I think it is really important to incorporate parents in a significant way in the day because oftentimes this is a bigger deal to them than we, as the couple getting married, way bigger deal than we realize for this to be a moment in their life. I don’t like doing parent first looks. I’m totally fine if that’s something the client wants, but I don’t like doing them because arranging the first look, somebody going out of the room, making sure that those people don’t see each other all morning before the bride. Is ready or before the groom is ready, and then arranging this special moment where oftentimes you’re making everybody else clear the room, it actually ends up adding ten or 15 minutes to the timeline for each one of those first looks that you want to do. So I think that if it really is important to get somebody’s reaction, like if your dad’s going to freak out over your dress, like, yes, absolutely, do a first look. But if not, do something like a gift exchange. Put in your timeline that you want your mom to be ready at a certain time and have them be there when you’re putting your dress on or having your final, or for the groom, putting on your jacket or your corsage. And then have them moment with them where you actually speak to each other and make sure your photographer is there to capture that.

Are you currently planning your wedding and you just don’t know how to make more beautiful, intentional moments for photos with either your parents or just those VIPs on your wedding day? Here’s an idea for you. My name is Hannah. I’m a wedding photographer here at Stay Golden Collective in Southern California. So lots of times on a wedding day, the only time we get for photos with our parents is usually just the formal family pictures and the first dances. Now, don’t get me wrong. Those can be some beautiful, beautiful photos, and they’re usually some of my favorites. The father daughter dance always makes me cry, and it’s just one of the best moments on a wedding day. But what if you want to have more than just those photos with your parents, especially the groom? Lots of times, a bride will do a first look with her father, but what about the groom? There’s usually not an extra moment besides the dances that you get for photos with the groom’s parents or just a special person in his life. So one idea that I just love is a letter or gift exchange. You can schedule this into your timeline and just have a private moment with each of your parents or just special person and just exchange a letter with them, just telling them how much you love them and just how you can thank them for raising you into the person that you are and in the person that your husband or wife is now going to marry. These make for some beautiful photos and just something a little extra.

Keep the damn room clean. I am Kelsey. I am the owner and principal photographer for Captured by Kelsey, based in Ann Arbor, Michigan. And if you really want to up level your getting ready photos, there are a few tips I have for you. Number one, anyone who is getting helping you get dressed should be dressed before you. It just makes for a much more put together image when everyone is dressed, rather than like half dressed or hair not done, makeup done, whatever. The other big one is to keep the room clean, or at least a corner of the room clean. And preferably the corner of the room that’s near the window because we want that natural light to just really help you glow and look beautiful. But I always suggest if you can get like a suite so that hair and makeup is being done in one room and the actual getting dressed gets done in another room, that’s ideal. Or if the place that you’re getting ready at doesn’t have suites, then maybe book two rooms and you use one room for all of the actual stuff so that you can have a clean and beautiful space to get into your wedding dress.

Oh, I can totally make you look thinner, but it’s not how you think. And you have to tell me about this well before I take your pictures, because here’s the thing. I am not going to Photoshop you to look a different way, because I don’t do that. But also, how insulting is that to think that I know how you would prefer to look, how you look in your head, in what ways you have decided that you don’t meet the beauty ideal. I’m not going to make those decisions for you. I actually have a question on my questionnaire that you answer six or eight weeks before the wedding that says, what are you insecure about? And it says, you don’t have to tell me. You don’t have to type it here. You can tell me in person, but we all have these things. For me, personally, it is my belly. I gain all my weight there. And I cannot tell you the number of times I’ve been asked if I’m pregnant when I have not been in many, many years. But I need to know. There are ways that I can pose you. There are places I can hold the camera. There are ways I can compose the photos. There are actions I can have you do that will emphasize or deemphasize various things. But I am not for 1 second going to assume that you believe that there’s anything wrong with your body because of how it deviates from whatever we’re currently seeing on Instagram.

Your wedding photos should look and feel like you. My name is Kelsey. I am the owner and lead photographer of Capture by Kelsey, based in Ann Arbor, Michigan. If a couple were to ask me if I could make them look thinner in all of their photos, I would tell them that I will do my best to to help you with strategic posing throughout the day. But when push comes to shove, I am very much a believer in capturing the day the way that it was. When you look back at your photos, years and years and years from your wedding day, even with your kids or your grandkids, I want you to look at those photos and just be transported back into that place and that time, that memory. I don’t believe in photoshopping. Every single image in your gallery. If my couples were to have maybe a handful of their top favorite portraits and they wanted a little bit of advanced editing done, I’m willing to do that for a fee. But it’s not something that I’m going to do to every image in your gallery, and it’s just not something that I believe in.