Cleanliness: Those beautiful, emotion-filled moments on the morning of a wedding day can be a little less beautiful with fast food leftovers, gym bags and a pile of shoes in the background. When it comes to making the most of your getting ready photos, it’s important that your getting ready location is as clean as possible when I arrive! Please make sure bags, shoes, garbage and general clutter is put away in order to provide a clean space for your photos.
Lighting: The first thing I’ll do when I arrive in the morning (besides all the hugs, of course), is turn off all the lights in the space you’re getting ready. This may seem counterintuitive, especially if you’re getting ready in a dark room. However, working with the cleanest lighting possible will make your photos turn out best! This means no orangey hues from lamps and room lighting. Choosing a location with lots of windows and natural light will be best.
HMUA: While I’ll likely arrive when your hair and makeup artists are putting the finishing touches on your gorgeous self, it’s important you provide a space with lots of natural light for them to work! If not, they’ll need to use an additional lighting source that can take away from the lovely even lighting of your getting ready space. If it’s absolutely necessary for them to work with an additional lighting source, I’ll request they turn it off for just a few minutes for prep photos. I’d recommend setting them up by a window so we’ll all get the lighting we need!
Room aesthetic: When it comes to a getting ready space, lots of windows and natural light is most important! Clean decor and white or light walls are also ideal, but as long as I have natural light to work with, almost any space will do! If you’re not able to find a space that’s clean with natural light, you may consider bringing your dress to the ceremony location, renting out a space such as an airbnb, or you could always get ready outdoors! It sounds crazy, but once you have your dress on, you could do finishing touches outdoors with gorgeous natural lighting. Room aesthetic is equally important both for the bride as well as the groom, so don’t forget about the guys when choosing a getting ready space!
Consider getting ready together: Some of the sweetest moments I’ve captured on wedding and elopement days are when a bride and groom chose to get ready together the morning of their wedding. Her tying his bowtie, him zipping up her dress. Sharing all the laughs and excited anticipation of the day. Just the two of you in a beautiful space preparing to commit your lives together.
Details: While most of my work emphasizes the relationships and moments on your wedding day, we don’t want to leave out all the pretty details that help tell the story of your day. When I arrive where you gals are getting ready, it would be great to have some of those special touches ready for me! You definitely don’t need to have a slew of details, but having some loose florals, the rings, an invitation or anything else you’d like documented ready will make it easy for me to capture the details along with all the excitement of the morning.
TIMELINE: 90 minutes
Here’s a couple weddings that had gorgeous spaces for morning wedding prep!