Bridal portraits are a beautiful memento of a wedding day. These are the solo portraits of the bride in her full attire: make-up finished, hair styled, dress and jewelry on, and flowers in hand. Depending on the wedding day schedule, they are commonly taken immediately after the bridal preparation, before portraits with her bridesmaids, parents, and immediate family. In some places, it’s standard to schedule a separate bridal portrait session prior to the wedding day (e.g. two to three weeks before). The portrait may be displayed at the wedding for guests to see.
Taking bridal portraits before the wedding is an investment, but an excellent strategy for several reasons. Firstly, it gives you and the bride a chance to get to know each other better, helping her feel comfortable in front of your camera (an engagement shoot can do the same, for the couple together). It also gives her a chance to try her whole look and make sure everything is perfect. Brides can schedule their make-up and hair trials on the same day as the portrait shoot and get the full effect. Trying on her complete outfit will make her more comfortable on the day, as she’ll know what to expect and be able to fix any issues (ill-fitting undergarments, etc) in advance. Any issues with your photography can also be addressed, too (e.g. body parts she’d like flattered). Plus, it’s a great confidence boost! Getting the photos back before the wedding and seeing how stunning she looks will only add to the excitement. Another bonus of the in-advance session is more time during the wedding. Not only will you have longer to photograph the bride with her bridesmaids and family, but you can get most of the detail shots done in advance too (i.e. shoes, rings, jewelry, flowers, veil and so on).
If you like the idea of having a bridal portrait session with your client prior to the wedding, here are some tips:
- Schedule far enough before the wedding that you can deliver the photos in time for her to make adjustments to her outfit of her requests for the day.
- Protect the dress: now it not the time for a “trash the dress” session. Make sure she’s prepared to have it dry-cleaned between the session and the wedding and allow enough time for this to happen.
- Offer it as an upgrade to your wedding packages and/or include it in your top-level package. You could consider partnering with a local make-up artist and hair stylist to offer an all-inclusive bridal portrait shoot session.
Bridal portraits: prompts for photos of the beautiful bride
When capturing the bridal portraits as part of the wedding day, these prompts are a great time saver to get a lot of looks, fast. You can build a great bridal portrait session out of just a few prompts, as regardless of when it’s scheduled, you’re aiming for 10-20 photos of the bride on her own.
Do you need a wedding runsheet template? You can get my comprehensive, whitelabel runsheet template ready for your studio branding with everything covered in this prompt and the rest of the wedding day, right here. Or get it in the Wedding Ready Workshop, and prevent photo disasters before they happen.
How to use this photo pose prompt
As with prompts like Maternity Basics, during bridal portraits it’s important to emphasize the positive and be considerate of what your client perceives to be flaws. Don’t make suggestions of flaws from your perspective (“Are you worried about your double-chin?” “Now I am!”) but ask her “Is there anything you’re self-conscious about that you want me to be aware of?”
If your bride asks, “What do I do with my hands?” during her portrait session, you can find ideas here on how to help her.
Whether the portrait session happens on the wedding day or prior to it, it’s handy to have an assistant (or bridesmaid) on hand to help. Prep them for what you and the bride will need help with:
- Making sure the bride’s dress is draped nicely for static photos (have the bride get in position, then assistant go in and “fluff the dress”, lifting it and letting it fall into an elegant sweep so it’s not bunched up anywhere).
- Holding the flowers when they’re not needed in a shot.
- Throwing the dress train or veil to get dynamic shots.
- Moving lighting around.
(As a side note, it’s useful to prime a bridesmaid (or maid of honor) to fix the dress and hold flowers for the bride during the ceremony, too. Tell her this is her job once the bride arrives at the alter and is “settled”.)
With all these photo prompts, you can mix up how you have her hold her flowers:
- Top of the bouquet just below her breasts.
- Let them hang down in one hand.
- Hold them off-center.
- Hold them over one arm.
- Hold close to face, with top at collarbone, off-center (for close ups).
Similarly, experiment with different directions for her gaze:
- Her looking forward.
- To the side.
- Back at you.
- Down at her flowers.
Idea 1: Capture her whole body
- Traditional pose holding flowers: have her stand facing the camera, fluff the dress, and hold her flowers.
- For a long train and to capture back of the dress, fluff the dress, and have her turn her upper body to look back at you.
- Find stairs and have her slowly walk up the stairs. Have her stop at the top and arrange the dress to splay over the stairs. Be aware of double chins when shooting from below—have her gently push her chin out and down slightly, imagining she’s holding an orange under her chin.
- With a long lens, put some distance between you and have her walk back and forth, letting her dress fall naturally behind.
- Have her dance: spin on the spot, swish her dress.
Idea 2: Capture her close up
- Capture a close-up of her face: drape the veil in the background to glimpse it. Shoot from decolletage to hair.
- Profile showing hair style and any ornaments.
- Back of hair: have her look slightly to the side to catch a glimpse of her face (not straight on).
- Capture close ups of dress detailing against her skin: lace, beading, buttons, corset back.
- Capture her with accessories: tight on her hands holding the flowers, shoes peeking out from under dress, her holding rings, meaningful jewelry. (Photograph these separately as well, but during the portrait session capture them in-context with her.)
- Capture ¾ portrait, from hips up. Have her bring her hands into play.
- Have her close her eyes and imagine how she will feel walking down the aisle. Then open eyes and look to you.
- Say: Tell me about the moment your fiancé proposed. How did it feel? What do you love most about him/her?
Idea 3: Capture the veil and dress
- Have the bride play with her long veil: stretch the veil out with her finger tips (ballet fingers: a loose, delicate pincer hold) to make a triangle behind her.
- Spin on the spot and trail the veil (or dress) behind with one hand (hold with ballet fingers). Walk and trail the veil if spinning is too difficult in the dress. Gently wave the veil up and down to catch the air.
- Have an assistant throw the veil or dress (swish it up) then run out of shot (burst shot).
- Shoot with a wide aperture from underneath the veil (have an assistant wrap it above your head) with focus on the bride’s eyes (imagine making a tunnel of fabric between the two of you).
- For a short veil (e.g. birdcage veil) capture close up of eyes, lashes, lace or edge detailing of the veil.
Creative extension
- Use a drone and shoot top-down. Look for patterns on the ground (brickwork, geometric garden beds, shorelines, etc) and have the bride lie down.
- Backlight the bride with a flash during veil play, to silhouette her and catch light in the veil. You’ll need a speedlite, a trigger and a receiver to set it up off-camera. Read Get Flashy for how to use flash in your photography.
- Find a reflection: mirror, chromed surfaces, glass, picture frame. Focus on her reflection; beware of dirty surfaces pulling focus.
- Find a silhouette against a sunset sky or bright window (have her rest hands against the window frame on either side, facing the window), and expose for the background, not the bride. Turn her face into profile for the silhouette, so you can make out the shape of her forehead, nose and lips (front-on silhouettes risk turning her head into a blob).
- Do a 360: in any space, do a rotation around the bride, so that the light changes on her: backlight, rim light, silhouette, front light. This is a quick and easy way in any setting to take a lot of unique looks quickly. Just be aware of what’s in your background!
Do you have bridal portrait tips to help others take better portraits during this part of the wedding day? Tag me @promptographerguide and use the hashtag #promptographerguide to share with us.
Want this prompt in your Field Cards set?
All the info in this prompt post is summarised onto a single card in the Promptographer Guide Field Cards, with the details given in the accompanying Guidebook. All the ideas are given on the one card so you have a rich, comprehensive tool for sparking ideas. I’ve designed it this way so you only need five to ten cards to build a whole photoshoot.
If you want this prompt in your set, make sure you include Set 5: Wedding Moments in your Field Cards.
