Getting Ready | Love & Story
Starting when we step through the door into your bridal/groom’s suite, we are there to be a part of every precious moment. Capturing those nervous moments before the day gets going.
The Room Before Anything Starts
Your gown on a hanger in the window light. Shoes with “I Do” lettered on the soles. The room before anyone’s awake enough to be nervous. We usually arrive while it’s still quiet, and those first frames are some of the calmest of the day — they’re also where most of your detail photos come from.
Your People
Matching robes and pajamas. Champagne at ten in the morning. Somebody jumping on the bed. Bridesmaids in sage gowns by tall windows, then six hands arranging your train at once. This is the loud, happy part of the morning, and mostly we stay out of the way and let it happen. We’ll gather everyone properly later for the wedding party photos.
His Side of the Morning
Cufflinks, and a bow tie that won’t sit right. Groomsmen toasting. A bottle of champagne sprayed against a wood wall. And then — more often than people expect — the groom alone at a window watching fog roll down a mountain, hands clasped, not saying much. Both versions are true, and we photograph both. There’s more on the groom portraits page.
The Letters
If you take one suggestion from this page, take this one. Write each other a letter and read them separately that morning. We’ve photographed a groom with an embroidered handkerchief pressed to his face, and a bride reading hers with her hands shaking. Those frames are consistently the ones couples come back to years later. It costs nothing and takes ten minutes.
The Quiet Ones
Your mother’s forehead against yours. The flower girls discovering a full-length mirror. Your golden retriever in the room while you’re still in your robe. A couple praying together through a church door before either has seen the other. We can’t plan these — we just stay ready for them, and they’re usually why you’ll want bridal portraits taken in the same hour.
One Thing That Helps
Get ready in the room with the best window, and ask somebody to clear the clutter off every surface before we arrive. Window light does more for these photographs than anything we could bring, and a tidy room means we’re photographing you instead of working around a suitcase. Our wedding day timeline guide covers how long this part really takes.
See more of our work, the venues we know well, or our packages when you’re ready to tell us about your day.