I get this question a lot from my brides! Bridal portraits are when a bride takes pictures in her wedding dress by herself. These typically happen a couple of months before the wedding. There are a few questions to answer first and then we will dive into the benefits of taking bridal portraits before your wedding day!
Photography: Lyndsay Lyon Photography
1. The key questions to ask yourself if you are considering taking bridal portraits!
Here are some questions to ask yourself to figure out if you should take bridal portraits. First, are your wedding pictures one of the most important thing to you for your wedding day? Does your photographer include an hour for bridals for free or can you add that hour for a small fee? Do you want to display some pictures of you in your wedding dress at your reception? Do you want your wedding day timeline to be a little easier especially with photos? Are you going to do a hair and makeup trial that you could use for your bridal portraits? If your answer to all of these questions are yes then you should definitely consider doing your bridal portraits before your wedding!
Lets dive into how taking your bridal portraits early can be a really helpful and fun thing to do!
Photography: Lyndsay Lyon Photography
2. It will save you a lot of time on your wedding day!
Bridal Portraits take at least an hour if you want a good amount of photos in your wedding dress. If you do them early then you will save yourself an hour on your wedding day for other photos with your bridesmaids, family, and your future hubby! I just had my wedding day and I am so glad that I took my bridal portraits before the wedding day! We had a lot of pictures we took and I was exhausted by the end of the day and I am thankful it wasn’t made longer by having more pictures to take of just me in my gown.
Taking your bridals early will also allow you to have more energy as you are taking them which is a huge plus. You won’t be exhausted from waking up early or have the wedding day jitters so you will look more natural in your photos!
Photography: Lyndsay Lyon Photography
3. It is good practice!
During your bridals you will get a chance to really wear your dress and shoes for at least an hour which will give you a better idea of how easy it is to move around and how comfortable you will be! I figured out how painful my wedding heels were during my bridals so I brought an extra pair of heels to switch into after the ceremony which my feet were super thankful for. You also get a chance to practice posing styles with your photographer and get a feel for how they take photos as well as they working style. You will feel much more comfortable working with them on your wedding day because you already know what to do!
Another way it is good practice is you get to see how your hair, makeup, and the kind of bouquet you are envisioning will look in person and in photos beforehand! Hair and makeup trials are a very important thing to do so you can make sure you know how you want to look and your stylist does too. You get a chance to work with them without a time crunch and then they are much more prepared for your wedding day! You also then don’t have to just go home after getting your makeup and hair done; you get to go have fun and have a photoshoot! You also can have your florist make you a bouquet so you can see if you like the colors, the flowers used, the style of bouquet, and the size so you can adjust anything before the big day. You can also chose two totally different styles of bouquets for your bridals and your wedding day just to mix it up a bit!
Photography: Lyndsay Lyon Photography
4. It is fun, you can invite some important people, and you start to feel like a bride!
Typically you take bridals a couple months before the big day so you start to feel like a real bride when getting your hair and makeup done, putting on your dress, carrying a pretty bouquet, and getting your picture taken! It lets you finally see a part of your vision coming to life which is a lot of fun! You can also invite your Maid of Honor, your Mom, or any important person to come along and help you. They can practice helping you get into your dress and shoes as well as learn to fluff your train which are important skills to have. Take a break from planning and have a good time being in your wedding dress!
Photography: Lyndsay Lyon Photography
5. You will have your portraits to display at your wedding!
This one is really fun! You have the opportunity to show off your portraits at your wedding reception! You can get them printed on canvas or put them in a nice frame to show everyone who comes to your wedding. Just make sure to keep them a secret from your fiancé!
***Just a heads up, you will need to plan for your bridals to happen! When you start looking for a wedding dress, it will take about 5-8 months for a designer gown to be made and shipped to you (how much time is dependent on the designer, so call up the bridal shops you want to go to and ask them what the shipping timeline is). You can pay for a rush fee but that usually only gets the dress in about a month earlier. You can shop off the rack at second hand shops and you can take home your gown the same day if you are crunched for time. After you get the dress, alterations can take about 2 months (Pro tip: book your alterations the day you purchase your gown so you are in their books because they fill up months in advance. Also, please make sure to go to an actual wedding dress alterations person and not just an everyday clothes alterations person because wedding dresses are structured way differently than normal clothes and you don’t want your dress ruined!).
Once you take your bridal portraits, it will take your photographer around one month to get the pictures back to you. Then once you order your canvases or prints, those will take 3-4 weeks to come in so plan accordingly! Altogether this process takes anywhere from 8-11 months with designer ordered gowns and 3-4 months with off the rack gowns!
Photography: Lyndsay Lyon Photography
6. It is inexpensive!
Taking bridal portraits can actually be fairly inexpensive! Most photographers charge $200-$300 per an hour of photography and some even include bridal portraits in their package. Your bouquet can range from $100-$200 depending on what flowers you choose and how big you want your bouquet. I have seen that a lot of venues allow you to have one hour of bridals for free included with your wedding day rental so check with them! If you don’t have that or want to take them somewhere else, most venues charge $100 per hour or you can go somewhere outdoorsy for free! Hair and Makeup artists typically include a trail in their bridal package so you most likely have already paid for that. If not, you can usually add that on or have a friend who is really good at hair and makeup be your HMU artist for the day! This means you can do your bridals for $300-$600 for just one hour so go have fun and take your bridals!
I hope these highlights on bridal portraits helps you in deciding if taking bridal portraits early is right for you or not! Have fun and get some great photos and memories!
Love,
Katelyn Madden
Photography: Lyndsay Lyon Photography
Venue: The Contemporary at Laguna Gloria
Florals: Foxglove & Grace
HMU: Lola Beauty ATX
Dress: Calla Blanche through Blush Bridal Lounge
Planning: Peonies & Pearls Weddings
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