The Ultimate Guide to Golden Hour Bridal Portraits
Your wedding day will go by in the blink of an eye,
and this is why we LOVE sneaking our couples away for a little bridal portrait session.
Most of our couples choose to go the traditional wedding route because they want to spend their wedding day surrounded by their closest family and friends (we were the same way!!!). This is an incredible scenario, but it does leave our lovely brides and grooms hoping to have just a little bit of time during the day just the two of them to really soak up the feeling that, HOLY MOLY, WE’RE MARRIED!!! Bridal portraits are our favorite way to give them that time, and to get them some seriously awesome photos from their day, and in the spirit of this, we bring you the ultimate guide to golden hour bridal portraits.
Now the thought of spending time taking more photos might make you turn up your nose, but we promise you will not regret this one bit. If you’re anything like us, you’ll love these photos the most of all your wedding photos! Your bridal portraits are the pictures you will have as a family heirloom. Some day in 50 years, you’ll be surrounded by your grandchildren, who will likely be gawking in awe of how beautiful of a day you had, and how happy you two look. You’ll get the opportunity to make eye contact and wink at one another, remembering the sweet moment you had as you watched the sunset holding onto each other, the raw emotion of the best day of your life flooding back into your mind. We think that’s pretty freaking cool.
Anyway, here are some tips to make the actual portrait session the best it can be!
Choose a location away from the party, and don’t make a big show of the fact that you’re sneaking away.
If we haven’t said it yet, you won’t get a ton of time alone on your wedding day to just be together. This is a HUGE opportunity to take advantage of a moment when you can soak in the excitement just the two of you! Finding a spot that is both beautiful and secluded for bridal portraits is one of our top priorities when we’re scouting a venue, because we want to give you that time away from your guests!
When we got married, we got to drive up to the top of a hill overlooking the entire Valley just as the sun was setting and snuggle up to each other and hold hands and stand in awe of everything around us, just the two of us. It was the perfect little break from the action and retreat from the hustle of the day.
When we say we’ll sneak you away for this part of the day, we mean it. Someone will want to come with you and play an active role in your portraits. We’re all about giving you space to just be yourselves during this time. We’ll balance classic portraits everyone and their mother will want with some wider angle shots to provide you with genuine quality time together.
Don’t be afraid to ask for space during this time, or even that your photographer doesn’t shoot the whole time you’re there. Your moments are more important than photos.
2. Shoot for as long or as little as you’d like.
This might not be a popular opinion among all photographers, but this is ours, and we’re sticking by it.
You may not be into taking photos, and that is totally ok. Or, you may really want to spend as much time as possible with your guests, and that is also ok!
Fact: these photos are important and you are going to love them more than you know when you look back, so definitely dedicate some time to taking them! But don’t feel pressure to set aside an hour for them if the thought of standing in front of a camera for that long makes you cringe, or if your photographer suggests it.
THIS IS YOUR DAY. Spend it the way you’d like. If you’d rather be kicked back enjoying a glass of wine with your best friends, then make that the priority. Give your photographer 15 minutes to take a bunch of stunning golden hour portraits of you two and then get back to the action! Or, as we previously suggested, head out to your secluded location and prioritize this moment alone instead of half an hour of active portrait session time.
Don’t skimp on these photos, as we said, these will be greatly important to you and your family for generations, but don’t feel the pressure to go all Vogue for them if that’s not your thing. We’ll help you find a balance.
3. Take these portraits during golden hour for the best photos!!!
Golden hour, the affectionate name for the hour before sunset, is the best time to take photos, especially bridal portraits! The light is soft and warm, the world around you is lit up in the most stunning way, and this combination makes for the best photos!
When you’re creating your wedding timeline, we recommend working your bridal portraits in around golden hour. Usually this is sometime during dinner or cocktail hour, which provides the ideal opportunity to sneak away!
We can work to make these photos look stunning at any time of the day, but for the best results, we highly recommend golden hour. All of the bridal portraits included in this blog post were taken at golden hour (or blue hour for an extra dynamic effect!!!), and the decision to schedule them during this time were not regretted by anyone involved.
So there you have it,
some of our favorite tips for making your bridal portrait session the best it can possibly be. In summary: these photos will be important to you (even if you don’t believe they will be in the planning), but make sure you are enjoying your wedding day the way you want to spend it. Don’t feel pressure to do anything just because “everyone’s doing it!!”
Oh hi!! We’re Katie & Joseph, a husband & wife team, and Phoenix wedding photography duo.
We are big fans of documenting wedding days in an unposed, raw, genuine, and honest way that allows our couples to maximize their experience on their day while also receiving a gallery full of stunning images that communicate how it felt to be there.
Though we’re based in Arizona, we’ll travel anywhere for a good love story (and dance party). We invite you to follow the links below to learn more about us and our services, and to get in contact with us!
