About 3/4 of our wedding days begin with bridal preparation. At the time of writing this blog, we offer 9 hours coverage, and this usually takes people from about 2 hours before the ceremony up to their first dance. Having said that, it’s not the only way of doing things. A good portion of our clients choose not to have bridal preparation pictures and we understand that decision and respect it. The majority of bridal prep is completely unstaged (as is most of our photography), although towards the end some clients like to have a few portraits before going on to the ceremony. Today’s 20 Frames is focusing entirely on the reportage bridal prep; the natural, very real photographs.
Bridal prep is a funny time of the day, often emotions are up in the air with a mix of excitement, nerves and happiness. It’s an occasion where, probably more so than any other time of the day, I feel it’s incredibly important to be sensitive to these emotions and I really aim to be as discreet as possible. It’s a fantastic time to capture a variety of events; there’s the usual make-up / hair business going on, but sometimes the bride will open a gift from her husband-to-be, sometimes the the mother of the bride will be looking a little emotional as her daughter gets ready, there may be one last meaningful hug from the maid of honour before the ceremony, or I may just be looking for a picture to show the occasional chaos that comes with bridal prep – these are all moments that you can’t stage. It’s important to note that just because the pictures happen in the bridal prep portion of the day, they don’t all have to feature the bride. I spend the time looking for ways to capture the scene.
