Photographer Tips: How to Photograph Bridal Parties

Hi, I’m Jessica! I’ve been capturing love stories for four years now. My approach is mostly photo documentary, mixed in with light posing. My favorite thing about capturing weddings is getting to tell the story of the day from start to finish.

I find it extremely humbling to be allowed into such an important day with my couples, their friends, and families. Each time I am chosen to photograph someone’s wedding it is an extreme honor and a privilege.

Find more of my work on the Web: Facebook / Instagram

For this shot, I employed one of my favorite techniques for getting my bridal parties to relax, have fun and interact. I told them to play the “telephone game”, where one person comes up with something funny to say and whispers it in the ear of the person next to them, and so on down the line! It always results in everyone laughing and more importantly, they forget about the camera for a minute or two and I can capture some real moments! My style is normally very natural with minimal editing to the scene. I will concede though, that in this shot I replaced the sky, as it was an overcast day and the new sky added more balance to the image.

To get the image above

, I told the bridal party where to line up on the bridge, paying attention to height, gender, and the color of their suit/dress. I then stood across the pond from them and using my 70-200mm 2.8 II lens, I was able to get this tighter shot of everyone as well as some wider shots which captured their reflection in the water. Keeping in mind how much time it takes to get the whole bridal party posed correctly, I utilized this set up for some fun shots too!

And here’s one of our fun shots! Also, notice how I zoomed out a little bit to capture the reflection. Not much direction was given here. I just instructed them to do something fun!

This bridal party also happens to be a family! All three of these girls are the daughters of the happy couple. Here the bride wanted some photos by the pond and fountain. I positioned them so that the sun was shining behind them, and through the water fountain, and I used that fountain to frame them in. I then just instructed everyone to look at my lens and smile. The little cutie up front did a bit of improvisation, which made for a really adorable moment!

Before I explain this shot, I just want to say how important it is for the bridal party, themselves, to be happy, fun, and willing participants in the formal photo session. At the end of the day as photographers, we can only do so much to help create these fun moments and we also rely on our subjects to trust us and relax in front of the camera. This was such a fun group to work with! For this particular shot, I had positioned the groom with these lovely bridesmaids for a formal photo. I then instructed them all to lean in nice and close…closer…come on…CLOSER! This elicited lots of laughs and the girls decided on a group hug which turned out perfectly!

We can’t forget about the guys! Sometimes groomsmen can be a little bit more of a challenge. This particular group was really great. You could tell they were all close to the groom, and the love everyone had for each other showed through all of their images. Here I simply set the guys up in front of the bridge in a “V” formation, gave them instructions to walk toward me on my cue, and also instructed them all to start on the same foot and walk to a cadence that I gave them. Once I gave them the signal to start I walked backward along with them while shooting (after checking my surroundings and having an assistant to make sure I didn’t fall, of course!)  Also, we shot these formals at 4:30PM in June, so it was still really bright out. The sun was behind my subjects and to the right. The covered bridge helped to provide some shade, and as you can see, as they stepped further away it created some side light on the group. I am perfectly happy with the light here and feel it adds more interest and a natural feel to the moment!