Choosing your wedding day getting ready location is so important! Making sure that the room has great light, nice neutral colors and a decent amount of space will allow you to have stunning photos that you’ll love for years to come. These images are where this crazy special day begins so let’s start the day off right with pretty photos!

A short checklist will be your best friend by helping make these images be exactly what you want them to be:

1 – Most important: a room with a lot of windows
2 – A space with light and neutral colored walls
3 – Plenty of space for all the people that will be involved

Olivia’s wedding day was H-O-T but it was so fun! We started the day off by getting ready at a nearby Airbnb. Olivia put her dress on at her venue, Apple Blossom Chapel & Garden, in their cute little chapel on the grounds. This location worked well because there were three or four windows on both sides of the room. The walls were also white! Yay!

Kelly’s wedding day at CityFlats Hotel will always be one of my favorites. It was such a blast and she was seriously fun to be around (and still is!).

The image above is one of my all-time favorite getting ready photos. It looks grand, dreamy and so pretty! This photo would never have existed though if I wouldn’t have asked Kelly and her gals to get ready in the ballroom (yes….the ballroom!) and if they wouldn’t have trusted me. She got dressed in a private room then came down for finishing touches and photos. See below to see why it was worth it!!

Photo above on the right is from the bride’s getting ready room – photo on the left is from the ballroom. Good choice moving, don’t you think?!

Ok….Julia just made it easy on her wedding day at The Felt Mansion. Just about anywhere on that property is stunning. The room had a lot of windows, the walls were neutral and light and they had plenty of space to move around. It was basically perfection.

If the walls had been red, orange, blue or basically any other color….the color could have easily bounced off the wall and onto Julia, leaving an unattractive color cast that is very difficult to remove while editing. Neutral is best!

I adore this photo of Jenna. She has gorgeous legs and hair for days! Her wedding in Fremont at The Gerber Guest House was intimate and sweet.

Bonus! If your getting ready space is photogenic, we should also have a few minutes to sneak in some bridal portraits too which are always a favorite!

The larger “getting ready room” was down the hall from this space and had yellow walls. I went into about every room at this venue and found this space with the neutral walls. This room was smaller than the planned room but the color and light were definitely higher on the priority list 😉

Liz, you are so pretty!

Something extremely important to remember is to turn off interior lights in any indoor space you are shooting in (for getting ready photos or any photos for that matter) if you are planning on using natural light as your main light source. Most indoor lights will give off a yellow cast that you most certainly don’t want on the faces of your gorgeous couples.

On Liz’ wedding day, she first got ready at her hotel for hair and makeup then we moved to the church to put on her dress. Although I didn’t love the hotel for dress shots, I didn’t waste time. There were still windows that I could shoot next to for details of rings, invitations, etc (and a few candids just for her to keep for mementos).

Once we arrived to the church, I scoped out the getting ready space and deemed it not “photo-ready” due to the lack of windows and found this space instead. This area was surround with windows, soft white curtains, white walls and was huge! I basically did a remodel and moved all the furniture and plants to make it fit the look we were going for. All that extra work is certainly worth it! (Don’t worry, we moved it all back!)

It may take a little extra time and a little more effort but finding a space that has large windows, neutral and light walls and is large enough for your group will pay off in the end.

When making a wedding album, having these images be cohesive and complementary to one another is endlessly important and a simple thing that can make a huge impact.

Your getting ready location is the opening scene on your wedding day. Make it a good one!

xoxo – Kellie