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John Cain Photography  |  Dallas TX

John Cain Photography | Dallas TX

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        • An At Home Wedding in Houston for Meredith and Mason

          An At Home Wedding in Houston for Meredith and Mason

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          Finally Finer and Well Worth the Wait

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          Saying “I Do” Under the Gazebo

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          Southern Charm Met Hamptons Blues at the DCC for Mr. and Mrs. Webb

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          A French Garden Inspired Affair at the Dallas Country Club

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          Pink Blooms at the Dallas Country Club

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          A Secret Garden Soireé with the Sheths

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          Lovely In Lace at Arlington Hall

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          A Winter Bride’s Wedding Gown Wish

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          Feminine Flair at Flippen Park

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          A Stroll through New York City with Emily and Will

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          Our Spring Engagements Lookbook with My Wedding Wardrobe

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          Montage Deer Valley with Mr. and Mrs. Vanden Heuvel

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          Lovely In Lace at Arlington Hall

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          Classic Elegance at the French Farmhouse with Mr. & Mrs. Singer

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          Mr. & Mrs. White at the Meyerson

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          Engagements in Florida with the future Mr. & Mrs. Hendrie

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          A Moment for the Mother of the Bride

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          An Escape to Sicily

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          Registry Items I Actually Love… and the Items I Could Have Gone Without!

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          A Mother’s Day Gathering in the Garden with Juliska

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          Building The Perfect Registry with The Ivy House

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          Pastel Palette Bridal Brunch for Lauren

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          A Pop of Color for Meg’s Bridal Brunch in Dallas

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          Rehearsed and ready in Memphis, Tennessee!

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          A Stroll through New York City with Emily and Will

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          A Few of Our Favorite Things in Lake Como, Italy

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          Romantic Guide to Nantucket

All, Weddings

Why Should You Hire a Third Photographer?

By:

John Cain Sargent

I really learned that I didn’t know what I didn’t know when it came to planning our own wedding. Honestly, after photographing hundreds of weddings and being a groomsman 14 times, I didn’t realize the amount of niche information within each industry a bride and mother of the bride needed to learn when planning a wedding like what is fondant, a BEO, and what does it mean when food has legs? What is a service standard ratio? That question was especially eye-opening to learn.

When staffing an event, the service standard ratio is the number of servers relative to the number of guests, and different types of events have different needs. If you don’t want your guests waiting forty-five minutes for their entrée to be served at a seated dinner, you need enough servers to quickly deliver the plates!

Just like when dinner is served slow and guests notice, when a special moment or person isn’t photographed, a bride notices. We have had guest counts from 25 to 800+ so as photographers, there is an important service standard ratio to discuss as well.

I’ve seen articles on the topic of ‘Why to Have a Second Shooter’, but for our team a second shooter is always an understood need. For example, one photographer captures the bride behind the chapel doors right before she walks down the aisle on her father’s arm while the other photographer captures the groom’s reaction right as the doors open. As a photographer, we simply can’t be two places at once so a second shooter is rarely a question for our team.

So, why would you ever need a third photographer? In some circumstances it could sound excessive, but what if they were capturing an otherwise unseen perspective? Here are a few examples of when we have seen a third person on our team as either a critical necessity or a prized addition:

It’s all in the details.

A third photographer can be completely devoted to details and styling earlier in the day so that a photographer can be fully attentive to the bride, her wedding party, and family and the other photographer can capture candid moments of the groom and his family. When the photographer with the bride or groom is also styling wedding day details, it can appear the photographer is absent or prioritizing playing with paper and shoes over the bride or groom.

When a wedding reception is immediately open to guests upon arrival without a separate space for cocktail hour, we send a third photographer during the ceremony to capture all the special table reception details before guests arrive (after candles are lit, of course). Otherwise, you may not see photos of the untouched reception details before guests have occupied the space and dinner jacks have been flung over chair backs.

Krystal Schlegel and Luke Davis

Never Before Seen Angles

We always see our ceremonies from two angles, but a third photographer affords us special additional close-ups. Inside a sanctuary, being unseen is very important so as not to distract.  A third photographer can set up a discreet and stationery location to get close-up images that we simply can’t get from the balcony or back of the church. Otherwise, these angles and images are unseen.

Devoted Reception Coverage

Lastly, we never want there to be a question of where we are during your reception. When there are hundreds of people in one large ballroom, a third team member allows us to directly assign a photographer to the bride and groom, and one to each set of parents while also being available to guests. When all of the bride’s out-of-town college friends get together for a picture, or when the MOB’s bridge group is suddenly altogether, we want to be there!

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@johncainphotography

A look inside Courtney + Will’s beautiful Brook A look inside Courtney + Will’s beautiful Brook Hollow reception brought to life by @allisonandcoevents + @threebranchesfloral ✨#stephanieforjohncain
Mr. & Mrs. Severs at the charming Montage Palmetto Mr. & Mrs. Severs at the charming Montage Palmetto Bluff in South Carolina 🤍 #johncainweddings
The Singers celebrated in style with an abundance The Singers celebrated in style with an abundance of flowers per Lacey’s request. Click the link in our stories to see more from their French farmhouse wedding! #stephanieforjohncain 💙💙
🎶Ain’t no mountain high enough 🎶 It was a 🎶Ain’t no mountain high enough 🎶
It was a beautiful FUN weekend in Vail with Mr. & Mrs. Lapke! #mattforjohncain

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