The Goodlaff Bride: May Day!: It's All About Me

Thursday, July 14, 2011

May Day!: It's All About Me

There are so many cameras, so many pictures being taken, and so much pressure to look good, that your wedding day will become an exercise in vanity. When you finally look in the mirror and see yourself as a real bride, at first it will be hard not to be astonished at how awesome you look. After a few minutes of gazing at yourself in wonder, reality sinks in and you think to yourself, "hot damn, I'm fabulous!"

Right after Sister Goodlaff finished my makeup and I was about to get my hair finished, I had my first "fabulous!" moment.

There were many, many more moments that the cameras captured that day, and I thought I'd share some of my favorites. I didn't really have a plan for how I wanted to look, so here's what we came up with:

Here I am, in the "someday my prince will come" pose:

Then at the Foundry, we really got the bridal photo shoot going!

Showing off my fabulous (tall, painful) shoes and the little something extra in lining my petticoat.

Mr. Goodlaff thinks I look a little bit evil in this one. I tend to agree with him, but I do love the way my eyes pop in this picture...Intense!

And now, for a few decidedly non-evil portraits:

My hand is on the wall because I'm trying not to fall over...

The Foundry has a back and side wall that are completely covered in ivy. It's gorgeous, but the ditch right in front of it is not. Now, I'm not going to complain too much, because Niki got some great pictures, but those heels I was wearing were not made for off-roading; satin shoes and gravel don't mix well. My beautiful shoes suffered a bit (the satin ripped, and I nearly lost a shoe clip), and there were a few times that I almost fell over and ruined my dress and/or broke my ankle prior to the ceremony.

Lesson here: tell your photographer that you'd like to save the acrobatics until after the ceremony. Or, wear flats if you're going to navigate gravel ditches. It's up to you...

At one point, Niki asked me to lay against the building, and I refused. It was pre-ceremony, the wall was dirty, and I wanted my dress to look be clean for at least a few hours (a klutz like me in a white dress--bad idea). After the ceremony, I told her I would lean on whatever wall she deemed fit, or lay in the street if that's what it took, but pre-ceremony, there was no way I was risking a dirty dress.

Overall, I'm pleased with how the pictures came out, and I love the way Niki was able to capture my bridal look, but in hindsight, I wish I would have done more full body shots--maybe without my bouquet--or had a few different backgrounds or props to play with.

Do you (or did you) have a plan for your bridal portraits?