What’s a Bridal Session?!
Bridal Sessions or Day After Sessions are becoming more and more popular. It makes me SO excited. Doing a bridal session definitely isn’t traditional, but it’s honestly a no brainer. Let’s start by talking about what exactly a Bridal Session and Day After Session is.
The phrase “Bridal Session” makes it sound like it’s just a session for the bride. That isn’t the case!! Bridal Sessions include the couple, not just one person. Usually, they’re done at least a few days before the wedding. This means a “first look” is done before your wedding day!! What most brides do is schedule a hair and makeup trial for the Bridal Session. This is also great if you’re wanting to do two different hair and makeup looks. One for the Bridal Session and one for the Wedding Day.
A “Day After Session” is done the day after (of course), or a few days/weeks after your wedding. A lot of couples like to do a Day After Session because they still get to see each other all dressed up in wedding clothes for the first time on the actual wedding day.
Bridal Sessions mean a few things:
More time with your guests
When you’ve booked a Bridal Session, that means you’re already setting aside about an hour on a different day for bride and groom portraits. It’s really common for couples to miss their entire cocktail hour because they’re taking couples portraits. If you have a bridal session booked, then your photographer really only needs 15-minutes of your cocktail hour time for couples portraits. This means more time to be present with your guests.
Portraits in really amazing locations that you won’t have time for on your wedding day.
This is a HUGE bonus. If you’re getting married near the beach, then we won’t have the time to hike up a mountain for those dramatic couples portraits. For example, Lexa and Jake booked me for a first look 3 days before their actual wedding day. We were able to hike 30-minutes up this mountain, take a ton of amazing images, and hike back down. There is absolutely no way we would have been able to do this on their actual wedding day.
More photos of the two of you
We don’t have to take the time away from you getting to party and be present at your wedding to get more images of the two of you. It’s the best of both worlds!!
You can have the benefits of both an Elopement and a more traditional Wedding.
Like I said before, there are certain images and locations that you just can’t visit on your actual wedding day. When you book a bridal/Day After Session, you get the benefits of a traditional wedding and an elopement. A lot of couples like to save their personal vows for the Bridal/Day After Session. That way you still get to have a wedding with all of your loved ones, but you are still saving those intimate and private vows for just the two of you.
Lastly, you can do something really cool and unique like this:
Want to see blog posts showing bridal sessions? Here are a few:
Ah this is so so helpful for brides! Great article my friend!! And the photos are AMAZING!
Every bride should read this! you give so much value information! lover your pics as well!
Wow this is such a perfect and helpful article to help couples understand bridal sessions! GORGEOUS photos too! Love your style!!
Fantastic!!! I love bridal sessions and you listed some great facts about why they are AWESOME.
So so good!
OBSESSED this is amazing!
OBSESSED
I totally wish we would have done this! It POURED on our wedding day, so the hair and makeup didn’t hold up so well. The photos are still cute (and authentic) but it would have been nice to get a few before everything got wet 🙂
Everyone needs to read this!! Bridal sessions can be so fun and I hope to do them more in the future. This blog is a great point of reference!!
Yes!!! This is great info! And love the images you shared, too!
Ok seriously SO MANY COUPLES need to read this! I wish more couples would choose the untraditional route so that they can have these beautiful photos to cherish❤️
What great info for couples getting married!!