What the hell are “Getting Ready” photos any way? Do you really need them?

Getting Ready photos. If you’re planning your wedding right now, you will have heard the term. Especially if you’ve been in contact with one or more wedding photographers. But many couples have no idea what Getting Ready Photos really are and why they might want them. So, I’m going to try to break it down for you.

Getting Ready Photos are not just photos of the bride getting her hair and makeup done.

Here are some of the types of shots I typically take during the Getting Ready part of the wedding day;

• Landscape & nature intro photos (crucial as into shots for any album, slideshow or collection of photos). Eg a photo of the morning sun hitting the iconic Remarkables Range over lake Wakatipu. Shots like this scream “Queenstown” and tie all the photos together.
• Candid photos of the bride, her bridesmaids and family in their “civvies” before they get all dolled up.
• Bride & Bridesmaid in robes/kimonos
• Personalised champagne flutes
• Jewellery
• The garter
• The Dress
• The Shoes
• The flowers (& often the groomsmen’s button-holes too).
• The rings
• Flower girls and page boys (often young ones can be super nervous, get grumpy or fall asleep during the ceremony so this is a good opportunity to catch them at their best).
• Hair
• Makeup
• Finishing touches of the bridesmaids helping the bride into her dress (ie buttoning or lacing up the back of the dress, helping with shoes/veil.
• Photos of Bride & bridesmaids fully dressed at Getting Ready Location. (If there is a great view or nice garden at the girls’ Getting Ready Location photos of the girls here can add variety to the photos of the day and effectively tick off the “bride + bridesmaids” photo. This can save valuable time later in the day).
• The Getting Ready part of the day could also be a good opportunity to do First Look photos or even Pre-Ceremony Bridal Party Photos if there is time. This will make the rest of your wedding day feel super relaxed and allow you to spend more time hanging out with friends and family.

The Boys Are Back In Town…

If I have time and the two getting ready locations are close by, I always try to get shots of the boys getting ready too. Key moments I can capture during this part of the day include;

• The boys in their civvies looking relaxed/stressed/hungover/hungy.
• The boys drinking beer or whisky/beer AND whisky.
• Cuff-links
• Button-holes
• Bottles of expensive booze that nobody can normally afford
• Ties
• The boys drinking beer or whisky/beer AND whisky.
• Jackets/suits
• Shoes
• The boys drinking beer or whisky/beer AND whisky.
• Suits
• Best man helping groom into jacket/helping with tie.
• The boys drinking beer or whisky/beer AND whisky.

Why the Getting Ready Photos are my “Secret Weapon”.

Win/Win.

As you can see from the lists above, there are a lot of really useful photos that I can get during the Getting Ready part of the wedding day. Some of these photos I can’t get at any other time on the wedding day. Some of them I can. But doing these photos during the Getting Ready is a Win/Win. Why?

will save us time later in the day and add variety. Ie it basically gives us an extra location without traveling anywhere. For example, the shot of the bride and bridesmaid fully dressed I can do after the ceremony. But if the Getting Ready location has stunning views or a nice garden this is a Win/Win. Why? Because it saves us time after the ceremony (busiest part of the wedding day) and it gives us basically a “free” extra location for the bridal party photos.

• Any “must have” photos that we can tick off during the Getting Ready part of the day will save us time later in the day.
• Doing some “must have” photos during this part of the day will also add variety to your wedding photos. Ie it basically gives us an extra location without traveling anywhere.
• For example, the shot of the bride and bridesmaids fully dressed I can do after the ceremony. But if the Getting Ready location has stunning views or a nice garden, doing it during the Getting Ready is a Win/Win. Why? Because it saves us time after the ceremony (busiest part of the wedding day) and it gives us basically a “free” extra location for the bridal party photos.

Win/Win/Win….?

The other reason I LOVE doing Getting Ready photos is because it’s a great warm-up for everybody. The girls get to figure out that having their photo taken isn’t a big deal and that wedding photos can actually be fun/silly/relaxed. And they also get used to me hanging around. By the time we get to the ceremony I’m like that extra (admittedly totally bald and oddly tall) bridesmaid they didn’t know they had. I’m part of the gang and the bridal party is able to relax and be themselves around me. Which means you get awesome relaxed and natural wedding photos!

There you have it.

These are all the reasons that I love doing Getting Ready Photos and I always recommend doing them to my couples. I hope you found this Blog Post helpful. Hopefully it makes it easier for you to decide whether or not Getting Ready Photos are important to you.

Post by yours truly, Patrick Fallon of Fallon Photography.