Okay I know it’s Thursday, but this is a good one and I didn’t want to wait until next week to post it! The getting ready portion of the day is probably my favorite part of a wedding day. Portrait time with the bride and groom is a close second…but there’s something so magical about the beginning of the day when emotions are running high and the bride is looking forward to that moment that she get’s to see her soon to be husband!!  I love walking into the room and feeling the excitement in the air! I love watching the joy on the mother of the bride’s face as she helps her daughter get into her dress…I love the bridesmaids who are so overwhelmed with excitement for their friend is about to tie the knot…I’m the type of girl that loves anticipation…I’m not big on surprises because I think that half the fun of something exciting happening is that part where you get to look forward to it! And the getting ready room is generally just bursting with anticipation from everyone in the room! Since the getting ready room is where the first few hours of a brides wedding day are spent, I’ve found it to make such a difference in the whole day (and definitely in the photographs) if you have a great space to get ready and relax in before the ceremony…

That being said, I think it’s also something that a lot of brides forget to think about! The getting ready space isn’t something that all of your guests see on the wedding day so I think it’s easy to put it on the back burner and just go with any room that has outlets and mirrors. As a photographer, you have to learn to use what you have and make it work! It is possible to have pretty getting ready shots in a not so pretty room…but the difference in getting ready pictures taken in a pretty, clean room vs. a cluttered room with no windows is HUGE. If you’re investing in high quality photography, then you probably want the best pictures possible from every part of your wedding day!

So here are a few tips that I’ve picked up along the way that might help you in choosing your getting ready location!:

1. Natural Light – Choose a room that has plenty of windows. This is KEY. Natural light streaming through windows is so soft and flattering and allows for the photographer to take beautiful portraits.

2. Clean Backgrounds – Now I am well aware that bridesmaids have a ton of STUFF. We are girls…it takes a lot of stuff to get ready…But it’s really helpful if it’s possible to keep the room (or certain areas of the room) as clean as possible! Also, try to avoid selecting a room with anything really busy in the walls (like posters you might find in a Sunday school room). The goal is to keep the focus on the bride, rather than anything busy in the background!

3. Pretty furniture – When I’m helping to plan out the wedding day timeline I always schedule a few minutes for some indoor bridal portraits immediately after the bride’s finished getting ready. These are always some of my favorite portraits! A bridal portrait where the bride is sitting on a nice chair is obviously going to look better than a bridal portrait where the bride is sitting on a plastic folding chair. Pretty furniture also makes for prettier detail shots! I personally prefer photographing details like the shoes and wedding dress indoors vs. outside…I think it feels more natural and then in an album the pictures flow with the rest of the getting ready shots…But to do so you need a pretty space that allows for it!

4. Enough Space – On a wedding day the bride has a whole entourage of people. Literally. There’s not only the bridesmaids, but also the mother of the bride, hair and makeup artists, and possibly a few other family members. It can be a lot of people! And if the room’s too small it might feel overwhelming for the bride. A lot of bridal suites at certain venues are fairly small, so one good option is having bridesmaids get ready separately or in another room, and then having them come into the brides room when they are almost fully ready and able to assist the bride with getting into her dress!

If you have any additional tips for choosing a getting ready space, I’d love to hear them!
Happy Thursday!