Five Tips for Beautiful Getting Ready Photos!
The morning of the wedding has the potential to be one of the most fun parts of the whole day! But, let’s be honest – getting ready can also be kind of stressful! The good news is, there are steps you can take to help alleviate some of the stress, and make the most of your getting ready experience.
After all, these are important moments. This is when you get dressed with the people you love most, on the day you get to marry your person! These are memories that deserve to be documented!
One of our favorite images from our wedding day is a photo of me laughing with my friend Sarah and Lee’s sister, Risa, when we were getting ready. I wasn’t wearing my dress, and it was totally spontaneous, but it’s still one of our favorites after all these years!
So what’s the trick to not just surviving this part of the day but actually ENJOYING it, all while getting beautiful photos?
Here are five tips to help you get beautiful getting ready photos on your wedding day (and enjoy the experience too!)
“Marie Kondo” your Getting Ready Room.
Listen, we get it – getting ready the morning of the wedding day can sometimes feel like a mad-dash, and a bunch of people getting ready in one room can get messy pretty quickly.
Ask your wedding party to keep their items confined to one corner as much as possible, and if there are any bags you can stow away in a closet or bathroom, do it.
Think like Marie Kondo. If it doesn’t spark joy, tuck it away.
A tidier room = a less stressful morning + more beautiful getting ready images.
Turn Up the Tunes!
Bring a portable speaker to play your favorite playlist while you get ready – your day should be FUN!
For me, it would probably be some sort of custom playlist that includes everything from Lord Huron to Leon Bridges, from Spoon to Fleetwood Mac.
Lee says he would probably pick a little Foo Fighters, some MUTEMATH, some Bruno Mars, and of course, Queen!!
But if loud music doesn’t make you feel calm, choose a playlist with soft piano music or no words – you do you!
Set Aside any Mementos or Personal Details Beforehand.
Did we mention the getting ready part of the day can be a little extra busy? The last thing you’ll want to do is try and gather all your personal details so we can photograph them half-way through getting ready.
Instead, take care of this little step in advance. Set aside any special mementos or important details in one location so that we can easily gather them up to be photographed when we arrive, and then we’ll return them to the same spot once we’re finished. Easy peasy!
*Keep an eye out for our Flat Lay + Detail Checklist coming to the blog soon!
Getting Dressed-Helpers should be Camera-Ready
If your mom or wedding party are helping you get dressed, make sure they are in their outfits before you so they feel confident and camera ready.
*If you are having your hair and makeup done this doesn’t mean you should be the last one to finish your MUAH (Make Up & Hair), in fact quite the opposite. You want your awesome make up artists and hair stylists to have all the time they need to make you look just as you’ve envisioned, so it’s best to schedule your MUAH to finish 2nd or 3rd to last just to make sure any delays in getting ready don’t affect your MUAH timeline.
Once your MUAH is finished, take some time to relax while your remaining family and friends finish theirs. Have a mimosa, a mini dance party, or just take a few moments for yourself before the day moves on.
Prepare an Emergency Kit
Better to have it and not need it, than the other way around!!
Put someone in your wedding party in charge of bringing the kit, and include things like a bleach pen, sewing kit, band-aids, eyedrops, safety pins, bobby pins, tissues, powder, chapstick, Tylenol/ibuprofen, a mirror, and all the SNACKS.
Kinda hard to enjoy the moment if you’re hangry, amirite?
BONUS TIP: Soak it all in!
You’ve put a lot of effort into making the day you marry your person the best it can be. So don’t forget to truly experience it before it becomes a memory. Try to remind yourself from time to time, to just take a minute and soak it in. See the joy in the faces around you, listen to the conversation and laughter as people you love celebrate you, and really embrace the experience as it passes you by.
And when it’s all said and done, that’s what we want for you – beautiful photos of a day filled with wonderful memories, so that years from now when you open your wedding album, the day you see documented there is filled with joy and celebration from start to finish.
Interested in having us photograph your wedding day? Give us a shout and say hello!
With all the love,
L+L
