USING BRIDAL DETAILS


Using Bridal DetailsPro-Tip Series


If you’re like me, you’ve dreamed about your wedding day since you were a little girl. You had visions of what your gown would look like (I used to draw pictures of my dream dress all the time), you thought about the flowers you would carry, and you maybe even had a place in mind for you I Do’s.

Now that you’ve got the ring, it is time for one of the most fun parts of wedding planning…picking out your gown! But not just your gown…you’ll also decide on a veil, your shoes, earrings, and even which perfume you’ll wear. If your traditional, you’ll need to decide on your something old, new, borrowed, and blue.

You will spend so much time scrolling websites and Pinterest, looking for inspiration, and you’ll seek the advice from your best friends and maybe even your mom! These bridal details are such a HUGE part of your wedding day you want to make sure they are perfect, and I want capture every tiny detail for you so you’ll always remember them!

On your wedding day you’ll have a million things running through your head and the last thing you’re going to be thinking about is grabbing ALL your special details so that I can get a shot of them during the prep time.  I was a bride once and I remember how CRAZY that morning was!! This post is for brides AND photographers to use and share in preparation for the wedding day.

This is just a checklist for the BRIDAL PREP TIME, not the entire day.  I normally photograph the bride and the bridesmaids getting ready about an hour and a half before the FIRST LOOK! This gives me time to shoot ALL of the bridal details and still capture the girls getting ready together.

After the details, are done and we’re about 30 minutes away from the first look, I photograph the bride getting into her dress and the day begins!!  This bridal prep time is a GREAT time for me to get warmed up AND for the bridesmaids to get used to me being around. It can be very tempting for brides to cut this part of the day short when they are working with a certain number of hours, but it this is VITAL for ME to get warmed up. It’s important for the sake of your images, and the story I’m telling through them. It’s NEVER a good idea to start the wedding day off feeling rushed.  So, an hour and a 1/2 minimum is what I suggest for bridal prep time!

As soon as I arrive I give the bride a big “It’s your WEDDING DAY!” hug and then I begin to get settled and preparing for shots of the details. These are the items I start looking for! I realize not EVERY bride is going to have ALL of these details…. these are just the most common items I shoot, and it is SO helpful when you have them all together in one place because it saves me time looking for them and I don’t have to interrupt your time with your bridesmaids asking for them.

– DRESS (I also shoot any specialty hangers. HUGE TIP: Even if you don’t have a custom hanger, make sure you have a decent hanger for your beautiful gown. Your wedding dress deserves more than a plastic/metal hanger and believe me, having a classy wooden hanger makes a HUGE difference in your images. If you forget this, most hotels and venues have extra “nice” hangers in coat closets… I “borrow” them all the time!)

wedding gown
wedding gown

– VEIL & HAIRPIECES Whether you are wearing a cathedral veil, a bird cage veil, or a simple jeweled comb…I am going to include images of it!

head piece

– SHOES (Some brides wear heals but only for a few portraits and then they switch into something more comfortable. I’ve even had some brides have me take pictures of beautiful, uncomfortable heels that they NEVER even wore on their wedding day but man, they looked good in the album! How funny is that! Whatever works! 🙂

shoes
shoes
shoes

– EARRINGS : I ask brides to wait and put on ALL jewelry once their dress is on! It just gives me one more chance for some beautiful bridal shots!

earrings

– NECKLACE

– OTHER JEWELRY

– KEEPSAKES (handkerchiefs, heirloom pins, something blue, etc)

– PERFUME

perfume

– BOUQUETS & BOUTS (If you’re sharing a FIRST LOOK…which I encourage all couples to consider, they are amazing!…. Then you need to have your bouquet delivered to wherever you’re getting ready so that it can be ready when you leave for portraits!)

bridal bouquet

– GIFTS (This can be gifts shared between the Bride and Groom or even just gifts that were given to the bridal party! I also make sure I photograph any letters that may have been exchanged between the bride and groom 🙂

– INVITATION SUITE (I photograph the entire inviation suite. I will need the invitation itself as well as the RSVP card, the envelopes, and any other parts of your invitation. Fee free to drop one in the mail for me and I can use that for the shots I need).

wedding invitations

– RINGS (It is really important that I have ALL the rings together, this includes the groom’s ring as well!)

wedding rings

Hope this helps all of you brides out there as you prep for your big day!!

Here are the items listed together:
-DRESS

-RINGS

-VEILS & HAIRPIECES

-SHOES

-EARRINGS

-NECKLACES

-OTHER JEWELRY

-KEEPSAKES

-PERFUME

-INVITATIONS

-BOUQUETS & BOUTS

-GIFTS

-PURSE OR CLUTCH

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