Wedding Day – Bridal Preparations

Post 2 in the series of wedding day posts – The Bridal Preparations.

Often chaotic, usually nerve racking, always exciting, the preparations to the main event are one of my favourite parts of the wedding day. Everyone in high spirits and looking forward to and getting ready for the day ahead. A few glasses of fizz and before you know it your car is outside and it’s time…

I love the details and the emotions, the make-up, the hair, the shoes, the details on the dress, the jewellery, gifts from the Mr, the emotion when loved ones see the bride ready for the first time, the precious moments and details that may only last a few seconds but will be remembered for a lifetime.

If this part of the day is important to you to be captured then you need to allow a little time so your photographer can shoot all the details and still have time to catch what’s happening too.

It’s usually the starting point of the day, although if the groom wants some pics too then he might be the first stop, as a rule I like to allow at least 2 hours before the ceremony to shoot the preparations, although this does depend on how long the drive is from the preparations to the venue. So if your wedding is at 1pm and your getting ready at your mums which is 20 minutes from the venue I would aim to be arriving at your house for around 10.30am. Doing it this way means I’m not rushed and have time to capture everything with no stress.

A few points to note, it’s often chaos and there are usually a lot of people around you and things sometimes do go wrong… don’t panic, you’ve got this far and a button falling off the dress or things taking a little longer than planned will not ruin your wedding (Yes both of these and lots more have happened at weddings I have covered). Don’t worry about not being totally ready when the photographer starts, you at your natural best will look fabulous, even in rollers. Most of all enjoy it, it’s a wonderful time where it’s all about you.