Getting Married in Charleston (or Anywhere)? Here’s What I Wish Every Couple Knew!

As a Charleston wedding photographer, I've shot weddings and elopements all over the world, over 300 of them at this point.. Here’s what I’ve learned along the way, and what I wish every couple knew before they start looking for a photographer.

Book early, and book based on real galleries

The best photographers in Charleston get booked out fast, sometimes over a year in advance for peak season. If you have a date set, start your photographer search as soon as you lock in your venue. And when you're comparing photographers, ask to see a few full weddings from start to finish, not just the ten favorite shots from each one. Highlight reels are curated by nature. A full gallery tells you what your actual day will look like: the getting ready chaos, the in between moments, the toasts, the dance floor at 10pm.

Don't book on price alone

I SO wish this didn't need saying, but I've heard the same handful of stories too many times to leave it out. A newer photographer undercuts the market to build up a portfolio fast, a couple books them to save a few hundred dollars, and months later they're still waiting on a gallery that never shows up. Sometimes it finally arrives and it's fifteen unedited photos dumped in a shared folder. Sometimes the photographer stops answering messages entirely, and there's no getting that wedding day back once it's gone.

Think of your photographer as an investment rather than a line item to shop down. You're paying for the backup camera bodies and lenses in case one fails mid ceremony, years of experience shooting in low light receptions and fast moving getting ready rooms, insurance that protects your date, the real editing time that goes into every single image, and the accountability of someone with an actual business and reputation on the line. A photographer charging a fraction of the going rate is usually missing one or more of those things, and your wedding day is not the place to find out which.

At the end of the day, what you're really paying for is the memories themselves. Your photos become the one tangible piece of your wedding day, the family heirloom that ends up on a shelf or in an album your kids and grandkids will actually hold someday. That's worth protecting, and it starts with who you hire.

Give your timeline more room than you think you need

Every couple wants more portrait time and less standing around, and the secret to getting both is padding. Hair and makeup runs long. Grandparents move slower getting into position for photos. The shuttle bus takes ten extra minutes to load. If your planner or venue coordinator hands you a timeline that feels tight, ask your photographer to weigh in before you finalize it. We've seen the ten minute gaps that turn into forty, and we know where the time actually needs to live.

You don't have to do a first look, but here's why so many couples do!

There's a real romance to seeing each other for the first time as you walk down the aisle, and I'll never talk anyone out of that if it matters to them. But a first look does something practical too: it buys you time, and time ends up being the biggest perk of all. You get more time with your person on your actual wedding day instead of being separated for hours while everyone gets ready. Couples who do one usually get through family formals and wedding party photos before the ceremony even starts too, which means more time with your people at cocktail hour instead of stuck behind a curtain while everyone else is already celebrating without you.

A first look also gives you two separate windows for portraits instead of one. If Charleston decides to throw one of its classic afternoon showers between the ceremony and reception, you already have a full set of portraits banked from earlier in the day, so the moment isn't lost to weather.

Let the day be a little bit messy

The dress will get dusty. Someone's tie will come loose. The flower girl might refuse to walk. That's just what weddings are actually like, and some of my favorite images from the last ten years came from moments nobody planned. If you can let go of needing everything to look magazine perfect in the moment, you'll enjoy the day more, and the photos will feel more like you.

Ask if a second shooter is included

A second photographer catches an entirely different angle of your day: your dad's face during the ceremony while your first photographer is focused on you, the groom's reaction as you walk in, candid guest moments during the reception that one photographer alone would simply miss. If a second shooter isn't already part of your package, ask what it would take to add one. For weddings over 100 guests especially, it's one of the best upgrades you can make.

Send your photographer a family formals list ahead of time

Nothing eats up more portrait time than trying to figure out, in the moment, who Aunt Carol is and whether she's supposed to be in the photo with the grandparents or not. A short list with names and relationships, sent a week or two before the wedding, lets your photographer run formals efficiently so you can get back to your party faster.

This is exactly why I send every one of my couples a custom pre-wedding questionnaire. It walks you through your family formals list along with all the other small details ahead of time, so you're not trying to remember any of this in the middle of your wedding week. You fill it out once, and I show up already knowing your people.

Weather is not the enemy you think it is

Charleston weather can turn in an afternoon, and after 300 weddings I can tell you that some of the most beautiful, most talked about photo sessions I've shot happened in the rain. A good photographer already has a plan B for your venue, whether that's a covered porch, an indoor spot with good light, or leaning into the moody sky instead of fighting it. Ask what your photographer's rain plan looks like before the day arrives so nobody is scrambling.

Look for a style that feels like you, not just what's trending

Editing trends come and go. What matters more is whether a photographer's style actually matches how you want to remember the day. If you love bright, true to life color and candid moments over posed perfection, look for that in their recent work, not just their most popular post. Scroll past the highlight images and look at a handful of full galleries. If your gut says "that looks like us," that's worth more than any trend.

Ask about turnaround time, and get it in writing

You will want to see your photos before the wedding excitement wears off. I send sneak peeks within a few days and full galleries within two to six weeks, and I built our whole workflow around getting that right, because waiting months for your wedding photos is one of the most common complaints couples have after the fact. Whoever you hire, ask directly how long you'll wait, and hold them to it.

Whether you're getting married on a private estate outside Charleston, eloping on a bluff in Hilton Head, or planning a beach ceremony in Myrtle Beach, the same things end up mattering most: a timeline with breathing room, a photographer whose real galleries you've actually seen, and a day where you were present enough to remember how it felt, not just how it looked. That's the whole idea behind what I do!