Many of my brides ask me whether they should book a Bridal Session with me before or after their wedding and, although I try to always leave it up to them to decide, I must admit that I’m partial to booking before the big day.

Why?

Well, honestly,  there are just so many compelling reasons to book a Bridal Session before your wedding day arrives. Here are the ones that top my list!

A Bridal Session allows you to wear your dress TWICE!

Right! What bride out there doesn’t swoon at the thought of getting a chance to slip into her dress–and feel like a complete goddess–more than once? Most brides spend a lot of time searching for that perfect dress and, the second they put it on, they are overwhelmed with all the feels–excitement, love, nostalgia, anticipation, and an overwhelming feeling of a huge life change. It may sound a bit woo-woo, but a wedding dress has the ability to create magic.

Now imagine having all that filling up your heart not once, but twice! Booking a bridal session before your wedding gives you the opportunity to wear that dress more than once, but also allows you to get comfortable in it and figure out how it moves and breathes, and to make sure it will fit properly on the big day.

Bridal Sessions are a perfect opportunity for a hair and makeup trial!

It’s always a good idea to do your hair and makeup trial with your dress, just to be sure they will fit seamlessly together.

Often when a bride does her hair and makeup trial for engagement photos, she won’t realize that her choice of hairdo may snag in her dress or get stuck in the straps, etc. It’s only when she slips into the dress on the wedding day and begins moving around that she realizes it’s not a good choice. By then, though, it’s too late to change it and she ends up having her ladies try to fix it all day as it keeps snagging or pulling. A bridal session before the wedding day allows you to make sure your hair sits in the right place for your dress and your makeup color choices fit the entire aesthetic. As an added bonus, it will allow you a glimpse into how everything will look in photos on the big day so, if there’s something you’re not crazy about, you can make changes! Huge Win!

A Bridal Session means less time shooting on your wedding day!

This may be THE BEST reason to book a bridal session before your wedding day! When we do a bridal session before the big day, we can spend as long as we want creating your bridal portraits so we won’t have to do any on the day itself. This will free up so much time for more couples portraits with your love or just spending more quality time with your guests.

This is especially wonderful if you decide to do a Traditional Wedding and we have many hours of portraits scheduled in after the ceremony. It will cut down shooting time considerably so you’ll still have energy when it’s time for the reception.

Either way, whether you decide to book a bridal session before or after your wedding day, the extra time will allow for more creativity in portraits, more time in that gorgeously dreamy dress, and more time for us to hang out, have fun, and make some magic together. If you are ready to book that bridal session or have any questions, let’s chat!