much to think about when planning a wedding and I know it can be overwhelming. However, if you’re a bride and you’ve invested in really high quality photography, I bet you want the BEST pictures possible!! And while a photographer should be able to make the most out of every situation, there are some things a bride can do to help a photographer out! Today I’m just focusing on the “getting ready” portion of the day. I LOVE the moments when the dress is going on and the bridesmaids are squealing and mom starts tearing up. These are really incredible moments…. and they deserve some incredible light too! Wouldn’t you agree?
It doesn’t take much… I just need ONE window with natural light, just one! I will run as far away form flourescent lighting as I can! It’s just not flattering. One window with natural light pouring in can make all the difference in the world and I can create beautiful bridal portraits with one window… one window, that’s all I ask!! (Do I sound like I’m begging?!) Ok, so I know some of you are saying “Well what if I get married in a church and there are NO windows in the room they put us in?!” …. My answer to that is… I’ll find you a window! I’m a professional church snooper. I’ll snoop around the WHOLE building until I find a room with a window! It takes some work sometimes but it’s so worth it to have that directional light. (I’ll show an example of my church snooping skills soon!)
I realize brides are NOT photographers (for the most part) and so this may not seem like a big deal…. but it is. Light plays a crucial role in ALL of your images and I actually PLAN your portraits around what the light is doing. So brides, whether you’re getting ready in a hotel room, a bedroom at home or a church sunday school classroom, look for LIGHT! I’m going to show you some examples of GREAT window light from Buddy and Jill’s wedding this year so that you can get a feel for what I’m talking about! and I’ll try to add a few shots you haven’t seen before so this doesn’t get boring:)
Two other factors that go into making gorgeous “getting ready” portraits are this:
1. CLEAN the area around the window. No one wants Aquafina bottles and hairspray in all of their portraits!
2. Have your bridesmaids IN their dresses before you put your dress on. You’ll notice that in all of these pictures below, the bridesmaids are dressed and that creates a unified look. This ultimately makes the ALBUM spread look more unified as well! I’ll show that too!:)
Ok, Jill is going to kill me for showing you these first two…. but she’ll forgive me! I just want to show that this room (like MOST bridal rooms) wasn’t the cleanest. That just happens! Girls have a bunch of STUFF. Bags, makeup, curling irons, more bags… it’s bound to get messy! However, I covered all the mess up by placing the bridesmaids around Jill when she was getting in her dress. You would never know that room was a mess! AND notice that this room had window light coming from BOTH sides of the room. PERFECT!!
Here come the tears!:)
Can’t even see the mess! How gorgeous is she?! She’s so pretty I have a 20×30 canvas of her in my office now….I see her everyday! That’s not creepy, I just loved this wedding:)
And here’s the Album spread!!
Thanks for reading!
— Katelyn
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