Toasting shots can be some of our favorite types of San Francisco Bay Area wedding photography. This is because it comes across not posed and much more natural. In this photo, you can see the couple are having a great time and are fully engaged with one another. True candid photos have this kind of effect on the viewer. In some ways you feel like you are right there with the couple celebrating their nuptials. Despite the fact that the wedding photographers did make the suggestion to have the couple toast each other, their reaction was theirs alone. For this reason we almost always make the suggestion for our San Francisco Bay Area couples to toast each other at their wedding reception. The photo above was taken at a downtown San Francisco restaurant very close to the Bay Bridge and Financial District. They had booked us for their San Francisco wedding which took place at City Hall and then we visited a few other iconic destinations in the city.
Once the formal photo tour was complete we arrived at their wedding reception and just covered the events of the evening. Whenever we photograph a San Francisco wedding reception we try to keep the photos as candid as possible. We do make some limited suggestions like this photo for example, but for the most part we let the couples enjoy their celebration with little interference from us. Of course there will be special events to cover including the Cake Cutting and toasts.
Wedding Reception coverage is different than taking pictures of the bride and groom during the formal photo shoot. Our goals become different once we get to the reception. During the bride and groom photos we are trying to capture dramatic images and create wonderful poses. Once we arrive at the reception it's more about capturing memories and moments of emotion. We try to get pictures of the bride and groom greeting people and hugging them and just enjoying their time with family and friends.
The other thing that makes wedding reception photography different is that you are capturing events as they occur. So this creates a little bit less pressure to be creative but requires more attention to what is happening so you don't miss anything. It becomes vitally important to stay in touch with the disc jockey or Master of Ceremonies to ensure that they keep the wedding photographers in the loop. It is our job to stay ready and focused but it's still nice to get a warning when possible that something is coming up. Important Bay Area reception events like the first dance, the cake cutting, and throwing the bouquet take a little bit of planning when it comes to setting up for wedding photography. So the advanced warning from the DJ is much appreciated and it helps provide the couple with a better result. For these reasons we much prefer working with experienced DJ's since they understand how important this is. We even have some top-notch professional SF Bay Area disc jockeys that we refer to our wedding couples because we know they understand how important wedding photography is to the bride and groom.