Weddings : Frequently Asked Questions

Booking is very simple! Simply head to my booking form to get your date locked in – https://www.jackchauvel.com.au/book/

Your date is secured after I have received a signed digital contract and a booking retainer ($1000).

Your booking will be managed by me via my secure booking website.

I offer a range of photography collections for weddings and elopements for my clients which suit any type of celebration.

I have a Pricing Guide which includes a tonne of information about myself, my photography and the collections I offer my clients.

To give you an idea, my clients spend between $3250 and $5000 for their bigger wedding celebrations.

For intimate weddings and elopements; pricing starts from $1500 and varies based on the coverage required for the intimate event.

Please get in touch and I can send you my current pricing guide before you book me in.

YES! I love to travel and document weddings and elopements. It is one of my favourite things to do.

I am more than happy to travel within Australia or overseas to document weddings and elopements.

I have already been involved with destination weddings and elopements within Australia, Iceland (x2), Italy, Fiji and destination pre-weddings in Hong Kong, Bali, Italy, Scotland and England.

Click here to see some of these Destination Weddings.

I am based in Newcastle, NSW Australia.

I also travel around Australia and overseas to document weddings and elopements.

I can! I have been shooting on film for many many years as a big part of my personal work and have shot some all film weddings. I have a beautiful collection of 35mm, medium format and large format cameras. My personal favourite is my Plaubel Makina 67 but I regularly use my Mamiya RZ67, Mamiya 645 AFD, Leica M6, Contax T2 and Canon 1n film setups.

The process of shooting film and the result is very special and something I do not take lightly. I always like to explain that having film involved in the wedding will add to your coverage; but also requires time and space to be done properly. This is why I love to have the discussion with clients and give a quote for adding film photography that suits what they are after.

Wedding collections are pre-packaged options for you to pick from when booking me. The collections are built around the most requested services/options that my clients look to book each year. I created these collections over the past 10 years to accommodation my clients and what means most to them.

My pricing guide includes all of the information about my wedding collections and I love to share it!

I have been photographing weddings since 2011. I worked my old job as an IT Project Manager as well as running my business for the first couple of years. After it became too busy to sustain both, I jumped in the deep end and have not looked back.

I have been a full time wedding photographer since June 2014.

I include up to 9 hours of photography in each of my wedding collections.

Every wedding is different, and every wedding day follows its own schedule and as such additional hours/time can be added so I can make sure I photograph everything you want photographed.

I love the wedding albums I am able to design, create and deliver to my clients. They are a beautiful representation of your celebration and relationship in something you can hold, touch and enjoy for many years to come. They become a family heirloom, a one of a kind book that tells your story.

I personally love the feel of holding images in the print form of a wedding album. I like to keep things simple, so I offer a ‘square’ format lay-flat fine art matte albums. They come in multiple sizes and with different options for cover material, colour and cover designs.

They are bespoke albums which means they are made to suit your style and personality. The process is quite in depth, ensuring that we get the design to be exactly how you want it before it goes to print.

Click here to see my gallery of wedding albums I have created for clients over the years.

I offer (as a base) 10″ x 10″ and 12″ x 12″ sized albums which all compliment each other in the way they tell a story. All of my albums come with 30 spreads (60 pages) as standard which is plenty of spreads to tell your wedding story in. The albums can be upgraded to a total of 40 spreads (80 pages) if you’d like to fit even more in.

The albums are printed on a fine-art matte paper with beautiful colour reproduction and presentation.

There are a number of album cover and embossing options that you can choose from. As standard; included in my album pricing is one of the of the linen/book cloth options as well as front cover embossing).

There are also a number of additional album upgrades that you can order/purchase for your album including additional embossing, custom embossed designs, album slip cases and of course additional album spreads for your design.

Please consult my pricing guide for the full information.

I have samples of each album that I offer, and I am more than happy to show you exactly how awesome they are in person. They can be ordered at any time before or after the wedding day.

Since I design in a square format that can be translated from the largest size, to the smallest; it allows me to produce the one design across multiple formats. From this I can also create parent albums (which are a duplicate of a main album) for parents upon request.

All albums include the album design process and a 3 stage process of design and delivery.

You are able to purchase an album (or three) before or after your wedding day. If you order an album before the wedding day; you are able to select a collection that includes a discount for ordering one early.

If you purchase an album after the wedding day, I will simply give you my up to date pricing at that time. All pricing includes the design phase/process so there are no extra costs that are not fully detailed or explained.

Whilst these days I shoot 99% of my weddings on my own (solo),I can always arrange a second photographer/second shooter for you if it’s important to you or your wedding requires it. Whilst a second photographer is an optional extra; it can be a great addition to your wedding. It not only provides another creative and artistic view of the day, but can help with logistics and being able to capture different moments throughout the day.

I firmly believe that finding/choosing a second photographer that has a similar style to me is very important for your final set of photos. I have a number of photographers that I use and trust as second photographers (and I also will shoot for them from time to time). This is very important to me as I need to be able to communicate with the photographer, have them know my style and what I expect of them. The best thing is they all have similar personalities to me and like me; have a great time on the wedding day. I only ever book in second photographers that I know and trust to do an amazing job and take photos that compliment mine so your full set of photos are seamless from start to finish.

Simply let me know you are interested in a second photographer when you enquire with me and we can discuss further.

I do not offer video for weddings and elopements. I am a one man band who focuses on what he does best (photos!). However I regularly work with many wonderful videographers on a regular basis and I am always happy to recommend vendors that I enjoy working with. Click here for some of these recommendations.

This is another topic that I take very seriously and have refined over the many years I have been in business. I have broken this down into 3 backup periods below to describe my process.

At the shoot: Anytime I am shooting a wedding/elopement/assignment I am photographing on two cameras which are writing simultaneously to two memory cards in each camera.  This means if there is a fail point with one memory card/camera I have a backup of the data available straight away.

After the shoot: The most crucial backup period is between the shoot date and the photo delivery date. After the shoot I make 3 ‘local’ copies of your photos to my home NAS (Network Area Storage) as well as my editing machine and backup drive. I also keep an offsite copy of your photos on the original memory cards and keep this offsite until the photo delivery. This means I have 5 copies of your photographs in multiple locations until your final set of photographs are safely delivered.

After the delivery: It is important to me that you have access to your photos at anytime after your final photo delivery. I keep your final set of photos backed up in your online gallery (in the cloud) as well as two local copies of the delivered photos on my NAS (Network Area Storage) and my yearly backup storage. I also keep a copy of your delivered RAW files on my local storage.

To date I have the final RAW and final photo files of every shoot I have ever shot under this business. It is over 30TB of data and I have built an archive system to ensure this data is securely stored for years to come.

YES! I take this very seriously and have backup camera bodies and lenses that I take to each and every shoot. This includes additional memory cards, batteries, flashes and anything I need that could have a fail point. This is an important question to be asking any photographer, and is very important to me.

Yes, I am fully insured and ready to work. I have my own public liability insurance (20 million in coverage) and I can provide this to your wedding venue as required. I renew this policy in July each year, and therefore if your wedding is taking place after July (in the current calendar year) I will provide my updated certificate of currency for the policy once it renews.

One of the most enjoyable and fun parts of the day is my session capturing some lovely portrait photos with you. Couples can often be a little hesitant about these photos; but it is the only time during the whole wedding day that you will have to yourselves. I like to focus on these photos as a time for you both to quietly enjoy the moment, slow things down and get ready for the party to come.

I understand a wedding day can be full on and busy, but I sure do appreciate having an adequate amount of time for portraits. I will make the most of any time you will give me for photos.. but since you asked…

Ideally I  need 15 – 30 minutes for group/family photos, 15 – 30 minutes for wedding party photos (with your wedding party) and up to 1 hour with your good selves on your own (so let’s say 2 hours total, 90mins for the portraits). This is generally enough time with a buffer if we run over time. The last thing you want to do is rush around on your wedding day, but if things run a little bit late, then we usually lose some time for portraits.

I wrote a little article about ‘light’ and how to make the most of it for Wedshed.

I actually wrote an article about this very subject for Wedshed. First and foremost, the weather has to be right for this on the wedding day. It cannot be done when it is overcast, or raining. Second of all it is all about timing, the best light is during the golden hour, which is the 30mins before and after sunset. You can quite easily search for the sunset times and check when sunset will be on your wedding day. Thirdly it comes down to timing, there needs to be enough time during this ‘golden hour’ or around that time of the day to be able to capture the light as it dramatically changes. Quite often it might be a few minutes after you leave that the light gets truly amazing, so it is worth having a buffer of time to be able to accommodate and utilize this to the fullest. Finally it comes down to location, a spot where you can see the setting sun or catch the last of that light as it warms up the landscape and falls away behind the horizon. It can be quite easy to be hidden in the shade or in a spot where that light never really falls (think beach in the East with hills/cliffs blocking the afternoon light).

I know a lot about light and am always happy to plan a location and time to make the most of it. I love shooting in amazing light, and my photos certainly reflect this.

The one thing you have absolutely no control over on your wedding day is the weather. I would like to say that I have never had to shoot a rainy day wedding (but that would be lying). Having said that.. not everything is lost with a little bit of rain. You need to (in your planning phase) of your wedding day, have a wet weather plan. This is very much location based (indoor wedding/outdoor wedding) but also the type of weather the area of your wedding attracts. Shooting in the rain is fine, I have done so many times.. but shooting in the rain with gale force winds is difficult. I will do it, but will you stand in it? I am more than happy to discuss your wet weather plan and add my own point of view of how we can approach photos if the weather does not come to the party.

In the majority of cases everything pans out and all the shots are captured, but if we get rained/weathered out for the wedding portrait photos (just the two of you) then I offer a post-wedding shoot. This means we can go back to the wedding location and shoot in the surrounding area, OR shoot an area which will compliment the both of you and your wedding day.

I like to keep things simple and do my best to gather all the information I require well before the wedding day. I do this by sending out a ‘Wedding Questionnaire’ around 6 weeks from the wedding.

I am in regular contact with you throughout the planning phase in the lead up to your wedding. This means I can assist with the wedding planning as well as make sure everything is covered ahead of the wedding.

• Run sheet: A basic running schedule of the day. It must cover the times of arrivals/departures, significant events and allocated times for portions of the day.
• Significant photo list: As much as I would love to be, I am not a mind reader. I will capture your day as I see it, however if you have some significant moments, items, people that you would like an emphasis on then please communicate this with me before the wedding day. Communication is key for both of us, so that I understand your expectations and you understand my knowledge of your wedding day.
• Group photos & allocated time: If you want group photos on your wedding day, having some allocated time and a list of groups will make this process much easier. It should take no more than 15 – 20 minutes and be stress free. Taking the casual approach usually leads to a lot of stress and potentially missing out some groups.
• Photo locations (onsite and offsite): We collaborate in working out the best location(s) we can utilize for photos on the day of the wedding and build this into the plan of the day. This saves us time and gives us a great plan of attack for making the most of our time on the wedding day.
• All of the locations (exact addresses): I use this information to plan how I am getting around, and this can be a bit tricky especially if in a different city, state or country so the right information is always appreciated. I have knocked on the wrong house before, due to getting an incomplete address!
• The important contacts: There are times that I need to get in touch with people in a rush, so it is always handy if I have not only your immediate contact numbers but those of others who are playing a big role in the day (parents, bridesmaids/groomsmen). This is usually all covered in the Wedding Questionnaire.

Whilst I love sharing the work that I create and capture for my clients (as it helps me find other liked minded clients). Your privacy is far more important to me. If you are private and you do not want your photos shared on socials/the internet then please let me know. There is no fee or penalty, we simply keep it private!

I have spent a long time designing how I deliver your wedding photos, to suit the style of photographs I shoot and the presentation I feel my clients deserve. The images are edited and print ready, in high resolution and web resolution sizes. They are delivered on USB and in an Online Gallery in a beautiful bespoke package. Without giving the surprise away, I want it to feel like an experience and for it to be something that you keep and enjoy for years to come.

Until the end of 2025 all bookings will still receive a USB of the images delivered on them (along with their online gallery). From 2026 onwards; I will deliver all photos via online gallery and provide a USB/hard copy of photos if requested.

The number varies greatly from wedding to wedding (and I never put a cap on the photos I deliver). Your story is unique, and that is all that matters to me. I won’t reject photos to simply save myself a little time in editing.

On average I deliver 1000-1500 edited photographs in a mixture of colour and black & white.

I edit all of my photos one by one. Rest assured, I spend a great amount of time on each wedding making sure they are just right for delivery. I am a firm believer that the time spent is worth it for the final product (even if it means a little wait to receive them).

They are delivered in high resolution and web resolution sizes with no watermarks at all. They are your photographs to enjoy and use forever.

I will deliver a small preview of the photos to you within a few days of the wedding. I need 8 (eight) to 12 (twelve) weeks from the wedding day to deliver the final set of images. I put a lot of time and effort into the final curation of your images and good work cannot be rushed.

If I require a little longer than 12 weeks I will get in touch and let you know (life happens!). If you need some specific images sooner than this turn around; I am more than happy to accommodate these requests and discuss this option with you.

I always stay in touch with each of my clients to let them know as to how I am progressing with their photos. For me this communication means everyone is happy and in the loop (especially since we are all excited to see the finished product).