Your sister went crazy, your mom was crying, and you were all tears — these are the small moments you might not remember between getting your makeup done and putting on your wedding dress on your big day.
Luckily, your photographer caught every important detail on camera for you to always have.
The emotional and intimate moments that happen while you’re getting ready for your wedding are real — they’re happy, sad, and everything in between. Without investing in getting ready photos, you won’t have these memories to look back on and relive forever.
Trust us, they’re worth it.
Here you’ll learn:
- Why we suggest not skipping out on getting ready photos
- Things you might want to have with you
- Helpful tips your photographer will thank you for
- And more
Table of Contents
- 3 Reasons Why You Don’t Want To Skip Taking Getting Ready Photos on Your Wedding Day
- How Much Time Should You Allow for Getting Ready Wedding Photos?
- 6 Must-Have Getting Ready Photos From Your Wedding
- 4 Tips To Help Your Photographer Capture Memorable Getting Ready Wedding Photos
- Capture the Once In a Lifetime Moments From Your Wedding With Julian Ribinik Photography
3 Reasons Why You Don’t Want To Skip Taking Getting Ready Photos on Your Wedding Day
Your wedding day is likely long-awaited. Even if your engagement was brief, you’ve probably been thinking about your wedding day since you were young. And while weddings can be day-long events, they’re just that – one day.
So why not document every moment you can? After all, when it’s all said and done you’ll only have the memories and photos to look back on.
Are you searching for a skilled and experienced wedding photographer to capture all of the important details of your day from start to finish? Julian Ribinik Photography offers a unique style of photography that will leave you with images that last a lifetime.
#1: They Capture the True Emotions of the Day
Wedding days are busy, and they’re often filled with emotions of all kinds.
Maybe you had a tough relationship with your father growing up, but you’ve recently mended it. Now he’s seeing you for the first time in your wedding dress, preparing to give you away to your soon-to-be spouse. Talk about emotional.
Your bridal party might be made up of your closest childhood and college friends, your sisters, and your new sister-in-law — some of the women who know you the very best. You can almost guarantee a morning full of fun, laughter, and probably a few tears.
You might have decided to include your mom, mother-in-law, and grandmothers in your morning. This could be the first or only time they’ve ever experienced something like this. There are sure to be big emotions from them.
Whatever it might be that makes up your wedding day morning, those moments will be raw and real, and they might not have an opportunity to reveal themselves as the day goes on. These are the moments you’ll want to have to look back on and remember.
#2: They Showcase the Details
As you might imagine, your wedding day gets busy for us photographers. There’s a lot to capture, and we don’t want to miss a thing.
During getting ready photos, wedding details get a chance to live in the spotlight.
It’s during this time that photographers pull the bride’s jewelry and shoes or the groom’s bowtie and cuff links, wedding rings, invitation suites, and even the bride’s dress to capture detailed photos. After all, you spent adequate time and money choosing just the right pieces specifically for your wedding day — it’ll be nice to remember them.
Not only do photographers get all the best detail shots, but getting ready wedding photos are also some of the best opportunities to capture the bride and groom in candid moments.
Think about it. While you’re getting ready for your wedding day, you might be sipping on champagne, listening to music while you get your hair and makeup done, retelling stories, and enjoying time with your closest loved ones. Your mom is probably helping you into your dress, your dad is tying your bow tie, and you do first looks with your dad or your bridesmaids. These are important moments that deserve to be captured.
#3: They Complete Your Wedding Album
When you’re reliving your wedding day through photos, don’t you want the complete timeline? Would your album feel incomplete if the very first page was you already standing at the altar?
When photographers design a client’s wedding album, they want to be sure it includes as much of the day as possible.
Julian Ribinik Photography wants the same for our clients. We believe that getting ready is just as much a part of your wedding day as saying “I do,” so we want to include it all. We understand that all couples are unique and have their own story to tell, and capturing your day from start to finish will do just that.
How Much Time Should You Allow for Getting Ready Wedding Photos?
When it comes to planning getting ready wedding photos, different photographers might suggest setting aside different lengths of time to get these preliminary photos. Ideally, allotting about 90 minutes will ensure your photographer can capture everything both you and they feel is necessary.
Oftentimes, getting ready photos include:
- Finding the right lighting or arrangements for accessory shots
- Capturing makeup and hair
- Bridal party fun for both the bride and groom
- Getting dressed; and
- First-look reveals
Typically, brides require more time for getting ready photos simply because more goes into their morning, but photographers will still capture the groom getting ready, too.
If you haven’t considered a team of two photographers, here’s one reason why you should. Although brides do require more of a photographer’s attention the morning of the wedding, the groom is making memories with his friends and family, too. You don’t want him to miss out on having those moments to look back on.
If a photographer duo seems like it might serve you best, Julian Ribinik Photography can help. We are a husband and wife team that works seamlessly together. Our sense of storytelling and beauty will leave you with quality images you’ll want to keep forever.
6 Must-Have Getting Ready Photos From Your Wedding
Getting ready for your wedding day isn’t just fun and exciting, but it’s emotional and tender, too. As wedding photographers, we are responsible for capturing all of the feelings, excitement, and details of your entire day — and that includes getting ready.
We highly recommend both bride getting ready photos and groom getting ready photos because they allow us to create memories of…
- Family time
- Details and accessories
- Emotions
… and everything that might be hard to recall as you look back on your wedding day in years to come.
#1: Family Time
There are many great opportunities to capture close family moments while getting ready for your wedding day. Whether it’s the mother helping the bride put on her dress, the father helping the groom tie his bow tie, or the first look between the bride and her dad, these photos are bound to have big emotions.
#2: Wedding Party
Both the bride and groom chose their wedding party because they are some of the most important people in their lives — there will likely be moments they want to freeze in time.
Things like:
- The bridesmaids seeing the bride dressed for the first time
- Eating, drinking, playing, praying
- Exchanging of gifts
- Details of the bridal party’s attire; or
- Simple interactions
#3: The Dress
They say you get a “feeling” when you pick the dress you’re going to wear on your wedding day, so getting shots of your dress to have forever is important. Photographers often take pictures of the dress hanging up, as well as close-ups of the details both on and off of the bride.
#4: Hair and Makeup
A bride goes through a big transformation as she sits in her chair with hair stylists and makeup artists surrounding her. Whether she undergoes a drastic change with dramatic hair and makeup or chooses a more subtle and natural look for her big day, this is a great opportunity to take some photos.
Your bride will love being able to look back and watch herself transform into the beautiful bride that married her partner that day.
#5: Accessories
Brides often choose accessories that highlight their personalities, honor someone special in their life, or are sentimental to them. While accessories are always a nice detail to capture, it’s especially important to take photos of them when they’re extra meaningful.
Things like:
- A hairpiece that was passed down through generations
- Her “something old, something new, something borrowed, something blue”
- Fabric or an item stitched into her dress to honor a family member
- Special jewelry; or
- Photographs adorned around her bouquet
Don’t forget about the groom. He might be wearing a special pair of cufflinks that once belonged to his great-grandfather, a piece of jewelry that holds meaning, or socks that perfectly reflect his personality.
#6: The Rings and Bouquet
The bride and groom specially chose their rings for one another, and they represent the union the two are about to enter. They might even be family heirlooms or hold other significance to the couple, and capturing photos of them before they’re worn is important.
The bouquet is also often assembled with special details — like photo charms of loved ones or important accessories — as well as the arrangement chosen by the bride to create a meaningful masterpiece.
Bouquets were once made up of garlands or flowers, herbs and spices, and eventually flowers again. Sometimes brides choose to create non-floral bouquets and have unique arrangements they want to showcase.
4 Tips To Help Your Photographer Capture Memorable Getting Ready Wedding Photos
You can leave the job of capturing incredible getting ready wedding photos to your photographer — we are highly desired professionals, after all — but there are things you can do to ensure the process is as simple for them as possible, allowing them to easily work their talent.
#1: Choose a Spacious Room
Your photographer is likely about to be on their feet a majority of the day working hard to capture the most memorable moments for you and your family – you want them to be comfortable.
By choosing a spacious room, you ensure that there’s enough room for everyone there to move around without bumping into each other, creating extra clutter in the background of photos, and letting the photographer simply do their job.
#2: Opt for Natural Lighting
Try and choose a room that is bright and airy. Photographers much prefer natural light for getting ready wedding photos because it allows you to see hair, makeup, and details easier.
Dark rooms and artificial light might make for inconsistent photos that hide everything you’re working hard to showcase on your wedding day.
#3: Keep the Room Neat and Tidy
Cluttered rooms are not only distracting in photos, but they might make it difficult for you to stay relaxed in your environment with things strewn about.
Imagine receiving your wedding photo album and despite the photographer’s very best efforts to remove the clutter, it still appears in your photos.
You could help this by:
- Throwing away trash as soon as you’re done with it
- Taking out the garbage once it’s full
- Moving travel bags and clothes bags into a closet
- Keeping the table tidy
- Moving shoes into an unused room
#4: Be Last To Get Dressed
You probably don’t want to have photos of you putting on your wedding dress with your mother buttoning it up behind you in her robe and slippers.
By getting dressed last, it ensures that every picture of you in your wedding dress — getting into it, your first look with dad or your bridesmaids — has everyone else out of robes or lounge clothes.
Capture the Once In a Lifetime Moments From Your Wedding With Julian Ribinik Photography
Getting ready for your wedding day shouldn’t feel the same as getting ready for a night out with your girlfriends. There are going to be moments both big and small that you’ll probably want to hold on to forever, and we can capture those memories for you.
At Julian Ribinik Photography, we are a husband and wife team that works to capture the unique beauty and emotions of your special day. We don’t believe in cookie-cutter images, and we strive to ensure that you feel the emotions of your wedding day each time you look back on your photos.
Contact us today to request a consultation for your big day.
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