Winter Weddings – Pros and Cons explained by a Banff Wedding Photographer

Couples come from all over the world to get married in Banff and the majority come in the summer months. It’s not a secret that winter in Canada transforms landscapes but in terms of photography the top wedding photographers in Banff know that the landscape is completely different. For starters, the blues and green hues of the lakes and rivers are gone, frozen and buried in snow. Banff Photographers have to embrace a different colour palate and endure some trying weather conditions. The reward can be pretty amazing though!

Most couples looking to hire one of the top wedding photographers in Banff will expect the photographer to have a good understanding of where the best locations are. Winter Wedding Couples will want snow and ice and expect the scene to look like a Christmas movie. The reality though is quite often weeks will go by without new snow in or around the Town of Banff. The ground can be bare exposing mainly brown grass, and it can be a pretty depressing monotone of mainly browns and grays. Experienced Banff Photographers will know where to go to find snow and how to make the most out of the not ideal conditions.

Banff Wedding Photographer

One of my earliest experiences as a Banff Wedding Photographer taught me a really important lesson about winter wedding photography, namely, have really low expectations for your bride and groom’s ability to “tough it out”. They will be very enthusiastic months ahead when dreaming about their winter wedding. On the actually wedding day though, when it is – 10 degrees Celsius with a strong wind, they will soon decide that 15 minutes of photography is enough. The lure of a warm room and drinks with their guests will be a tough force to fight!

As a Banff Wedding Photographer with years of experience photographing winter weddings I have learned that location planning is the key to success. Another key is explaining ahead of time to the couple how the schedule during winter shoots works. There has to be time allotted to warming up. I try to use locations where I can get the shot set up while the couple stays warm in a vehicle, then get them out at the last minute and only have them out for as long as necessary.

Banff Wedding Photographer

While the landscape changes a lot between summer and winter the biggest overall difference for a Banff Wedding Photographer to keep in mind is the sunset time and sun angles are really different. Depending on where you are in the valley sunset could be as early as 2:30pm! As all Banff Photographers know, your favorite place to shoot in the summer might not be an option in the winter simply because the sun never hits it.

Banff Wedding Photographer

As one of the top wedding photographers in Banff, Alan loves the challenges of a winter weddings and draws from his years of experience to make the process as enjoyable as possible for the couples. Email Alan at email@alanmaudie.com

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