How to capture sophisticated getting ready photos on your wedding day

Capturing the Magic: Essential Tips for Perfect Getting Ready Wedding Photos

The wedding suite is loaded with mimosas, your bridesmaids are all dressed in their glamorous robes, and the curling irons are preheating. It’s almost time to exchange vows! You’ll be filled with joy, champagne, and nervous excitement as you prepare for the big moment. Naturally, you’ll want to immortalise this vibe in getting ready wedding photos.

That being said, as experienced wedding photographers, we feel obliged to emphasise the importance of having the right professional capture your day. These moments need to be filled with positivity, love and support, so you need someone that will capture your story without overwhelming you. In addition, below, we are sharing ideas and tips to help you achieve effortlessly elegant getting ready photos.

1. Make Sure the Setting Is On Point

Even though your glam station may have originally been a hotel room or bridal suite at your venue, you can still make changes to it. That being said, light can make all the difference regarding your getting ready wedding photos. Work with your photographer to achieve the ideal lighting conditions, like ensuring natural light flows in or turning off any harsh overhead lights in favour of softer lamps. Also, ensure the space is clean and uncluttered.

Additionally, feel free to substitute any existing blossoms in the space for your bouquets to ensure that your chosen colour scheme is represented. When finished, remember to put them back in their water-filled containers to prevent wilting. The ambience should be pleasant and cosy and go with your overall design.

2. Ready and waiting

One of your wedding’s highlights is your gorgeous gown, so it is essential to capture its beauty as the embodiment of your special day. Take a picture to show off your stellar dress as it sits poised and waiting to be worn.

Your wedding story must also include the part where you’re getting ready and dressed. There is still a lot to document and a lot of love from those closest to you that can be caught, even though it might not be as glamorous as other aspects of your wedding.

3. Bride and Groom getting ready with Parents and maid of honour, best man and siblings

The getting ready photos are an excellent opportunity to include the bridesmaids and groomsmen in the photographs, either collectively or individually. This is a wonderful moment to appreciate their love and friendship because these are normally the best and closest people. At this time, parents and siblings are frequently there as well, making it a fantastic opportunity to have some candid photos of them. The trick to some natural yet elegant photos here is to allow the story to unfold while you savour your precious moments with your family.

4. The details complement your elegance and story

Many of the accessories that you have worked so hard to arrange and buy for your special day should be included in getting ready wedding photos. Some of these could be treasured memories, family heirlooms, or both – making the photos even more meaningful. Your wedding gown, veil, jewels, rings, heels, invitations, and blossoms are just a few examples of elegant details that can be captured in both flat-lay images or candid bridal portraits.

5. Prepare a wedding day timeline

As we previously stated, you’ll treasure these getting ready wedding photos forever, so avoid the desire to rush. Having a well-curated wedding day timeline is key to having a relaxed atmosphere that won’t stress you. If you feel like time is running out, you will become anxious and overwhelmed, and naturally, it is the thing we wish to avoid. Therefore, make sure to allocate sufficient time and give some room for manoeuvring – just in case hair and makeup take longer than expected. You want to come across as untroubled and relaxed as you can. So, designate some cushion time between events, and trust us, everything will flow seamlessly.

6. Golden Tips

Ask for a room with a window if you enjoy scenes and photographs that are brilliantly lighted. Soft boxes and studio lights can be used to resemble window light and will give your wedding photographer full control over where they can take your portraits. More dramatic light can also be found where the wall colours are darker, so do not worry about everything being white and bright; it is not needed for beautiful portraits. The extra furniture should be kept to a minimum, and the walls should be in a neutral shade.
Numerous windows would be beneficial so that your photographer can use natural light where possible. Many places of worship include dressing areas, but it is a good idea to ensure they are available in advance. It helps to have at least two windows 90 degrees apart if you like your pictures to look spacious and bright. One window works really well for more dramatic lighting. Our preferred method of lighting for wedding prep photos is of the more dramatic variety but we always capture a selection of different images, so you have lots to choose from for your wedding album.
You must feel comfortable with your wedding photographer. Even if you’re not particularly at ease in front of the camera, it’s your photographer’s responsibility to make you feel relaxed, so the photos are authentically you. A good photographer should feel less like a supplier and more like one of your friends. Remember that they’ll be in constant communication with those closest to you and be around you your whole wedding day.

Final thoughts

We frequently associate our emotions with the experience of taking a photo. Let’s try something.

Consider a photo that holds special value for you for a moment. Is this the most skilfully taken picture there is? Probably not. That’s because genuinely excellent photos allow us to momentarily relive a prior event by transporting us there.

If your photographer is pushy, aggressive, or stressing you, you won’t feel comfortable or pleasant, and that will be what you remember afterwards, even if it looks good aesthetically. After all, you’ll remember how you felt when those photos were documented when you look back at them years from now, after your wedding. That is why finding a photographer whose objective is to create gorgeous getting ready wedding photos – *and* to make sure that you feel fantastic while they are being taken, is more crucial than having an image that just looks good.

We hope you found our tips useful and illuminating. As experienced wedding photographers, we also wish to ease your organisation process. Thus, we’ve created a FREE wedding planning guide, which you can download here.

To see more of our work and find out how we capture your wedding day head to our home page HERE