What should you include in your wedding flat-lay photos?

When it comes to planning a wedding, you’ll put a lot of time and effort into the small details—from your invitation suite, personalized ring boxes, perfume or cologne, jewelry, accessories, family heirlooms, handwritten letters, to your vow books. These are details you will carefully spend time planning, purchasing, gathering, and creating. While they may not be items that are as grand as your wedding dress, ceremony florals, or tiered wedding cake, they still matter and they help tell the full story of your relationship, love, and day.

So, it’s important to ensure these items are captured and represented in your wedding album. One way to make sure they’re capture is in flat-lays, which will beautifully display all of your important details that may not be visible in photos with a broader focus.

The question then becomes, how do you make sure you have flat-lay photos captured on your wedding day and what should you include?

First off, you’ll want to make sure this is something your photographer offers. I like to ask my couples if this is something they’re interested in during our consultation call and then I will make sure to work it into the timeline when we get closer to the big day! That being said, it may not be a standard practice for all photographers, so you’ll want to make sure you ask them if they can and how to best prepare the items for them on the day.

Below, I’ll share what I recommend including in your flat-lays and how best to prepare these items based on my experience!

What can you include in your flat-lay?

The short answer: whatever you want! It’s your wedding day, so you can include as much or as little as you want in your flat-lay photos. They’re meant to represent you and your wedding, so you have the final say in what you want included. For example, I’ve had some couples not want their shoes included because they’re wearing shoes they’ve had for years. Other times, I’ve had couples who only have an invitation suite and rings. All options are fine and acceptable! That being said, I do recommend including as many details as possible. This will allow for several different flat-lay options and more variety in your photos.

Flat-lay inspiration:

• Your invitation suite—including invite, RSVP, details, directions, envelope, postage, belly band, and wax seal.

• Engagement ring and wedding bands.

• Ring box and/or ring dish—these can also be personalized if you want with your initials and wedding date.

• Perfume or cologne you’ll be wearing that day.

• Jewelry—including necklaces, bracelets, earrings, and other rings.

• Heirlooms—for example, if you’re wearing your grandmother’s pearls or your father’s tie clip.

• Florals—you’ll need to coordinate with your florist to ensure these are available upon your photographer’s arrival and there will be scraps for them to use. (Note: Scraps are not always standard for a florist to include. You’ll want to coordinate with them in advance to ensure they can be included on the day.)

• Handwritten letters or vows.

• Party favors—luggage tags, seed packets, bubbles, stickers, enamel pins, or anything else you might be sharing with your guests.

• Additional accessories:
  - Veil
  - Tie/bowtie
  - Shoes
  - Watch
  - Socks
  - Pocket squares
  - Cufflinks
  - Boutonnières/corsages
  - Hair accessories

How to prepare your flat-lay items for your wedding day

Wedding days can be a little chaotic. There’s a lot of setting up, coordinating, and getting ready that will need to take place. As a result, it’s vitally important to prepare as much as possible in advance of your big day—this way you can focus on being present and enjoy the moment.

A little over a month before any wedding, I send out my Pre-Wedding Questionnaire and Checklist. In this form, I include a details checklist and instructions. This is to help remind my couples to set aside any details they may want included in their flat-lays in a box or bag that is put together prior to their wedding day (I recommend a week in advance), so that I can easily collect the items and stage the flat-lays without interrupting them from getting ready. It may seem like unnecessary preparation, but you will likely be putting on the final touches of your makeup or hair when I arrive, and this will allow us to stay on track and decrease churn that may result from hunting down all of these items.

They should represent your day

Bottom line: don’t stress too much about what goes in your flat-lays. These items should represent your love and your day, so there’s no such thing as the right items to include. You can have as many or as few details as you’d like! That said, if you had to ask me the three most important items to include, I would say:

1. Your invitation suite.

2. Your rings.

3. Floral scraps.

Whatever you set aside, your photographer will do their best to beautifully stage and represent your day.