The Window Effect
We have all seen those beautiful “getting ready” shots, but did you know there really is an art to getting them?
It’s true! Getting those dreamy, Pinterest worthy “getting ready” photos that you LOVE, is a science, and all boils down to the wedding venue that you choose!
As a bride, if you have invested in high quality photography, my guess is you want the BEST pictures possible! While I do believe as photographers we can (and should) make the best out of any lighting situation, there are a few things the bride can do to help photographers out! This blog post is really just geared towrds the “getting ready” portion of the day. Basically everything that will happen inside of your venue up until your first look, or ceremony!
These first moments in the beginning of your day are actually some of my FAVORITES! When you are getting your dress on, and bridesmaids are gawking over you, or mom’s are secretly crying in the background trying not to be noticed that their girl is about to be MARRIED! These are all such beautiful moments……and they deserve some beautiful LIGHT too! Yeah?
As you are venue shopping, it doesn’t take much, all we need is 1 window with natural light coming in. I feel like I need a shirt that says, “RUN FROM FLOURESCENT”, because that’s probably the one thing I have hammered into my brain since the beginning of my photography career! It’s never good, and so unflattering! One window with natural light pouring in can make all the difference in the world! and I can create beautiful bridal portraits with it, ONE window, that’s all I ask :)
Now I know some of you are probably thinking, “What if we don’t choose a traditional well-lit wedding venue, or we get married in a church that has stained glass in all of the windows”…my answer to that would be - I WILL FIND US ONE :) I’m a professional window / light finder, and I will find a separate room in the church without stained glass, or even if your at a venue with poor indoor light, we will open a door and keep you blocked to get ready! Below is a wedding where I had to do JUST that! The getting ready space had a VERY tiny half length window, which wasn’t ideal, so we went downstairs to the reception area, made sure nobody came through while the bride was getting ready, and used the light pouring in from the front door! In my opinion, it turned out BEAUTIFUL, and was a WAAAY better option than the dark upstairs!
This was the VERY tiny window upstairs as a visual for you, it barely covered down to her neck. Our goal is full length body light!
This was downstairs, with LOOOTTTSSS of natural light coming in from double doors :) MUCH BETTER!!
I realize brides are not photographers (for the most part) and this may not seem like a big deal…..but it is! Light plays a huge roll in how your portraits come out throughout the whole day, not just getting ready! I actually plan ALL of our portrait time throughout the day based on what the light is doing! So BRIDES, no matter where you're getting ready space ends up being on your wedding day, whether it’s in a church Sunday school room, a hotel room, a big bathroom, or at home, look for LIGHT!!!!!!
Two other factors that go into making really great getting ready photos are:
Clean the space around where the window is, and where you will be getting dressed. Nobody wants hot pink make up bags and chick-fil-A cups in the back of their portraits!
Make sure the bridesmaids (or mom) are IN their dresses before you put yours on! You’ll notice in the images below, the bridesmaids are dressed, and it just creates a unified look.
