I don't have to tell you that your wedding photographs and video are the things that you will get to keep, besides your new spouse of course, after your wedding day is over. You're smart, you already know that. You already know that you should hire the best photographer your budget will allow for and that most people shoot in digital format these days. And you already know which artistic styles you are personally drawn to.

What you may not know has to do with some of the legalese in your photography contract and just how much ownership and rights to your wedding photos you may or may not have after purchasing them. I recently had dinner with Tammie and Chris from Largo Photography where this very topic came up in conversation. (Gush moment: If you aren't yet familiar with Tammie and Chris, it is a crying shame. They are amazing photographers, possess a ridiculously smart business sense (and are generous with their advice - a rare trait in the wedding industry) and are two of the most genuine and down to earth people you will ever meet. Check out their website and pretty new blog to see their work.) I asked them to write up some points about the matter for this installment in the 30 Days series so that this valuable information could be shared with you. Here is some of what they had to say about copyrights and usage rights:

Copyrights and Usage Rights
*Copyright is a property right, and is intangible. Copyright gives photographers the right to reproduce their images in any from they deem necessary without the consent of the client.

*According to the Professional Photographers of America (PPA) Copyright Legal Kit, "Photographs are considered "original works of authorship" and are therefore protected by copyright law from the moment they are taken."

*Giving a client the CD of images does not constitute giving them full copyrights.

*When we give clients a CD we create a reproduction release or a right to reproduce form (usage rights) for the images and we specify its intended use.

*In our reproduction release we state: You can take them anywhere to make prints or designed products for your personal use only, you cannot make a copy of the disc, you cannot resell them or profit from them in any form, you cannot transfer the rights we've given them.

*By law each printing lab (Walgreen's, Costco, your neighborhood photo shop, etc) is supposed to ask you for this form when printing from the disc.

*In case authorship ever comes into question, all of our images that we provide are embedded with our serial number and information from our cameras and this information is transferred each time the image is copied or posted somewhere.


Seeing Each Other Before the Ceremony
Another part of wedding photography I want to bring up is the bride and groom seeing each other prior to the ceremony. I am going on record here and confessing that as a professional wedding consultant, if you are my client, I will try to talk you into seeing each other beforehand. Here is why I feel so strongly about this topic: Not seeing each other prior to the wedding is one of those romantic notions that just doesn't flesh out in real life the way it does in your head. If you wait until the ceremony, your first moments together are in front of a crowd of people and any personal comments you may have for one another are not so personal as the officiant and possibly your groom are most likely wearing lapel microphones. After that, you're wisked off for group photos, you miss cocktail hour, and then you're mingling and dancing with your guests. The first time you really get to have an actual conversation between just the two of you is hours later at the end of the night. Not exactly romantic or meaningful.

Choose a photographer who will arrange for you two to see each other beforehand and who will shoot a bit at a distance using a long lens so that you and your fiance can share a personal moment together. They will be able to capture all the emotion so that you can remember exactly how you both felt for years to come. If you feel weird seeing each other in front of one or two people taking pictures, your other option is seeing each other in front of 100 or more. Think back over your relationship - I am betting that some of your fondest memories are intimate ones when it was just the two of you, laughing or crying together. Times that are special because they are shared by just you. This should be one of those times. All the emotions will still be there and you will be able to relax and enjoy your wedding day so much more.

{photos by Largo Photography}