-part series was all about what comes after the wedding day, from downloading the photos to our computer all the way to final gallery delivery! Also, if you aren’t already a member, be sure to join our free Facebook Community: Mastering the Wedding Photography Biz with Hunter and Sarah! Okay, on to the hot wedding day tips!
1. Set Expectations with Your Couple
If you only learn one thing from this entire blog, it should be this: if it looks like temperatures are going to be high on your upcoming wedding day, it can never hurt to reach out to your couple and discuss expectations. Like we mentioned in our post two weeks ago (6 Pro Tips for Shooting a Rainy Wedding Day), most conflict (or customer disappointment) comes from missed expectations. So just opening up this line of communication with your couple can help ease the stress of a hot day!
For starters you want to gauge their comfort level with the heat. In all likelihood, if they booked their wedding between mid-June and the end of August, they knew when they booked that hot weather was a strong possibility. But on those freak April days where temperatures hit 95°+, or that rare day deep into the fall when the hot-and-humid is still sticking around, it’s important to acknowledge the heat. And of course, if temperatures are dangerously high, adjustments may need to be made to the wedding day. Even in the shade, it can be dangerous to spend too long outside when temperatures (accounting for heat index) are above body temperature, 96°. So if the day is calling for 100° or more, you may want to discuss which parts of the day they may want to move inside. If they’ll have elderly relatives, they may want to even consider moving the ceremony inside!
Another thing that can change with hot days is what we call the “in-and-out” strategy. We mentioned two weeks ago how, on rainy days, we’ll suddenly rush outside when the rain lets up and shoot while we can, then rush back inside if the rain picks back up. On really hot days, we adjust that strategy a bit. Maybe we’ll head outside for the First Look and capture some beautiful (shaded) portraits of our couple, a handful of portraits, then pull everyone back inside to cool down before we go back outside to photograph the wedding party. Likewise, we’ll make sure to give them plenty of time inside before the ceremony to cool back down if their ceremony will be outside. This obviously means we’ll either 1) need to work more efficiently, 2) take fewer photos, or 3) need to add time to the timeline. This is one thing we discuss with our couples! Would they rather prioritize staying cool and shoot less, or embrace the heat and have a larger gallery of images with each other and their wedding party and family?
At 95% of our wedding days, I wear a full suit. However, for those REALLY hot summer days, I skip the jacket and go for a lightweight dress shirt!
2. How to Prepare for a Hot Wedding Day
Unfortunately, there isn’t much you can do ahead of time to prepare for a hot wedding day. However, staying hydrated the day before the wedding day can actually help you be more hydrated while you’re out in the heat! So be sure to drink plenty of water, and avoid alcohol, sugary drinks, and salty or fried foods leading up to the wedding. This will really help you perform your best on the wedding day!
In addition, we recommend packing a small washcloth or towel somewhere on your person so you can help your subjects stay dry. If their faces and/or hairline is covered in sweat, it will not turn out great in the final images! I’ll often leave a towel hanging from one of my pockets or from my camera strap on hot days, and toss it to our couple to let them dab the sweat from their brows between shots.
Finally, make sure you have a lightweight and breathable (but professional) outfit laid out in advance to minimize how much you sweat on the wedding day! While Sarah will rock just about any lightweight dress with pockets on a hot wedding day, I exclusively wear my suits from Ministry of Supply. Although their dress shirts and suits are expensive, they’re essentially made from the same breathable, machine-washable, wrinkle-proof material that workout clothes are made from, making them the perfect outfit for any warm day where you also need to look professional!
Brittany and Eric were only in town for one weekend, so even though it was going to be 95° with 95% humidity, we decided to push through with their engagement session! That orange towel hanging from my back pocket soon became Eric’s sweat-rag. This poor guy was sweating like crazy from the top of his head, even in the shade, which would immediately run down his face if we didn’t towel him off!
3. How to Protect Yourself from the Heat on a Hot Wedding Day
If you’re anything like Sarah, sunscreen is going to be an important addition to your camera bag on a hot summer wedding day. If you’re wearing clothing that leaves your skin exposed to the sun, make sure you lather up your arms and/or legs in addition to your neck and face at least once or twice during the day!
Also make sure you have plenty of snacks and water on hand (hydrate or die-drate, amiright?!). We were at a wedding early in our career that did not have safe drinking water on-site, so the catering company was responsible for providing enough water for the entire wedding. However, this August wedding day was almost 100°, so the entire wedding ran out of water with several hours still left in the dancing! It ended up being the groom’s dad who left the wedding and drove 15 minutes each way to the nearest grocery store to purchase a few dozen additional bottles of water! Which then also ran out.
That experience taught us to never just assume there will be plenty of water at a venue. Ever since then, Sarah and I pack an additional bag with ALL of our reusable water bottles filled to the brim with ice water, no matter what the temperature is on a wedding day. But it’s SO much more important on hot days! The 5 bottles add up to almost a gallon, so we can stay hydrated all day long without running back and forth to the catering kitchen or anything like that. We also make sure we have snacks on hand to keep some calories in us during the down moments. High temperatures and the sun can really take it out of you (as if photographing a 10-hour wedding day wasn’t exhausting enough), so even something as simple as water and snacks will help you perform your best on a hot wedding day!
On rainy wedding days, you allow yourself to get wet (when necessary) so that your couple can stay dry. Likewise, we’ll shoot from the sun if necessary if it means keeping our couple (and their wedding party) in the shade!
4. Be Flexible and Be Ready to Serve Your Couple!
Last summer we had a wedding in the Washington DC area that was slated to be a pretty brutal day. When we arrived at the venue in the morning, it was already over 90°, and to top it off, rain was potentially in the forecast. But we were prepared with lightweight and breathable outfits, plenty of water and snacks, and had already discussed our options with our couple, Denisse and Eber. They and their families were ready to embrace the heat, so we did our best to keep their First Look and all of their portraits in the shade, then rushed them inside when the rain began.
Throughout the day, we brought them in and out to help them cool down between shots, and adjusted their timeline on the fly so we could do more images during golden hour, when we knew things would be cooler. Despite the crazy high-temperatures, a freak rain in the middle of the day, and all the last-minute adjustments to the timeline, Denisse and Eber absolutely loved their final image gallery, and left us rave reviews. And we’ve photographed more 90°+ wedding days than we can count!
Although that sort of attitude is a part of how we love and serve every wedding couple, and the attitude we tell all our students they should approach a wedding day with, it’s even MORE important on hot wedding days! Very few people love being outside on days like that, so if your presence is bright and positive and brings good energy and vibes to the day, you can be part of making their hot day better, as opposed to another negative or complaining voice on their wedding day! And how you make your clients feel is just as important as how you make them look with your photos!
In the end, Denisse and Eber loved their final image gallery, despite the crazy hot wedding day!
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