3 Reasons You Should Do A First Look

There are many reasons to do a first look with your significant other before your ceremony. I am an Orlando wedding photographer and about 70% of my couples opt to do a first look. I’m going to give you 3 reasons why you should do a First Look.

Disney Wedding - Bride and Groom First Look - Orlando Florida

Emotion is a big theme on a wedding day and your first look is no exception. Some of my favorite photos are from first looks, and I’m not going to lie to you, I’ve definitely cried at a couple of them. It’s all of the emotion from your relationship built up to an epic and beautiful moment. A moment you’ll remember for the rest of your lives. Imagine it, you are walking up to your fiance after a long time of planning, and you whisper a cute inside joke in his ear that only you and your significant other understand. They turn around and Insert a fantastic reaction here. I’m crying just thinking about it. This shit gets heavy! As a wedding photographer who’s been at this for years and has chosen to do a first look at his own wedding, the emotional aspect is not lost when your love comes down the aisle.


I loved having a first look because it gave me and my husband some time to relax before the ceremony. It was such a special moment together. We had time to take pictures together beforehand so after the ceremony we could get to the party as soon as possible.
— Kylie

Time is another reason I always recommend doing a first look. As much as we all wish this special day would last forever, it moves by pretty quickly. The first look allows more time for family photos, bridal and groom portraits, as well as the two of you together. Time also helps with relaxing and taking some breathers during the day, the more time we have, the more you both get to enjoy the special moments. I try to give my couples a little bit of time after the first look to just enjoy each other’s company.

Howey Mansion First Look - Orlando Wedding Photographer

I got a reaction that I never imagined. I was shocked when he turned around, happily shouted, and acted like a giddy little kid. It was the best feeling, seeing that kind of excitement. We would have missed out on such a genuine, fun reaction had we waited until the ceremony. The first look took a lot of nerves and stress away from the wedding itself. It was such a fun and raw moment that we had no idea we needed.
— Abbie

Bella Collina - Orlando Wedding Photographer - First Look

The third reason you should do a First Look is for your cocktail hour! You paid a lot of hard-earned money to be able to enjoy your wedding day to the fullest, believe me, cocktail hour has some amazing hors d'oeuvres that you do not want to miss. Being able to take all of the family photos and your portraits beforehand allows you the time to enjoy your guests and those delicious. Also, your guests love you and want to be able to see and congratulate you on this momentous occasion.


Bonus Reason! Calming the nerves. From experience, I felt a sense of relief and overall warmth when I saw my bride during our First Look. Damn did she look stunning!

I hope these reasons are able to help you on your planning journey. Please feel free to reach out if you have any questions.

Happy Planning!

Should I Print My Wedding Photos?

Should I Print My Wedding Photos?

The great debate continues. Just kidding, this isn’t a debate at all. As an Orlando Wedding Photographer, I have to say that you should absolutely print your wedding photos. The old saying about what happens if your house is on fire, what do you grab first? You grab your wedding and family photos. As cheesy as the saying is, it’s true for a reason. Do this for me. Grab your favorite beverage, whether it be a fine glass of red wine, a pbr, or some apple juice. Now walk around your home, which is your favorite room? What room do you feel the most love in? Sit in your favorite chair and look around you. Imagine a portrait of your family hanging on the wall, what emotion does that bring? You’re smiling, aren’t you? I know you are.

Orlando Wedding Photographer - Should I print My Wedding Photos

Just a couple of days sgo, I delivered our Story Box album to a client for her maternity session. The joy and emotion that she displayed was amazing to see and as a photographer, worth all of the work and love we put into the wedding day or session. For my wife and I, we also printed our photos in the Story Box heirloom and get to see them every day, we love those photos. There is something wonderful about having and being able to hold these memories…and cry all over them. lol.

Let me ask you a question. How often do you go back and look at photos from major events in your life? I’m going to guess not often because they are on a flash drive somewhere or on Facebook and you only see them once a year because Facebook reminds you. This. Will. Change. Everything.

You get to see your loved ones whenever you want! Framed custom art of you and yours on your wall for everyone to enjoy, ask questions about, reminisce, and so much more. I apologize if I get carried away trying to persuade for this argument, but I’m all in on it. I believe it’s for everyone to enjoy. Our digital world is only going to become more digitized so these memories deserve a place, not only in our hearts but in our homes as well.

Ever After Farms Traditional Wedding - Orlando Wedding Photographer

Orlando Wedding Venues

Orlando Wedding Venues

Luxmore Wedding Venue

Orlando is home to absolutely beautiful wedding venues so whatever your style is, you have a lot to choose from. Luckily for you engaged couples, you can head over to www.weddingvenuemap.com and filter through all of the options until you see your perfect venue match. We’ve had the pleasure of photographing at most of these venues and each wedding is unique with great staff. I might be biased, but one of my favorite Orlando Wedding Venues is the Orlando Science Center where my wife and I got married <3 I have not had a chance to photograph a wedding there yet, but I look forward to that day! Without further adieu, here are some amazing Orlando wedding venues for you to help with your planning.

Orlando Wedding Venues

Venue Name: 1010 West

Venue Style Categories: Unique, Historic

Maximum Guest Count: 300

Price Range: $ Affordable

Indoor / Outdoor / Both: Indoor

Catering: Preferred List

Bar: Choose Your Own

Website: https://www.1010west.com

Email: info@1010west.com

Phone: 321-444-3584

1010 West is a hidden gem in Central Florida. Just south of downtown Orlando, it’s a unique space like no other. This historic airplane hangar has a modern, industrial vibe with a rounded roof and indoor market lights. The textures all come together just right including wood, brick and concrete. There is nothing like this venue! 


Venue Name: 1885 Events at Rollins College

Venue Style Categories: Historic, Religious Setting, Unique

Maximum Guest Count: 200

Price Range: $$ - Average

Indoor / Outdoor / Both: Both

Catering: Included

Bar: Included

Website: https://1885events.com/

Email: cschloot@rollins.edu

Phone: 407-646-2541

Knowles Chapel at Rollins College has a long history of exclusive use for weddings granted to only their alumni. The college has added a new reception space with an outdoor or indoor cocktail hour area combined with a large reception space with a stunning fireplace focal point. The venue can be rented for both ceremony and reception or just the reception venue space and is also a wonderful option for Winter Park wedding rehearsal dinners. 

Rollins College - Engagement Photos

Venue Name: 310 Lakeside

Venue Style Categories: Restaurant, Waterfront, Ballroom

Maximum Guest Count: 100

Price Range: $$ Average

Indoor / Outdoor / Both: Both

Catering: Included

Bar: Included

Website: https://310restaurant.com/orlando-310-restaurants-party

Email: events@310restaurant.com

Phone: 407-730-6249

310 Lakeside is located in the heart of downtown Orlando, just across the street from Lake Eola. With an intimate patio with a garden feel, you have endless possibilities of photo opportunities using this area for your intimate wedding ceremony or as the backdrop of your portraits. The indoor private dining is just the right size with floor to ceiling windsor and a romantic vibe. 


Venue Name: Azalea Lodge at Mead Gardens

Venue Style Categories: Garden, Park, Ballroom

Maximum Guest Count: 150

Price Range: $$ - Average

Indoor / Outdoor / Both: Both

Catering: Included

Bar: Included

Website: https://www.dubsdreadcatering.com/azalea-lodge-mead-gardens

Email: events@historicdubs.com

Phone: 407-650-9558

Newly managed by Dubsdread Catering, the Azalea Lodge at Mead Gardens has both natural beauty and rustic charm. The 48-acre garden is full of tucked away spaces for the perfect photos. This wedding venue has multiple ceremony location choices and is famous for its amphitheater. With new upgrades coming in 2020, the reception space is a blank canvas for you to design. 


Venue Name: Bella Collina

Venue Style Categories: Ballroom, Golf/Country Club, Elopement

Maximum Guest Count: 250

Price Range: $$$ - Luxury

Indoor / Outdoor / Both: Both

Catering: Included

Bar: Included

Website: https://www.bellacollina.com/weddings-events/weddings

Email: weddingsandevents@bellacollina.com

Phone: 407-469-4941

What’s not to love about this Tuscan inspired wedding venue? As one of Central Florida’s most sought after spaces, Bella Collina has the feel of a destination wedding to Italy just 35 minutes from downtown Orlando. The beautifully landscaped grounds provide many options for ceremony options and both indoor and outdoor reception spaces. 

Bella Collina - Orlando Wedding Venue

Venue Name: Dr. Phillips House

Venue Style Categories: Garden, Historic, Inn / B&B

Maximum Guest Count: 200

Price Range: $$ - Average

Indoor / Outdoor / Both: Both

Catering: Included

Bar: Included

Website: http://www.drphillipshouse.com

Email: angie@milleniacatering.com

Phone: 407-716-5627

Charming is the perfect word to describe this unique downtown Orlando wedding location. The outdoor garden has been upgraded with beautiful pavers and overhead lighting. The indoor venue area feels like you are having a wedding at a grand victorian home with connected spaces. Make sure to tour the wine cellar - it’s one of our favorite rooms! 

Dr. Phillips House - Orlando Wedding Venue

Venue Name: Falcon's Fire Golf Club

Venue Style Categories: Ballroom, Golf/Country Club, Waterfront

Maximum Guest Count: 200

Price Range: $$ - Average

Indoor / Outdoor / Both: Both

Catering: Included

Bar: Included

Website: www.falconsfire.com

Email: llyons@falconsfire.com

Phone: 407-390-0982

This country club setting is very private but close enough to the action Central Florida is famous for. The best part of this venue is the ability to customize everything from your ceremony location to your package choice. The spacious, newly renovated ballroom has a feel of country club tradition with soft, warm tones and decorative chandeliers. Their flexible team is willing to make anything happen, including a helicopter arrival. 


Venue Name: Luxmore Grande Estate

Venue Style Categories: Ballroom, Historic, Mansion

Maximum Guest Count: 200

Price Range: $$ - Average

Indoor / Outdoor / Both: Both

Catering: Included

Bar: Included

Website: www.luxmoregrande.com

Email: events@luxmoregrande.com

Phone: 407-749-0783

Have you dreamt of hosting your wedding at an estate home? The feeling from just driving into this venue is just over-the-top luxury. From the entrance fountain to the white pillar facade and the grand staircase upon entering, you feel like you stepped into a chic southern estate. This venue offers both indoor and outdoor event space and is available year-round for rental. 

Luxmore Grand Estate - Orlando Wedding Venue - Groom

Venue Name: Orlando Science Center

Venue Style Categories: Museum/Gallery, Skyline/Rooftop, Unique

Maximum Guest Count: 250

Price Range: $$ - Average

Indoor / Outdoor / Both: Both

Catering: Required List

Bar: Required List

Website: http://www.osc.org/meetings-events/weddings/

Email: htillem@osc.org

Phone: 407-514-2290

Think outside the box of what you can do with this unique wedding venue. The Orlando Science Center offers a beautiful skyline terrace with downtown views in the distance. Thinking more about celebrating inside? They have unique spaces including DinoDigs and Our Planet that allow for a fun, eclectic wedding. 


Venue Name: Paradise Cove

Venue Style Categories: Beach, Waterfront, Elopement

Maximum Guest Count: 300

Price Range: $$ - Average

Indoor / Outdoor / Both: Outdoor

Catering: Required List

Bar: Professional Bartender Required

Website: http://www.paradisecoveorlando.com

Email: kayli@paradisecoveorlando.com

Phone: 407-239-6939

Have you been dreaming of a beach wedding but the thought of everyone driving to the coast is just too much work? Look no further than Paradise Cove, central Florida’s only beach-style wedding venue. Perfectly situated on Little Lake Bryan in Lake Buena Vista, the white sandy beaches, swaying palms, and cypress trees transport you to a hidden paradise. This venue is perfect for a wedding in paradise.  


At Wedding Venue Map, our mission is simple: We give everyone searching for a wedding venue one place to go to find EVERY one of the options and be able to sort by what specifically they are looking for. Find your perfect wedding venue and then come back for a curated list of the best wedding vendors in Central Florida. 

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Thank you Shannon Tarrant and everyone else at Wedding Venue Map for helping couples all over Central Florida!

How Many Hours Of Wedding Photography Do I Need?

How many hours of wedding photography do I need?

Planning your wedding is absolutely an undertaking and yes, you do deserve a drink 🍹. Grab something you love and we are going to help you decide on how many hours of wedding photography you need.

Being Orlando and destination wedding photographers, we get asked this all the time and we are here to help! Each photography company does things a little different, whether they like to focus more on elaborate poses, fancy lighting, or getting tons of candids of grandma getting her groove on. We are going to touch base a little on what you’ll receive when booking with Sonacity Photography as your wedding photographer.

How many hours of wedding photography do you need?

6 Hours

Our 6-hour wedding collection provides great coverage for smaller and more intimate weddings. We do our best to provide and photograph everything you want from your wedding day. For this collection, we would most likely be able to get some getting ready photos and a couple of detail images, like the rings and the dress 💍. We would then really focus on our bride getting ready, this would be her putting on her earrings, getting into the dress, and having someone special put on her veil. Fellas, you guys are next! We will head over to you to quickly get some getting ready images of the groom. We will photograph him putting on shoes, having his groomsmen struggle to tie his tie, and putting on his jacket. Get excited, the ceremony is next! Congrats, you are married! After the ceremony, we will focus on family, wedding party, and bride/groom portraits. We use most of the cocktail hour for this. Then we head to the reception…PARTY TIME 🎉! Most likely we will not have a lot of time here but we can get the entrances and the first dance.

8 Hours

This is our most requested collection. You will receive all of the photos in the 6-hour collection, however, this collection gives us a more relaxed schedule and opportunity for more group photos and details. This collection also allows us to get more photos of you enjoying the getting ready process, like laughing with your girls, and getting hair and makeup done💄. As part of the getting ready, we would obviously grab shots of all the girls drinking their mimosas, Cheers ladies 🥂! We will have time to photograph the groomsmen hyping up the groom and doing important stuff, like chugging beers and watching football 🏈 😁. The ceremony will be photographed beautifully and we’ll head into the portrait session afterwards. With this collection, we will be able to get many more memories of your reception as well! Toasts, parent dances, cake cutting 🎂 are now all in the cards with an 8 hour collection.

10 Hours

The holy grail of our collections! Not only do you get the entire day documented, but it gives us the opportunity to spend more time creating pieces of art and getting creative. If your goal is to have wall art from your wedding, which we recommend, this collection will allow ample time to create the masterpiece of your dreams from your wedding day 🖼️. As well as giving us time to create more, we recommend a first look so that you can enjoy your cocktail hour. You spend a lot of money and time putting this celebration together and you deserve to enjoy all of it! This collection is also great for couples who plan on having a separate ceremony and reception location or for couples who plan on both a religious and civil ceremony as it allow time for travel.

Everything depends on time and what you value. We will be there to help you with a timeline so you do not feel rushed and that you can enjoy your wedding day! Give us a call or fill out our inquire page and we will be happy to help you find the perfect collection for your wedding day!

How many hours of wedding photography do I need? - Paradise Cove

4 Tips To Help Choose A Wedding Photographer

Here are 4 tips to help you choose a wedding photographer

I’ve seen online that lot of brides and grooms-to-be have been asking how to choose a wedding photographer. I’ve come up with 4 simple tips to help you choose who would make a great fit.

  1. Personality - You’re going to be with your photographer more than you are going to be with anyone else that day, even your soon to be significant other. Sorry, you’re stuck with us :P We’ll be photographing from the beginning of the day until the very end and you want to be sure that you have someone there that keeps calm, stays professional, and enjoys the day. I always recommend having conversations and meetups beforehand so you can get to know our personality as well as who we are as a professional. Communication is a big factor in the client | Photographer relationship. Also, engagement sessions are a huge plus, you get gorgeous photos and you can see if you mesh with your photographer before the big day and see how they work! Check out this blog post for more information > Why Do Photographers Recommend Engagement Sessions. <

  2. Style - Every photographer has their own style of photography and editing so you’ll have to do your research in regards to what you prefer. The styles range from cinematic, romantic, photojournalistic, light and airy, documentary, dark and moody, etc. I like to describe my style as being vibrant, photojournalist, impactful, and fun.

  3. Experience - Time for more research! Isn’t that exciting! At least you have a lot of resources to help you. I love the internet. Experience is going to differ depending on the type of person you hire to be your photographer. Less expensive options might not be as attentive during the time leading up to the wedding, they may offer less communication. More expensive options could offer printed, tangible heirlooms so you have something you can pass down to your children. Find out what the experience is going to be like when you have your initial conversations with your photographer. See if they have that energy you’re looking for. It all comes down to what you value.

  4. Portfolio - This is going to be the fun part! Scour the interwebs and find all the profiles you love. I say ‘love’ because you want to love your wedding photos. The best way I found to do this is in a Google Sheet or a tool like that so you can come back to it later. Check their portfolio images but also see an album. A lot of the time, blogs have a bunch of images you can see from a wedding, for example, > Stefanie + Jesse's Bella Collina Wedding. < Stefanie + Jesse’s blog has a bunch of images that aren’t in the portfolio tab of our website. Enjoy this part of the wedding planning journey. Picture you in these images, imagine where you’ll hang them up in your home, and how excited you’ll be to relive your wedding day!

I hope you enjoyed these 4 tips to help choose a wedding photographer!