Would I be doing this many bridal sessions if we weren’t living in the South? I have no idea, but it’s one reason to be grateful that I live here because I love spending time with ladies who are all gussied up in anticipation of the day they’ve been looking forward to for so long. I hope I can take the trend with me when we move, wherever that may be!
I spent the day signing up for a new photography business management site (take a look at my new pricing site and contact form, and feel free to give me any feedback on them if you would like) so this post is going to be the “little less talk little more action” kind.
Things you should know:
1. That garden you see in the photos in the last half of the post? All Jennifer! She spotted it when she was driving up with her mom and it was a gold mine of gorgeous options.
2. The flower petals were there from a wedding earlier that day. Thanks to the bride and groom who left us with some pretty (free!) props.
3. I would totally be shooting Jennifer’s wedding if it weren’t for baby. Really I would. These pictures make me so sad to think I won’t be!
This was a fun little (slightly unsuccessful) experiment. Thanks to Jennifer and her mom for letting me play around a bit!
THAT SHOT!
My favorite, and it would be Jennifer’s favorite as well.. except she doesn’t like frogs. 
I’m really going to be missing out this Spring. Love you Jennifer!
Best,
Jenna
Today’s post (and the wedding I have scheduled for tomorrow) jumped ahead in line a bit. I still have several sessions I’d like to blog from late October through November, but I just got a new camera and I’m so excited about these photos I just can’t wait to get them up. My clients from this past weekend can consider it an early Christmas present.
Kimberly is my January 2nd bride, and the reason I’m trying to convince my husband we should have an weekend getaway in Houston over New Years. I’m sure Kimberly’s out of town guests are also looking forward to the chance to spend some time in a new place over New Years, recover for a day, and then party all over again on the 2nd!
As our session date drew nearer Kimberly and I both realized just how cold it was going to be that day. I’m more than willing to bundle up and shoot in the cold, but Kimberly knew she would be wearing a dress with sheer sleeves and an illusion neckline so she opted for an inside location. I was thrilled when she said she wanted to hold her session at the Morton H. Meyerson Symphony Center in Dallas, TX, a location I’d seen pop up on some other Dallas area photographer’s blogs, but there is a fee to use the space and so I hadn’t yet had the opportunity to shoot there. We had to do a little bit of legwork to find out if working there on the day of our shoot was even going to be an option, but now that the shoot is over both she and I it was absolutely worth it. If you are a Dallas bride considering the Meyerson Symphony Center for your bridal shoot location, please do it. Your photographer will love you (especially if your photographer is me!) and the completely neutral background and walls and ceilings covered in windows create a lighting situation that really lets the subject shine.
I realize that I’ve included a ridiculous amount of photos for a blog post about bridals, but the combination of Kimberly’s easy-going smile, the dreamy location, and my new camera has me favoriting more images than usual and I can’t seem to narrow them down.
I suggested this arm placement, but she added in the head tilt. Kimberly and I are a good team.
I adore the pure joy on her face in this one.
Definitely one of my favorites from the session. She reminds me of a ballerina here, though I can’t quite figure out why.
Look at that bustle! If I were to wear that dress I’m not sure I would ever want to stop spinning.
Want to see how amazing the light (+ new camera + pro lens) is at the Meyerson?
SOOC
And the Fine Art Edit. I like the higher contrast of the one below, but the SOOC shot is rather lovely right out of the camera I think.
Kimberly is a master of that soft, slightly open mouth smile. Definitely not something everyone can manage (including myself).
My favorite details. Her bouquet came from Central Market and they put the cream ribbon and the pearls on as part of the purchase. So lovely, and the perfect accent for her bridal look.
Kimberly’s ring came from her grandparents. Her grandpa owns a jewelry business, and when she got engaged her grandma took her aside and showed her a box of rings, letting her know she could have whatever she chose. Lucky girl, right?
I recently learned about a new photograhic technique called the “Brenizer Method” and Kimberly was nice enough to let me test it out at her session. I still have a few things to learn, but I love the results and I’ll be doing it at other sessions in the future.
Mom came along to act as reflector holder (aka, my assistant, thanks mom!), personal groomer, and posing consultant. It’s always nice to have an extra pair of hands helping me to watch for funky veil placement, stray hairs, or dry lips.
Sometimes, I like to photograph reality as much as I like to photograph pretty, graceful, glowing clients. Looking this good is a lot of hard work you know!
THAT SHOT!
It’s the shoes that do it for me here I think. Another ballerina moment.
I made sure to get lots of pictures of her bouquet. Even if her wedding day bouquet looks nothing like this, she still paid good money for it and our shoot was less than 2 hours long. An investment like that deserves a good amount of camera time I think!
The biggest reason to love the Meyerson can be seen below. There aren’t many locations that provide a completely neutral background like this one, unless you’re working in a studio filled with hot lights.
I think Kimberly’s mom’s words were: “Every girl should have a photo of herself with flowers near her face.” I couldn’t agree more.
I couldn’t decide whether I liked this shot best in black&white or color, so I included both to end the post. I think I’m leaning toward the black&white, what about you?
Kimberly,
Thank you, thank you, thank you for going down to the Meyerson in person the day before to find out if shooting there was really possible. I hope you’ll agree that this was the best possible location we could have chosen for that day, with your dress, with you as the subject. So happy we did this for the chance it gave us to better get to know each other, and of course because of the beautiful images that resulted. See you in a few weeks!
Best,
Jenna
Elizabeth is getting married today! I’ve been looking forward to this day for weeks because I can finally show her bridals to the world. Remember her engagement session with her love, Casey? This time Elizabeth showed up on her own, with mom in tow, in her dramatic dress with hair looking gorgeous and we wandered through the Arbor Hills Nature Preserve posing and smiling.
THAT SHOT!
A little tip? When you’re having your bridals done do your hair and facial closeups as early as possible while your hairstyle and makeup are still looking fresh.
SOOC! Straight out of camera…
Changing the white balance during post processing made the biggest difference in this photo. Elizabeth actually chose the edited version of this shot to display at her reception as an 11X16 metallic print. I’m so excited to see it displayed at the reception tonight!
I loved watching Elizabeth haul around her big poufy dress. It’s obvious she felt beautiful while wearing it.
We lost our light really quickly but it ended up working out for the best because we ended up taking some time doing some silhouette shots that I really love.
Happy Wedding Day Elizabeth! I’m so excite dot be spending the time with you.
I’m running a bit behind on things so I’m going to keep my comments short and sweet for this post and hope that Kate won’t mind. Readers should I just take the easy route from now on, lose the dialog and just let you scroll quickly through the photos?
You may recognize this gorgeous face (seriously Kate, you are so unbelievably stunning) as she is also a fellow bee from Weddingbee. It’s the one and only Mrs. Kitten. You must go watch her wedding video preview. Go, right now. But then come back here right afterward of course.
Kate was a week-old newlywed when I took these pictures and she brought her new husband along which caused her to beam. I wish every bridal shoot would happen a week after the wedding with the husband tagging along because the joy on her face was so genuine.
It was fiesta in San Antonio that weekend and so we had to find a way to use the flags.
Kate’s husband told me this is the face she makes when she gets cold. Could she be any more adorable?
Where can I get that body. They don’t sell it at Target because I’ve checked. Maybe I’m just shopping at the wrong stores?
Make-up check by the husband. Darling.
THAT SHOT!
It’s the colors. And the smile. And the fact that she looks this amazing after being rained on.
That smile was sent right over to the husband. I wasn’t looking but I’m sure he smiled right back.
Because this was post-wedding it turned into a trash the dress of sorts. Kate told me she jumped into the ocean in that dress one week before we did the shoot and she used Oxi-Clean to get it photo ready for her time with me. Time to break out the Oxi-Clean once again!
Gotta get a picture with my bee sistas whenever I meet them.
Kitten and Avocado was surprisingly delicious wasn’t it Kate? Thanks for getting up so early on a Saturday morning to do the shoot with me. You’re gorgeous! (Wait, did I already say that? I just can’t stop!)
Best,
Jenna
