Welcome to Wedding Day Notes – a new blog series where we walk through different parts of a wedding day! I wanted to kick off with the “Getting Ready” portion of the day because that’s where it all begins. Let’s take a look at this part of the day from Emily & Seth’s wedding last spring.
In my Wedding Guide, I advise all of my couples to corral their wedding day details into one spot before I arrive – and my couples are SO good at doing this! I always make a beeline for the bride when I arrive to give hugs & wish her a happy wedding day, and then I abscond with the rings and disappear for half an hour to photograph all the little details. My second shooter is either snapping candids of the girls getting ready, or they’re with the guys off-site.
The next part of the getting ready time is usually when we take any group shots of all the gals or guys, with a cheers or bottle pop for good measure! After that, the wedding party gets dressed, leaving the bride (the best) for last. If the couple is exchanging gifts, I like to do this part while the others are getting dressed so bride or groom can have a little bit of privacy. Once the bride is dressed, I love doing a low-key reveal to get those sweet reactions from her closest crew, with an extra bonus if dad can be there.
This part of the day takes around 1-1.5 hours, and a LOT gets crammed in there. I love the candids I get to capture, the stills of all the details my couples carefully curate, and the smiles and fangirling once the bride is fully in glam. This sets the energy for the rest of the day and all the portraits to come!
