Christine Lim of Christine Lim Photography, is a big believer in remembering your wedding day exactly as it was – unposed and uninterrupted. Her natural, photojournalistic approach goes hand-in-hand with this philosophy and allows Christine to capture all the special moments, looks and smiles of the big day. Her gorgeous romantic and whimsical photography style is also extremely mesmerising! Today, she takes us behind the scenes and lets us in on how she approaches weddings, the importance of building connections with her couples, the rewards and challenges of her job, and what she’s learnt in the past nine years as a wedding photographer.

Where are you based?
I’m based in Perth, Western Australia.

Are there any local venues you work closely with?
Not specifically, there are quite a few wedding venues in Perth now so getting to work with any is great!

Do you travel for weddings?
Yes, I do travel for weddings. Traveling has always been a big part of my life so being able to travel to photograph a wedding is always great.

How long have you been shooting weddings?
I have been photographing weddings since 2010, I can’t believe it’s been nine years!

How would you describe your photography style?
My photography style is more natural, romantic with a touch of whimsy. I love working with natural light. I also love just capturing a wedding day as it is, unposed and real so couples are able to enjoy their day and remember it as it is.

What’s a typical day in the office look like for you?
My work day always starts with a coffee or three, I would go through emails and any paperwork that needs to be done but most of the time it’s spent in Lightroom editing. Basically, my life is spent in front of the computer.

What about a wedding day?
Wedding days are usually between 6-10 hours for me, sometimes 12. I usually start at the bride’s house, an hour or so before the ceremony. After the ceremony, I always suggest allowing 30 minutes for congratulations and family photos, a little more time if they have a bigger wedding and lots of families. We then head off for bridal party photos for 1-1.5 hours and then it’s party time. I try to stay for the open dance floor because it’s always where you get the most fun and funny shots.

What’s your approach to a wedding, starting from when you first meet the couple?
Having a good experience is important to me when planning a wedding day and I want my couples to be happy and stress free whenever possible. I like to treat my couples like friends. I have a simple check list to go through with them so my couples feel more at ease and trust me with their day so they can simply enjoy getting married.

How important is it to make a connection with them?
It’s always important to get along and importantly that my couples feel comfortable with me so then they would feel more relaxed and at ease on their wedding day.

Do you offer engagement sessions? If you do, why do you recommend them?
Yes, I do encourage having an engagement session done. It’s a good chance to hang out, get to know each other and have a little practice in front of the camera. I also get to work out what the couples like for photos too. It’s usually a little busy on a wedding day so it’s nice to get to know the couples at a more relaxed pace and place.

What are the top three best things about photographing a wedding?
The people, the ambience and being reminded that love makes the world go around 😉

What’s the most challenging aspect of it?
Every wedding is different, even if it’s in the same venue so not knowing the lighting conditions or how much space you have to work around to get good shots is a good challenge. Also trying to squeeze 150 people into a group shot is a pretty good challenge.


What’s your favourite style of wedding to photograph? Why?
My favourite style of wedding are ones that are just filled with down to earth, warm people who are just ecstatic to celebrate their relationships. It can be a simple small boho backyard wedding or a modern extravagant flower filled ballroom but just the people makes it so much different and sets the vibe for the day.

You pour so many hours of work into a wedding! What’s some of the behind the scenes stuff that couples might not realise you do, especially after the wedding?
There’s a lot of planning that goes behind the scene because photographers have long mental checklists from details to family photos to creative shots that we want to get for our couples with time constraints on the day. Editing is a long process and photoshopping is not as easy as what everyone thinks it is, it takes hours to perfect.

How do you guide couples through the wedding album process?
I have actually just written up a PDF guide (thanks to the Commonfolk community for the help) for my couples in helping with their album design. They usually get to pick 60-80 photos for a 15 spreads album. After submitting their photo selection, I design the layout and go back and forth with my couple until they are happy to send their album to print.

What have been some the biggest changes in weddings since you started out as a wedding photographer?
Weddings are always changing because everyone is so different and it’s nice to see that couples are able to personalise their wedding and make it theirs a lot more. If they don’t want to cut a cake, they can cut 10 tarts or carve a chicken, it’s totally fine.

What kind of trends have you noticed in the weddings you’ve shot recently?
I love that strict rules are fading and couples are able to do whatever they want. Also, simplicity is elegance.

When you’re not shooting weddings, where would we find you?
My husband and I are such homebodies and we have the most comfortable sofa (best furniture in the house ever) so we would order takeout and watch a movie or two at home.

Thank you Christine for sharing your wisdom with us today! Your passion photographing couples in love really shines through in your words and in your work. To find out more about Christine and her services for Perth bridal couples and beyond, make your way on over to the Christine Lim Photography website.

Photos by Christine Lim Photography
Headshot by Jonathan Ong