How do we book our wedding?

Just call Ileana on (649) 946 4059. She can tell you all about our session options, and answer any questions you may have. Or you can email her – ileana@brilliant.tc.

When is the best time of day for a wedding?

We suggest about an hour before sunset. In fact we have a sunset calculator that will tell us EXACTLY when the sun will set in Turks and Caicos every day of the year.

Why then?

Most people understand that standing on the beach in anything other than a bikini and a smile during the mid afternoon is going to be hot, hot, hot. Just don’t do it! Also avoid actually AT sunset too – here in the tropics the sun sets very quickly and its all too easy for events to run 10 minutes late. What was planned as a perfect sunset ceremony is now a ceremony in the dark…..not fun. We can chat with you about what you have planned, how long your ceremony is, your formal picture requirements and so on and we can provide you with a “timeline” as a suggestion and guide to work from. 99% of brides do this.

Can you make suggestions for other vendors?

Whilst this is clearly the domain of your wedding planner we are happy to share our thoughts and advice. We live here, we work here and have had the pleasure of helping with weddings all over the Turks and Caicos for over ten years. If there is something we can do to help – just let us know.

Who will shoot my wedding?

You choose! We are a team rather than a group of individuals. We are great at working together so much so that a lot of our work is interchangeable and we all cooperate and share ideas amongst ourselves to improve and get better. It’s really a big advantage over an individual solo operator we feel. We have portfolios online, you can read individual photographers recent blog posts and we can help by chatting about what you are looking for so we can make a perfect match.

How do we see our pictures?

After the wedding, we will spend some time editing the images – taking out duplicate images and any that have technical imperfections – but you’ll still have plenty to choose from! Except at really busy times of year we can usually do this within a couple of days, so your photographer will arrange a time for you to come in to our viewing room and see the pictures on our big TV! At the viewing we’ll also have some great ideas for you about how you can use your images – whether it’s preserving them in an album, getting some enlargements for the wall, canvas wraps and art prints, or a DVD slideshow or online movie.

We will also put your images online in a password-protected gallery – so you don’t absolutely have to make your final choice at the viewing.

We are getting the digital files on a disk – does that mean I get ALL the files?

You get ALL the files AFTER editing so we are going to delete (that means they no longer exist) images that are clearly not the right standard. So out of focus, bad or poor expressions that are unflattering, hair covering faces, pictures with eyes shut, blurry and identical duplicates. This editing process is part of the photographic process. It’s the same as if we decide to take a picture or don’t take a picture – if we don’t then that moment no longer exists. By choosing us you clarly trust us to choose when to take a picture – so the same with the editing process – when to keep an image and when to delete it.  You will still have hundreds of pictures to choose from. It’s important that we understand what you want to have BEFORE the wedding.

We don’t live in Turks & Caicos – are there extra charges to ship prints etc to us?

No – we have arrangements for shipping with our professional photo-lab and album manufacturers in the the USA – prints and albums will usually be delivered direct to your door by UPS or FedEx. We have a flat-rate $10 shipping charge for print orders, regardless of size or quantity. Album prices are inclusive of shipping. For Turks & Caicos residents we have our own printing facility right here, so print sizes up to 24″ x 36″ can be made locally, saving you shipping and import duty. The only items that may incur FedEx charges are things that we have to send from here, such as digital files on disk – but we’ll notify you of that if it arises.

Movie sound

Since we are usually filming outdoors, we cannot always guarantee perfect sound. For the ceremony, we will normally ask the groom to wear a small unobtrusive lapel radio microphone, and we usually have one on the minister as well. This arrangement helps to obtain a clear recording of the ceremony itself. If you plan to have other people apart from the bride, groom and minister taking part in your ceremony – for example relatives or friends giving readings, prayers or songs – please let us know so that we can plan the audio and picture coverage of their contributions. The rest of the movie will be set to music, or use a voice-over. If you are having reception movie coverage and expect there to be speeches, please give us details ahead of time so that we can be ready and place lights or microphones accordingly.

Shooting after dark

Most weddings here in Turks and Caicos take place in the hour before sunset. This is a more comfortable time of day for everybody, and often there is a warm romantic quality to the light which looks great on the movie. However, once the sun dips below the horizon it gets dark very quickly! We use cameras that are capable of shooting in very low light, but bear in mind that some footage taken after dark may be grainier and less clear than that taken in daylight.

Movie lights

Depending on the location, we may be able to bring compact movie lights to your reception or rehearsal dinner to help improve the quality of footage of speeches, cake cutting, or dancing. For best results, we need to use mains-powered lights on stands. We will only turn these on while we are shooting, but bear in mind they are quite bright and will change the ambience of your reception. We can use smaller camera-mounted lights but these are a litle more intrusive and produce a harder light. Without secondary lighting however, reception footage will be dark and grainy as the typical subdued lighting in a restaurant or ballroom is insufficient for clear results, even with modern cameras.

Please consider the above points carefully. We don’t want to spoil the atmosphere of your wedding day but we do want you to have great movie! If you have any questions or special requests, please ask.