Outfit notes and details your photographer would otherwise have to ask about

The questions that get asked at the worst time

“Is your mum the one in navy?” is a reasonable question. Asked at 5:50 p.m. while you're being pinned back into a dress, it is a small disaster.

Almost all of these questions are answerable in advance, in writing, once. The problem is that there has never been an obvious place to put the answers, so they end up scattered across texts, a Pinterest board, and a phone call your photographer half-remembers.

What's worth writing down

Outfits

What the bridesmaids are wearing, and whether it's matching or mismatched. What your mother chose — with a link to the actual dress, because “the navy one” describes four women at most weddings. What the groomsmen are in, if it varies. Anything with a detail worth shooting close: beading, a borrowed brooch, a hem your grandmother sewed.

Timing constraints

Grandma is 93 and leaving at eight. Your brother's flight lands at two and he'll be in the room by four. The west terrace loses its light at 4:30. Each of these silently reorders the day, and a photographer who knows them plans around them without being asked.

Family dynamics

Divorced parents who are fine together, or aren't. A stepparent who should be in the “parents” shot. Two relatives who shouldn't share a frame. Writing this down once, plainly, saves your photographer from discovering it in the viewfinder.

Links, not descriptions

Where a picture exists, link it. A dress listing, a swatch photo, a screenshot of the suit. Descriptions of colour are famously unreliable — sage, olive, and eucalyptus are the same dress to three different people.