When To Wear The Veil At Your Wedding | Bridal tips | St. Paul & Minneapolis Wedding Photographer

Having a veil has been an age old tradition in the wedding world, which ,any brides still choose to follow today.  I love when brides have veils; they add a timeless/classic look to have in your wedding album, but veils are not something you will need all day! Can you imagine trying to attempt that with a catherdial veil?

I have a couple of tips for my MW Bride on when to wear the veil on the wedding day.  

 Firstly, wear it on your first look! Your hair and makeup will be fresh and beautiful, and the veil is the finishing touch. What better way for your groom to see your completed planning then to see you 100% dolled up to marry him!!  

Next, wear your veil for the ceremony. This is what your veil was orignially intended for, so there is no better time to wear it!  All your ivited guest will be swept away by the your vision as you walk down the aisle. And don't worry your maid of honor will make sure it is sitting perfectly as you marry the man of your DREAMS! 

Lastly, after vows are exchanged and you are husband and wife wear your veil for some photos with you groom!  As the party is really starting to kick off at your reception, I will try to steal you away for some sunset portraits. This is the time that your veil will make your photos pop. It does not have be in all of them, but it will help add a little more variety in your portraits!   

Bonus: These are times where it comes to your personal preferrence - wearing your veil for family formals or wedding party portraits! These times it really varies from brid to bride! 

I hope these help give you insight to the best times to wear your veil on your wedding day!!

Should You Shoot Family Formals Inside The Church or Outside? | For the MW Brides

I remember sitting on my family couch turning page after page of my parents wedding album. I made sure that none of the prints fell loose of there respectable place holders. I was absorbed seeing how young my parents were! (Because for real were my parents not always old?) And as my mom and dad smiled back up at me through the pages i was also able to see my grandparents, aunts and uncles with fewer lines on their smiling faces. Those family photos will always be treasured in our house hold because family is close to my heart. 

Years after your wedding you will be looking back on your own family photos and smiling at all those who were able to attend. So now you are trying to decide where your family photos will be? And I think it comes down to deciding if you want to be more traditional or more modern in your family formals. Let me share with you a couple of pros for both to help you decide.  

Pros for having your family photos outside. The lighting will be more natural and go better throughout your gallery. As a natural light photographer a lot of your photos will already be shot outside. Having your family formals outside will help with the over all flow of your gallery. The lighting will be more beautiful. There will not be any distracting background that your venue will have such as speakers,crosses, all that stuff you cant move off of the stage. It will be a more modern look. 

It will be enough space to host larger families.  

Doing your family portraits inside your venue is more traditional .

Pros to shooting them inside. It will be very similar to the photos that your mom and her mom have in their wedding album. You will have your venue stage show cased in your photos so you can have a little piece in your album other than the ceremony. Inside will be cooler on a hot summer day or shelter from a stormy or winter day. It will be easier for any elderly family member to sit down while they wait and easy to get to.

I personally love the more  modern look of having family formals outside when possible. I think it fits my photographic style more. 

Why You Should Have Your Engagement Session With Your Wedding Photographer

My dad has always been a photo enthusiast. In my his eyes having five kids is as good as having 5 miniature models;  my siblings and I have grown up very uncamera shy because of it! For us any excuse to take photos was a good excuse! 

If you have taken a gander at my packages you have probably noticed I don't charge for my engagement sessions when you book your wedding with me. Your engagement session is not just another opportunity to take more photos (which I know your fiance just loves) it is a chance to build our relationship. Through this crazy business adventure I am still building and learning what makes the best experience for my MW couples! This is one golden nugget that I have learned and will standby for my couples.  Here are 3 reasons why you should shoot your engagement session with your wedding photographer.

1) It allows you to get a feel for how your photographer works. Your photographer will direct you to make you look good and have a good time. You will be able to see how they set up a pose or if they make you feel comfortable in front of the camera. It is better to know that and know how to feel comfortable with the love of your life in front of your photographers camera. Do they have key words?  Do they have favorite poses to stick you in? You will find this all out on your session!

2) It allows your photographer to know how you work as a couple.   Each couple has a different relationship; this is the time before the wedding that your photographer learns how you work together. Whether you are high volumes of pda or a little more pulled back, your photographer can then gauge what things you will be comfortable doing on the wedding day! (Like jumping in a near by pool after the ceremony or being thrown in the air by all the groomsmen) This will help put you in poses and do things that are more YOU!

3) There are no bad surprises when it comes to your wedding day photos. After the engagement session, you will then have been shot by your photographer. So instead of feeling like another stranger is shooting your wedding, you will feel like it is  friend excited to be capturing the day along side you! On top of that, your completed engagement session will be the same style as your wedding photos. So you will have a glimpse of what your wedding photos will look like! 

 I  believe it is important!! ♡