Planning journey + production guide

From first ideas to the anniversary.

See every checkpoint your creative team is thinking through, prepare for the final questionnaire, and understand what happens to the work after the last song.

THE COMBS CREATIVE / FIELD GUIDEThe planning deskBack to your open invitation
Inside this chapter

The client journey

Eight chapters. One connected experience.

The timing flexes with the event, but the purpose stays consistent: turn uncertainty into readiness without taking over your life.

01Before inquiry

Begin with the feeling

Choose three words for how you want the celebration to feel. Note the people, places, traditions, and sensory memories you cannot imagine leaving out.

02Proposal + booking

Build the right coverage

Match the number of hours and team to the real event shape. Your signed proposal confirms the booking schedule, scope, and payment terms.

0390–60 days

Create the framework

Confirm scope, venues, travel, privacy, accessibility, major restrictions, and whether an engagement session belongs in the story.

0445–30 days

Make it specific

Complete the final questionnaire, family groups, vendor list, addresses, priorities, and draft timeline. Confirm the payment checkpoint shown in your agreement.

0521–7 days

Protect the experience

Lock team roles, call times, meals, weather plans, travel buffers, permits, analog choices, audio needs, and the final call sheet.

06Wedding day

Live the day

We arrive early, scout, synchronize, and document without forcing. The plan holds the logistics so you can be present with your people.

077 days–12 weeks

Preserve the work

Cards and rolls are reconciled, backed up, processed, edited, color-checked, and delivered on the schedule in your agreement.

08After delivery + anniversaries

Make it tangible

Choose album images, order prints, share with family, revisit the film, and mark the anniversary with a print, session, or new chapter.

Behind the scenes

What production readiness actually means.

The invisible work protects the visible work. These checkpoints keep logistics, media, sound, people, and contingencies aligned.

90–60 days

Framework

  • Confirm scope, venue, planner, travel, accessibility, privacy
  • Review engagement-session and event coverage
  • Surface restrictions, permits, and payment checkpoints
45–30 days

Final questionnaire

  • Vendor team, family groups, addresses, priorities
  • Draft timeline, analog choices, drone restrictions
  • Confirm the payment checkpoint shown in the agreement
21–14 days

Production design

  • Team roles, call times, lodging, meals, childcare
  • Weather plan, travel buffers, permits, risks
  • Film, audio, and handoff plans
Final 7 days

Call sheet

  • Final schedule and exact locations
  • Family list, must-haves, emergency contacts
  • Audio plan, route, payment, and gear confirmation
72–24 hours

Readiness

  • Charge devices and prepare verified media
  • Label cards and rolls; check forecasts and routes
  • Confirm access, arrival, and team communication
Event day

Coverage

  • Arrive 30–45 minutes early and scout
  • Synchronize cameras and confirm restrictions
  • Document with direction when useful, without forcing
0–72 hours

Ingest + backup

  • Reconcile cards and rolls
  • Create independent backups and spot-check files
  • Send previews or updates when included
6–10 weeks

Post + delivery

  • Cull, edit, mix audio, color, and quality-check
  • Process and scan analog media
  • Deliver according to the signed agreement

After delivery

The work is finished. The legacy is not.

A gallery link is the beginning of living with the work, not the final destination.

01

Download

Save the full-resolution gallery and films in at least two places. Give one trusted person access too.

02

Favorite

Mark the photographs that tell the whole story, including atmosphere, family, and the in-between.

03

Design

Build the album as a narrative rather than a greatest-hits folder. Leave room for quiet pages and transitions.

04

Print

Choose the frames you want to encounter every day and order family copies while everyone is still excited.

05

Share

Confirm publication preferences and vendor-sharing permissions before work moves beyond your private gallery.

06

Return

On the anniversary, open the album, watch the film, print a new favorite, or make a new portrait together.

The Combs Creative field notes

A plan that leaves room for you.

Tell us where you are starting, what feels complicated, and which memories matter most. We will help you connect the right coverage to a day you can actually enjoy.

Talk with Jess + Corey

A calm day begins with shared information.

Confirm who owns the latest timeline, how changes reach the team, and which contacts are available on the day. Keep the latest timeline and contact details together in your final call sheet.

Review your production questions · Explore the FAQ

A closer look

A useful brief leaves space for life.

From The Combs Creative studio archive

Tell us the essential moments, names and pronunciations, access rules, and anything that needs particular care. Give us the priorities rather than a minute-by-minute list of poses. That leaves room to respond when something wonderful happens.

Prepare your people list

Know what working together looks like.

Meet your team and explore planning checkpoints, communication, media handling, and delivery.

How we work

Creative direction through delivery

Finished and approved by Jessica + Corey.

We manage your files, curate the story, make final selections, complete finishing touches, and approve and deliver the finished work, including for our associate-team bookings. Trusted editing support may assist along the way, with our final creative direction and review.

Meet our editing workflow + tools

Media care + delivery

Multiple copies. Digital delivery.

Our professional digital cameras have dual card slots, with professional-grade SanDisk and Sony SD cards in our workflow. Files are managed across multiple external drives, NAS storage, and cloud platforms, with onsite and offsite copies, including a geographically separate backup in another state.

Google Drive and Pic-Time are our primary cloud and gallery platforms. Delivery is digital unless your package expressly includes a USB drive or another physical item. Analog film has a separate processing and scanning workflow, with its own inherent qualities and risks.

Read about file care, delivery, and film expectations

Coverage policies

A little structure. More room to live it.

$1,500 retainer, with the remaining balance in three equal payments. Full balance due 30 days before the wedding.

A note on Super 8

Real film. Clearly named.

A Super 8 wedding film begins with physical motion-picture film. Digital film-look footage and a Super 8 simulator can have a nostalgic feel, but they are digital formats. We name the difference so you know what you are watching.

StoryFormat
Pete Dye Mountain Course, La Quinta wedding filmReal Super 8
Vow renewal on real Super 8 · 2025 vow renewalReal Super 8
Belle Isle Estate, Ireland wedding filmSuper 8 simulator · digital footage
Castle Leslie Estate, Ireland destination weddingDigital only
Digital film-look wedding filmDigital film-look

Your next chapter

Let’s shape your celebration.

Share your date, location, and what you want to remember. We will connect the coverage, people, and details.

Build your proposal request Visit our main investment page

KEEP THE STORY GOING

Your next little chapter.