why we took bridals & groomals


People are often surprised to find out that my husband saw me in my wedding dress 3 weeks before our wedding. We got all dressed in our wedding day get-up and went to a few locations to take pictures. Aka, Bridals & Groomals. 

The reason I even considered this option is because it's something my older sister did awhile before her wedding to make her wedding day a little less complicated. After we realized our wedding ceremony would not be until 3 PM and our reception just a few hours later, we wondered how we would fit a wedding ceremony, luncheon, pictures and reception all in such a short amount of time.

We decided to do Bridals & Groomals because it would make the day run a little smoother and a little more stress free. We spent about 2 hours on a weeknight going to a few different locations and taking lovey dovey pictures, that way on our wedding day, we could mostly focus on family photos.

I'm SO glad we did. The temple was running a little behind schedule so our wedding ceremony ran a little late. It wasn't stressful at all because we still had time to take all our family photos as well as a few with just us.

It also was nice because taking some beforehand meant we could retake any photos that didn't turn out quite how we wanted, and we were able to spend lots of time getting lots of different angles and shots. Plus, who doesn't love to wear their wedding dress before their wedding day?

I wouldn't say this is for everyone. Some people need that magic of seeing their future spouse in their wedding attire for the first time ON the wedding day, and that's 100% okay! I'm glad we did, and it worked wonderfully for us, and made our wedding day run so much smoother.

Click HERE to see all our bridals and groomals!

Did you take any pictures before your wedding?



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7 comments:

Sierra @ Sierra's View said...

I am SO happy we did bridals and groomals, too. Some people though it was a little less special of him seeing me in my dress but we had a first look and I was not stressed on my wedding day at all, which is way more important to me.

Manca* said...

I didn't but we will do the similar thing... It will be better for our guests because they won't wait for us but we will be with them all the time. :) I find this very nice. They will take ENTIRE day to be with us so we will do the same, it's fair I guess. :)

Rachel said...

We took all of our formal family photos and all of our 'couple' photos before the wedding ceremony. It worked out perfectly for us--the ceremony was at two, so we just spent the hour or so before the ceremony taking photos. There wasn't any special surprise, either. My MIL did my hair in the middle of the living room and my husband-to-be and I drove to the church together (with his mom, dad, brother, and best man in the car, too. It was a tight fit since I was carrying my wedding dress! :)

Anonymous said...

Love this idea!

Krista said...

What a great idea to make your day less stressful. I know I could have used a little more time with pictures on our wedding day.

Amberly said...

I didn't know you had an older sister!!! How did I not know that? I always thought you were the oldest hahaha. We did the same thing. I'm actually writing about it next month, but focusing on Joe's reaction when he saw me in my dress. :)

Amberly said...

I didn't know you had an older sister!!! How did I not know that? I always thought you were the oldest hahaha. We did the same thing. I'm actually writing about it next month, but focusing on Joe's reaction when he saw me in my dress. :)