Six tips to help you get great wedding pictures in the winter
Hello ladies! My winter brides face a little more of a challenge when planning their wedding photos. So, I thought I’d share a few tips:
- Pad your travel times – Even if your wedding is on a Saturday or Sunday in the winter, we all know what snow can do to the roads. Adding extra time to allot for bad weather
can save you much stress on your wedding day. - Consider seeing each other before the ceremony – This is probably the most controversial of my tips, but it is becoming much more popular in the past few years. Many brides that are planning their weddings in the summer forget the sun goes down hours earlier in the winter, so taking photos after the ceremony outside isn’t possible. If you see each other before the ceremony, we can spend as much time as we want getting fun photos and have the light we need. See my previous post titled To See or Not To See, on how to make seeing each other before the ceremony a special event.
- Find park with Christmas lights – These make great wedding photos and all you have to do is find a local park ahead of time that will be decorating with Christmas lights.
- Embrace winter – Get matching scarves and hats for all the bridesmaids, those photos can be so much fun! Also, if you get a shawl or cape, get one that isn’t white as it will blend right in with the dress. Instead, choose an accent color. If you get lucky and it snows, the photos will be fantastic – but, make sure to bring an umbrella so you hair doesn’t get wet.
- Dress warm – Nobody can see what is under your dress, so bring extra clothes you can slip on underneath the dress for when you are outside. See a full checklist of what to bring here.
- Find an indoor photo location: Suburban brides – This is the trickiest part of winter weddings for suburban brides. There just aren’t many great indoor photo locations. Friendship Conservatory in Mt Prospect is available by permit for $150. Also, many of the hotels, like the Renaissances, Hyatts, Embassy Suites, etc… have beautiful lobbies that can be the backdrop for great photos. Make sure you call in advance to check the hotel’s policy and if they require a permit of some kind. Some hotels allow wedding parties to take photos in their lobby, and others do not. You also don’t want to go to the hotel if they are having a large convention that day and the lobby is cram packed with people.
If you are downtown there are many indoor conservatories and gardens to choose from. A few to consider are Garfield Park Conservatory, Lincoln Park Conservatory, Harold Washington Library Winter Garden, and the Chicago Cultural Center.
With a little extra planning, winter wedding photos can be fun and beautiful.
Happy planning!
Karen
