How to plan your PWS Overseas 📸
Hi Zesties!🍋 Here’s how I planned my 2 hour pre wedding photoshoot overseas with just a photographer.
1. Mood Board 🎨
The best way to communicate what kind of photos you want to your photographer to capture is to create a mood board with photos you like! Screen shot photos on Pinterest and Instagram and put them in to a collage. From there you yourself will know what kind of mood and outfit you are gravitating towards and you can start planning from there!
2. Photographer 📸
Finding the perfect photographer I admit was not easy but so so worth it once you find the perfect one. Pinterest was my best friend when I was looking for photographers in Cape Town as well as local bridal articles and websites. I knew that I wanted analog plus digital photography so I was so glad I managed to find someone that could do both and make my Pinterest dreams come to life ✨ Be patient with this part and make sure that the photographer is someone you can vibe with and can produce what you want by looking at their past projects on their website or Instagram.
3. Location 📍
What kind of backdrop do you want? Mountains? City? Beach? Cafe? Neighbourhood? Make sure to plan your route. For my fiancé and I we wanted 1 at De Waterkant neighbourhood with the beautiful coloured houses and cobblestone roads and 1 at Clifton Beach that had views of Lion Head Mountain as well the 12 Apostles. The location between these 2 places were about 15 mins by car.
4. Timing ⏱️
The best timing to start taking your photos if it’s a 2 hour shoot would be 1.5 hours before the sun sets. Golden hour is your best friend and the best filter for your photos!
5. Outfits 💃🏻
Plan your outfits in advance and decide if you want to do an outfit change. At the start I was overly confident and thought that I could shoot 3 different outfits in 2 hours. After this experience, I would say 2 is the maximum. If you’re doing an outdoor shoot like I did I would recommend getting a car for you to change in or get those portable changing tent on shopee. I however only ended up taking photos in 1 outfit as my fiancé proposed to me during the photoshoot which took up some time and lots of emotions 🥹
5. Makeup 💄
Unpopular opinion but I personally do not think you need a professional makeup artist for your PWS IF you put makeup on a regular basis. Save this money for your AD. If you have basic makeup skills and you know what works for you I would 100% recommend that you save your money and diy this part. The reason being you only need the makeup to last for 2 hours. If you find the need to touch up just pack your lipstick and a small compact for light touch ups. I practiced doing my own hair and makeup for the shoot a few weeks before and I think it turned out fine! The problem with getting someone overseas to do your hair and makeup is that you don’t get to trial it so unless you have time to squeeze in a trial and you got the extra cash.
All the best zesties!
Planning a pre-wedding photoshoot overseas can be a thrilling experience, but it also requires thoughtful preparation to make the most of your time and investment. Based on my personal experience, one of the key elements that made my photoshoot successful was thorough communication with my photographer. Beyond just sharing a mood board, I made sure to discuss the specific story and emotions I wanted to convey through the images. This helped the photographer tailor shots that felt authentic to us. Additionally, scouting locations ahead of time can save valuable shoot hours. I recommend using Google Maps and reaching out to local photographers or communities for insider knowledge about less crowded spots with beautiful backdrops. This also helped me plan travel time between locations efficiently. Regarding outfits, I initially aimed for multiple outfit changes but realized that changing twice at most is realistic during a 2-hour outdoor shoot because of time spent traveling and freshening up. If possible, arrange a portable changing space or nearby facilities to streamline this. When it comes to makeup, doing it yourself worked well in my case since I am comfortable with my makeup routine and only needed it to last a short time. For those less confident, consider a light professional touch-up look rather than a full session. Bringing basic touch-up items like a lipstick and compact powder is a great backup. Lastly, embrace spontaneity—like when an unexpected proposal happened during my shoot! These genuine moments often create the most memorable photos. Overall, planning with flexibility and clear communication allowed me to enjoy a seamless and meaningful pre-wedding photoshoot overseas.
