How to Get Amazing Getting Ready Photos

The getting ready part of your wedding day is, in my opinion, one of the most energetic and candid heavy parts of a wedding day, you’re hanging out with all your closest friends and fam while the buzz of the upcoming day fills the room with a palpable giddiness. It’s one of the best times you’ll get of just hanging out, drinking champagne and anticipating the big moment of marrying the love of your life. It makes sense then that the space you choose to get ready in will have a big impact on the look and feel of the images that get captured during this time so don’t overlook the importance of location location location! Of course if your wedding venue has amazing spots to get ready, this is the best option but if not, you can always get ready nearby at a hotel or house. For great photos of you getting ready, consider taking these steps to ensure they live up to your dreams:

1. Let There Be Light 

Ask any photographer/videographer if they love natural light and you’re bound to hear a resounding ‘yes!’. If you want the natural light look, then look for the windows. Are there a lot of them? Awesome. Does the room feel bright and airy during the day when you’ll be in there? Check. The more light you have, the merrier the photos shall be (and happier photographers you’ll have). Hotels have really stepped up the game in recent years offering boutique styling and fine furnishings so it won’t look like a motel 6.

2. Get the Room Upgrade

You likely have a block of rooms at a hotel nearby. Ask if they have a suite available for you to upgrade to. The few extra hundred it may cost will be worth it in the end to have more space to spread out and it will probably have better looking fixtures and furniture. Win Win.

3. Get Ready in the Same Place

There are times when this isn’t possible but if given the option, take it. Having both wedding parties get ready in the same location allows your photographer to easily move between the two groups and capture everything efficiently, likely saving you some extra dough by not needing that extra coverage for them to drive between the two groups.

4. Keep It Clean! 

In the craziness of this part of the day, your room will undoubtedly turn into a scene from the great 90’s film Twister. But it’s easy to have a few volunteers do some quick Marie Kondo action on the room before the photographers show up. Throw away empty beer cans/champagne bottles and food wrappers; put loose clothes in a closet and take knickknacks off of furniture and countertops. 10 mins of clean-up makes for a lifetime of clutter free pictures. Unless of course you want to remember what the branding looked like on that Ice Mountain water bottle 20 years from now.