Recently I had a friend ask the following:

“This may seem like a stupid question, but how do you go about doing detail prep shots wherever? Like I just saw some gorgeous shots from [your] blog post with the wedding dress outside, and I’ve been wanting to do that! Does the bride freak?? And how does that fit in to your timeline? Do you take these shots when you first get there?”

I found early on that I got much better shots of the bridal gown if I was allowed to photograph it in natural light. Typically, because churches are so dark, that means taking it outside. I don’t remember who was my first bride who allowed me to take her gown outside, but over the years I have been given a lot of freedom with wedding dresses.

This freedom comes from three reasons:

1. I’ve established a relationship with my brides so they trust me. They know that I will take care of their dress when I carry it out the door to who knows where.
2. I have a conversation prior to the wedding day about photographing their gown. I actually work it right into the timeline of the day! (more on that below) I also send out a gift to my brides about two months prior to their weddings and it includes a card with several tips, one of them being to bring along a pretty hanger–whether it’s a customized hanger or just a lingerie hanger–to hang the gown on for photos. (Who wants a beautiful, expensive gown photographed hanging on a plastic hanger from the bridal shop?)
3. My brides have seen photos on my blog/facebook/website of other bridal gowns hanging in a tree or over a balcony. It doesn’t come as a surprise then when I confirm with them that it’s okay for me to take their dress outside.

If you haven’t been able to photograph a dress outside and would like to, ask your bride! It never hurts to ask! If she doesn’t want you to take her dress outside or there are natural elements preventing you from doing so (rain, for one!), find a spot inside with the most natural light as possible.

This image was taken during a rainy wedding day. We ended up being able to take beautiful portraits outside between the rain, but during the preparation, I couldn’t take the gown outside. There were very few windows in the church so I found a room upstairs that happened to have a west-facing window. It let in just enough light that I could hang the dress along this row of cabinets.

As far as the timeline goes, I go through this prior to the wedding with my bridal couples. I specifically work in 30 minutes prior to the bride getting into her gown just to shoot the details. Would I love more time? Yes, but time is hard to get on a wedding day so 30 minutes is usually the max that I have.

In that 30 minutes, I have it included on the timeline that I will be photographing details like the gown, jewelry, shoes, garter, invitations, programs, etc. Basically, anything that the bride will be wearing and that doesn’t need a person in the shot, I try to do right away. If possible, I like to do the rings at this time too simply because when I’m photographing the couple, I want to maximize that time with them. Could I wait until a lull during the reception to photograph the rings? Yes, and sometimes I have to. But as much as I can get done right away frees me up for more later on.

This is obviously the only time of the day that I can photograph the gown without the bride in it so that happens right away. If I need to hold off and photograph some of the other details later, that’s fine. When I first arrive at the venue, the gown is my first priority for photographs.

I hope this helps as you try to venture outside the church with the gown!

(I just realized as I reviewed this post that I photograph a lot of mermaid, lace dresses! Haha! We’ll see if I get any ball gowns this next year.)