Haley, When can I do my bridal session?

I always, always highly recommend scheduling your bridal session before your wedding day. Gone are the days where you have to wait for hours upon hours to see your love till down the isle. Having the bridal session take place before your wedding day can lead to so many more opportunities to capture your story together.

Why does it matter?

1 – You can choose that dreamy location you’ve always wanted to go to

This is a big deal. If you are getting married downtown, we won’t have time to leave the venue to go hike a mountain and take those dramatic bridal photos you have always dreamed of. I have no doubt that your ceremony spot will be absolutely stunning, but this is a perfect opportunity to chose a scenic area that we can hike to, boat to, take a helicopter flight to – whatever it may be, let’s go somewhere that will make your dreams come true!

2 – Don’t forget that perfect lighting is a must

Getting your bridal session done on a different day means that we have the chance to receive some glorious lighting to compliment your beautiful faces and enhance your features! The last thing you want is to have during your bridal session is that mid-day hot sunshine on your face where you feel like you are just squinting your eyes the whole time and chasing to find shade. Well guys, I’m here to tell you that you don’t have to do that! You are going to want to see every detail from your wedding attire, to the details of your scenic surroundings. You want that warm glow to showcase the romance in the air, and we can definitely overcome that feel every time you look at your bridal photos if we plan them during the right timing!

3- More time

Like many traditional weddings, it is sometimes difficult to plan your bridal session during your full schedule of wedding activities. You don’t want to squeeze it in and sacrifice any time from your bridal session, as these photos will be the ones you’ll eventually print out large and hang in your home. Plus, from my experience (of my own wedding and shooting a ton of other weddings) your wedding day is going to be crazy, and it’s going to fly by really fast. There’s a 99% chance the two of you will not have time to be together alone. There will be tons of guests to greet and thank, vendors you’ll probably talk to, and you are going to want to participate in all of the wedding events that are planned for the rest of the day. Bridal sessions before (or after) your wedding day will give you that alone time to soak everything in, without dealing with the stress and sacrificing the session!

4- The first look

Gone are the days where you have to wait forever to see each other before the isle. This is the perfect opportunity to see each other as bride and groom, all dressed up in your wedding attire and to just admire each other with excitement and love!

5- Wearing your outfits more than once

Now who doesn’t want to do this? You spent all this time for months (or even years) planning for your dreamy wedding, finding that PERFECT dress, the perfect suit, shoes, jewelry, florals, everything. Why not put it all back together and relive feeling like a king and queen?!

6- Get the elopement feel while having a traditional wedding day

Like I said before, there are certain images and locations that you can’t get on your wedding day. However, having your bridal session on a different day is going to have the chance to experience a romantic, elopement feel, while still having your traditional wedding day. Recently, a lot of couples have been saving their personal vows for their bridal session. That way you can still celebrate your wedding day with your loved ones, but saving those intimate moments and private vows just for the two of you.

Want to do your bridals the day after?

Keep celebrating!

The stress of the wedding is OVER. But why not keep celebrating? For all the reasons above — and then some — you will love revisiting not only your wedding attire, but the excitement and emotions of your wedding day. And what better way to celebrate finally being husband and wife?

Do something unique!

Would you rather run into the ocean waves, or jump into the hotel pool? Maybe even visit your favorite fast food place and grab some burgers or nuggets? If you want to have the last “hoorah!” after your beautiful wedding day is said and done, you can get a little crazy and get a little dirty with each other and have some fun in the water, mud or spray confetti on each other! 🙂 The ideas are endless!