Let’s discuss my favorite moment of the day, the Bride getting into her dress. Yes, the happiness that I see in the Groom’s eye as his Bride walks down the aisle is second to none, but it’s that moment she transforms into an elegant princess that has become my favorite. My FAVORITE movie growing up was Cinderella, so I guess you could say the Dress is my favorite because of that.
You see, I meet my Bride’s 8 out of 10 times with no makeup on, in the middle of running errands and probably with their hair in a ponytail. There is nothing wrong with this, but you can imagine the transformation when I walk into the getting ready suite and she’s had her hair done, her eyes are popping because her makeup artist nailed it and then the dress….it’s just a fantasy that comes to life.
Now, let’s talk logistics… First, where will you be getting your dress on? The hotel suite, the church, your parents’ home? I personally prefer anywhere that has AMAZING light even on an overcast day with a North facing window. *Insert every hotel attendant’s hard sigh when all of my bride’s walk up to them and demand a North facing room – it’s ideal, but it’s not going to be the end of the world* When you walk into the getting room, or the room you will be getting the dress on, survey it really quickly. What is on the floor, what is closest to the window that will be in your photos. Remember my post last post about “Organizing the Room“, this is key here. IF you are hoping that I’ll have full lengths of you getting into the dress, scan the space from top to bottom and make appropriate adjustment and move things…
Second, who will be helping you get into your dress? If mom is helping, make sure she is dressed and ready to go no later than 45 minutes before we need to leave for the first transition of the day. I need you to start getting your dress on about 30 minutes before we leave so this will give you a little flexibility if she is getting ready in her own hotel room. If your bridesmaids, or even JUST the MOH, are helping I want them ready by that same 45 minutes just in case anyone is missing something they need to run to their room to grab. IF they have adorable monogramed shirts you want them to wear while helping you in, then you need to get in your dress 45 minutes before we transition and you should make sure their shirt colors are more on the lighter side than a deep color because the light will reflect the color of their shirts onto your dress. I would stick to neutral colors if their shirts are important to the dress shot (only).
Lastly, remember to look happy, excited and like you don’t have a care in the world. I find myself reminding my brides to “smile”, “show me their happiness”, etc because a lot of the time they are concerned with what someone is doing, how their dress is lacing up and wanting to be on time. Don’t sweat it girl, you hired me for more than my mad skill with a camera.. You think I’m good with a camera? You should see me cinch you into that dress in less than 5 minutes. If you are running late, I only need to stage the ladies helping you and then I can get you in quick.
Now, I realize that I used a lot of getting in the dress shots for my last post about organizing the room and now I’m going to post a few more, let that show you how important it is to organize the room. I feel like I’m stretching to find images of the room surroundings (to be fair, I only went back the last 10 weddings, I had at least 140 other weddings I could’ve started to search through).
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