Whether you’re a budding photographer, a curious pro, or a potential client, people always ask “What do you bring to photograph a wedding?”.

Each wedding is different and unique to the couple, sometimes the weather requires an umbrella, or the you need to pluck a few hydrangea for detail shots, but there are a handful of staples that come along to each wedding. I find my flat lay items to be most important, as the other necessities are pretty standard. Flat lays are so important to creating a well-rounded day, they connect color schemes and the couples overall aesthetic. And, we can’t forget the snacks…

What Do I Bring to Photograph a Wedding?

Gear |

• Canon R5
• Canon 5D Mark III
• Contax 645
• Portra 400 Film (when the wedding package includes film phtoos)
• Light Meter
• Main Lenses: 50mm 1.2 and 135mm 2.0
• Harness Strap
• Canon Flash
• MagMod Flash Diffuser
• Extra Batteries and Memory Cards
• Camera Backpack
• Fanny Pack (I put extra batteries, lens cloth, phone, and chap stick in here)
• Phone (Everyone loves those BTS shots)

Flat Lay |

• Backdrop (I have many that I painted myself, but have purchased some from Olive and Oak and Light Atelier)
• Ring Boxes
• Vintage Stamps
• Styling Blocks (acrylic ones here)
• Ribbon (a mix of silks chiffon and vintage lace)
• Dishes and Trays
• Antique Items (jewelry boxes, hand stamps, binoculars)
• Paper (pages from vintage books, floral prints, etc.)

Other |

• Water (which I will probably forget about all day)
• Small Snacks (that can fit in my fanny pack-currently stuff a handful of hard caramels in there for each wedding)
• Olivia Burton Watch
• Timelines (I create all wedding detail and timeline info using Canva, I then export the files and have them up on my phone easily accessed all day)

I love being prepared and knowing where everything is, I think my two most needed items (aside from cameras of course) would be my watch and fanny pack, if I forgot either I would be quite frantic the day-of! I hope you found reading about what I bring to photograph weddings helpful, feel free to check out recent wedding galleries to see how a full day is captured!

Headshots by Jennifer Conti Photography