I’ve walked into a lot of different places where brides are getting ready.  Some are in hotels, homes, venues, churches, and each place offers a unique area to get ready in!  Because each place is different, the lighting is different to each specific place a bride is getting ready at.  If you haven’t already realized it in my numerous posts on lighting, it’s a big deal and the key factor in making your images look beautiful!  I am a natural light photographer and that’s what I utilize as often as possible when shooting a wedding.  How do I do this while the bride’s getting into her gown?  Well here are some tips and tricks to get some amazing getting ready shots in any place you’re getting ready:

1.  Get ready by the window.  When I get to the room, I immediately find a place for the bride to get in her gown.  The first thing I look for is window light!  This window will provide beautiful directional light when you’re getting in your dress or while we’re shooting bridal portraits.  You can see below that Christine got ready by the window and her portraits are stunning there (not only because she’s gorgeous anyway but because the lighting was perfect too!)

2.  Clear off the window!  You’d be surprised at how many times I’ve had to clear off messes by the window sill.  It’s the perfect place to set drinks and things like that, but you don’t want those things popping up in the back of your photos!

3.  Turn off the lights! This may seem counter-intuitive to most people, but the truth is that when there’s a mix of light (for example the lovely window light and not so lovely fluorescent light) it doesn’t work out so well.  It could leave your gown looking too yellow or too blue instead of white or ivory!  We want a perfect representation of your dress!

4. But what if I don’t have a window where I’m getting ready?! This happens sometimes!  Holly got married in her parents’ beautiful home, but the place where she was doing her makeup was super dark and didn’t really have any windows lighting lots of light in.  Because of this, we simply just went on the front porch after her gown was up for her mom and sister to finish zipping her up!