This is the second installment of my “Making the Most Out of…” series! If you missed the first part (The Wedding Booking Process) you can check it out here. Today I want to take a look at a part of the wedding day that most people probably don’t think much about– the getting ready process. For a bride, this is often a part of the day that she would like captured through photos, as it helps to tell the day’s story, shows her hanging out with her bridesmaids, and lets the groom see what all she was doing before they saw each other for the first time! Grooms may not care one way or another if they have photos during the “getting ready” time, because they might be focussing on the gifts on sale for their intended. But more often than not, the bride likes seeing photos of him during that part of the day. :-)

Most of the time on a wedding day we start shooting in the location where the bridal party is getting ready. Depending on the timeline of the day, the distance between locations, and whether or not your hair/make-up comes to you vs. you going to them, we are often at the location where the bride will put her dress on. Other times we may start at a salon, for instance, and then move to the next getting ready location.

Typically speaking, the getting ready location is a hotel, house, or at the event venue. It doesn’t matter what the location is, the way to make the MOST out of your getting ready photos is to be in a place with great light. When planning where you’re going to get ready, look for a room that preferably has large windows to let lots of natural light in. While we can shoot in any location, keep in mind that fluorescent lighting doesn’t do anyone any favors!! Natural lighting is most flattering and will show off your wedding day gorgeousness best! I’ve been in a few situations where the getting ready room had no windows or was extremely dark, so we moved to a location with better light.

The next thing to keep in mind is the size of the space and overall clutter. If you have 8 bridesmaids and you want them all to be in the getting ready photos, you’ll obviously need a bigger space than if you just had 2 bridesmaids. If you’ve ever gotten ready with a bunch of girls before, you know that we need some space to do our thang!! That being said, getting ready with a bunch of girls (and sometimes this happens with the guys as well) generally produces a lot of clutter. I will usually look for an area with the least amount of clutter and great lighting for the bride to put or dress on in, or I will have a couple bridesmaids help me to move the clutter to another area so that the dress-putting-on-area (just made up that term) is clean. :-)

The last thing to think about to make the most out of your getting ready photos is the detail shots. Most brides want shots of their dress, shoes, jewelry, bouquet, etc. before they put them on. We usually start with shooting these items first, so it’s good to have them ready when we arrive so that we can get right to them. We’ll also often shoot all of the rings during this time, as well as the invitation to the wedding and any gifts that are given. The groom’s details include his tux/suit, shoes, cuff links, etc.

The thing to keep in mind here is time. It’d be awesome if I could walk in and shoot all of the details in 10 min. or less, but that just isn’t possible! It generally takes a good 30 min. to shoot all of the details. When helping brides plan their timeline, I usually suggest to allow about an hour and a half total for the getting ready time period. That allows time to shoot details, get to know the bridal party and shoot them getting ready, and shoot the bride getting into her dress (allow 20-30 min. on the schedule just for that). If everything runs on time and we have a few minutes left over before we move into the next part of the day, I like to grab a few shots of the bride by herself in the getting ready location (or nearby)!

I hope this was helpful for you brides-to-be! Next part in the series– The First Look!

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