I LOVE photographing details. I really do!! It’s how I start every wedding day, even elopements. Photographing details gives me insight into your style, the feel of your wedding, and it gets creativity flowing. However, a lot of times my clients don’t really know what goes into creating a detail photograph, so to help all my amazing brides out … here are 5 ways brides can ensure they get beautiful detail photos:
ALLOW TIME:
I like to take a lot of time to photograph details. In fact, my husband usually has to cut me off because I would just keep going and going. It usually takes me an hour to photograph just your details unless you have a lot of extra items. I generally like to start way before the bride is ready to get dressed so that I have enough time to photograph the location and venue, all the details, and capture the final touches of hair & makeup.
PICK AN APPROPRIATE GETTING READY SPACE:
A lot of venues will suggest a getting ready space for the bride and one for the groom, but that doesn’t mean you have to use them! Throughout the years of shooting in New England venues, I’ve realized that a lot of them aren’t the prettiest spaces. I’ll never forget this one bride I had in 2016 asked me if I liked the normal getting ready room at her venue. I was super honest with her about the lack of light and the interesting choice of decor and showed her a photo of the room. She immediately decided to look for another room in the hotel and ended up choosing a large 3 room suite with lots of windows. It was amazing!!!! And because she decided to choose a pretty room with tons of windows and enough space for her bridesmaids and her team of vendors, we were able to photograph ALL of her details in that space without missing any of the getting ready process. Of course there are situations where you don’t have a choice, which is completely fine, but then it’s up to you to make the space the best it can be. (See next tip!)
A TIDY SPACE IS A PRETTY SPACE:
I can’t tell you what a huge difference it makes for us to walk into a getting ready space that’s clean and tidy! We don’t have to sacrifice any time from taking photos by trying to clean the space up and the photos come out so much better when there aren’t distracting elements in the background. I remember walking into the room where Brian and I got married and immediately hating the red plaid curtains. I knew that they would show up in photos, so I kindly asked my coordinator if we could take down all the curtains. She looked at me like I was a little crazy, but said yes. Now when I look at my wedding photos and I DON’T see distracting elements in the background, it makes me very happy we put in the extra effort. It could be something as simple as getting rid of all the trash and keeping all bags/purses, etc in one corner. You’d be surprised what a huge difference a small amount of effort can make!
HAVE EVERYTHING YOU’D LIKE PHOTOGRAPHED IN ONE LOCATION:
It’s extremely helpful to have everything you’d like photographed in one location. Dress, shoes, earrings, necklace, bracelet, engagement ring, wedding bands, 2 sets of invitations and their envelopes, flowers, family heirlooms, cuff links, etc. If we have to run around gathering details from various places, it takes away from time we could be shooting. Side note, we also love, love, lovvee when brides provide us with a way to carry all the smaller things. Even if it’s just a simple shoe box or a shopping bag 🙂
INCORPORATE OTHER ELEMENTS:
Incorporate other elements from your wedding day into the detail photos to tie it all together. It could be a custom ring box, some beautiful ribbon that matches your wedding colors, leftover material from your wedding dress, or even just some extra loose flowers from your florist. These little touches can make a big impact and really bring your wedding day story to life!
