Why a Bridal Session?
A bridal portrait session typically takes place a few weeks or a couple of months before the actual wedding day. The session gives the bride a chance to showcase her dress, makeup, and overall look in a setting of her own choosing.
In addition to being a trial run of the big day, it gives the bride a chance to enjoy quality time away from wedding planning and just enjoy being a bride. A separate bridal session also provides an opportunity to get more comfortable and at ease for the camera.
Spring Garden Session
For my client Jaimey, I knew that she wanted a natural location to reflect her interest in nature, health, and books. After all, her repertoire of talents includes fly fishing, cooking, and crafting. She even blogs about her adventures at flytyingmountaingirl.blogspot.com.
She seemed the perfect mix of the outdoors balanced with a sense of refinement. For her bridal session, we planned an afternoon at Red Butte Garden where her April wedding would take place with an English tea-party theme.
Bridal Session Day
The weather on session day had intense sunshine, spring blooms, and the ideal not-too-hot, not-too-cold kind of temperature.
Fortunately, Jaimey brought along a pretty parasol which gave not only a period feel to her dress, but also tamed the sun.
Jaimey’s sister, Ashley, and Mom Kris came along for the bridals, making it a really perfect day. I enjoyed spending time with this bunch and creating some beautiful portraits of Jaimey.
The gardens provided a number of pretty spots, some shaded, for our session. In keeping with her wedding theme of tea and books, we brought along a teapot. For those photos, I later added the tea in Photoshop to keep the dress spit-spot. Our combined efforts and results show the big difference in making a portrait vs taking a few snapshots.
Photo Gallery
Check out the bridals video that I prepared for Jaimey of her favorite shots. I hope these give you some inspiration for your bridals and show the creativity you can put into a photo shoot to make it your own. Enjoy!
