Table of Contents
- Lara’s photography pricing
- Sample wedding timeline
- What to expect from your photographer (and when)
- Simple steps to booking your wedding photography
Lara is an incredibly talented candid wedding photographer. She captured all the most meaningful moments. The shots really caught the emotion and are the perfect reminder of our beautiful wedding day!
Heather & Travis
Photography Pricing
I price my wedding coverage by the hour. I think most of my clients appreciate the straightforward nature of no-frills pricing (but with full service, of course).
All packages include photography by Lara and a second photographer, an online slideshow and gallery, and edited high-resolution images via download.
Pricing starts at $1600 for two hours of coverage. Additional hours are $500. 6 hours ($3600) and 8 hours ($4600) are popular, to simplify the math.
5% GST applies to everything and 7% PST (for BC residents) applies to any products, like albums and prints.
Wedding Albums
Albums added at the time of booking are 20% off.
Fine Art Albums
30 page 10×10 album – $750
- photo, cloth, or leather cover
- can add on pages up to 90 total
- more photos here
Engagement Session
A 20 minute mini engagement session within 15 minutes drive from downtown Victoria/Mayfair is included for weddings four hours or longer, including edited high resolution images via download. Upgrade to a one hour engagement session within Greater Victoria for $200 plus GST.
Lara did an amazing job of capturing the emotion on our day and truly told our story through photos—we’re able to relive our big day every time we look at them. She is professional, flexible, and friendly.
Megan and Joe
Sample Wedding Timeline
Below is an ideal timeline for your wedding photography, based on an 8 or so hour day.
Getting Ready Photos: 60+ minutes
I usually photograph one side getting ready and my second shooter photographs the other. I recommend starting photography about an hour before the ceremony or first look. This time is mostly candid photos of the wedding party getting ready and having fun. Some people like to have photos of their hair and makeup being done and some prefer to skip it. Generally, hours of hair and makeup can be pretty boring, photography-wise, and I tend to focus more on relationships. Detail photos of the dress, bouquet, etc. can also be taken at this time if desired.
First Look & Portraits: 60-90 minutes
Once the couple is ready, we help them meet at a location of their choosing and do the first look. After, we can move on to wedding party and couple portraits. I usually like to keep these to one location, or two at most, to keep the stress levels low for everyone. Either the wedding party can meet us after the couple portraits, so they’re not around for the first look, or we can get the wedding party portraits out of the way first and then send them off to the wedding site. I prefer not to have them around during couple portraits in order to get genuine emotion.
Ceremony: 15-30 minutes
A typical civil ceremony lasts 10-30 minutes, though some religious ceremonies last up to 90 minutes. I try to stay out of the way during the ceremony and almost never use flash (unless it’s super dark), so guests can focus on the ceremony and not my presence. My second shooter captures different angles, so we can get a close-up of each person at the same moment.
Receiving Line: 30 minutes
A receiving line for up to 150 guests takes about 30 minutes (add 15 minutes for each additional 100 guests). This can be a good chance to get candid photos of most of the guests. If you prefer not to do a receiving line, schedule in some time for mingling or hide somewhere out of sight.
Family portraits: 10-30 minutes
Plan 1-2 minutes for each combination of people. I typically have my assistant read off names from a list provided by the couple, which makes things flow quickly. I typically try to keep these portraits to 15-20 minutes and take them somewhere near the ceremony site.
Travel Time: 1.5-2x expected time
Try to give 1.5-2 times the amount of time to travel as Google Maps claims it will take to allow for traffic, loading a big dress into the car, traveling with children (or a rowdy wedding party), finding parking, etc
Reception: Whatever You Want
I cover the reception events candidly, without direction or interruption. This can include toasts, cake cutting, bouquet/garter tosses, games, etc. As with the ceremony, my second shooter and I try to be as unobtrusive as possible. One of my priorities during the reception is to capture at least one good candid photo of each guest. The other, of course, is to capture all of the big moments and as many little ones as I can.
Dance Coverage: 70-120+ minutes
The first and parents’ dances generally take about 10-15 minutes. After these dances, I like to stay for at least half an hour to capture some fun on the dance floor and candid photos of people mingling. These are usually some of my fave photos of the day, so I’m happy to stay for an hour or two, or even longer if you have a special event or exit planned. I always check in with the couple at our scheduled end time (or after if I get carried away with dancing photos) to see if they want anything else photographed, and then leave the guests to have fun without a camera on them.
Note that this schedule is based on a typical more-or-less traditional wedding day. I’ve photographed weddings with no dancing, no ceremony, and no reception. Some people have afternoon weddings with an elegant lunch or lawn games. Some weddings start at sunset. Every wedding is unique and I’d love to work with you to figure out the best photographic coverage for your day.
Not only is Lara a wonderful photographer, but she has such a fun yet also calming presence.
Alana and Ryan
What to Expect from Your Wedding Photographer (and when)
The weeks surrounding your wedding are busy. I want to make them as simple as possible when it comes to photography. Here’s a timeline of what to expect from me in the weeks and months before and after your wedding.
About three months before your wedding: I’ll send you my wedding questionnaire so you can note all of the details that may help me take your ideal photos. A month prior to the wedding, I’ll remind you about this and your final payment.
2 weeks before your wedding: I’ll look through your questionnaire and make my “cheat sheet” for the day, asking you any clarifying questions.
Your wedding day: I’ll arrive early and get to work capturing all of the emotions and fun.
Within a week of the wedding: I’ll send you a few preview images via e-mail. Feel free to request a particular image or two for thank you cards if you like!
2-8 weeks after your wedding: I’ll deliver a slideshow set to music of around 100 images telling the story of your day, along with the online gallery where you and your guests can order prints and download the images.
2-4 weeks after the gallery is delivered (or whenever you have time): if you ordered an album, you’ll choose your favourite images in the gallery and I’ll deliver a draft album layout within two weeks. We’ll work together to make sure the final design is perfect.
2-4 weeks after album approval: albums take approximately 2-4 weeks to arrive at your doorstep. Prints and other products should arrive within 1-2 weeks.
Lara was awesome to work with for our wedding! She made everyone feel comfortable in front of the camera and got great shots at our ceremony and reception, including photos of almost all of our guests. She also had really helpful suggestions for other wedding planning issues.
Karen and Chris
Simple Steps to Booking Your Wedding Photographer
- Look through this page and my portfolio to make sure you love my style of photography and approach to the day. You’ll want to make sure that we have similar ideas and the photos will be a perfect fit for you.
- Send me an e-mail (if you haven’t already) to see if I’m available on your wedding date. If photography is very important to you, please go ahead and e-mail me—even if you haven’t gotten around to choosing your date yet.
- I’ll reply, usually within 24 hours, with answers to any of your questions. Then we can set up an in-person or Skype meeting, so we can see how we get along. An in-person meeting gives you a chance to see my albums and products. If you prefer not to meet, you can just skip to the next step. Many couples choose to book via email and trust my online reviews (Google and Facebook) and recommendations from friends and vendors. I can also send you a full wedding gallery or two, so you can see exactly what to expect from me.
- If we seem like a perfect match, you can go ahead and choose your package, sign my online contract (it’s mostly free of scary legal speak, I promise), and put down your deposit of 1/3 of your selected package. Once that’s done, your day is booked. The remainder is due in two equal payments, three months and one month before your wedding.
- Sit back and relax, knowing you don’t have to worry about anything to do with wedding photography ever again.
