Bridal Portraits????

I didn't. #1- I didn't want the added cost #2- I'm quite clumbsy, so I was afraid I'd wreck the dress some how before the wedding. I think we'll do a trash the dress shoot though

Yeah, it would generally be a separate thing from your e-pics, mostly because you don't want FH to see your dress, and the portraits will probably take about an hour.

It really depends on the photographer, but through me, they would go for about $300 plus prints, or coffee table book.

As far as wondering if they're worth it, It really depends on the bride. I think it could definitely be worth it.

I could find another way to use $300. I don't understand the concept. You are going to have tons of pictures in the dress already....why do more? I may be in the minority here, and don't want to insult anyone who is doing them, but I also feel the same way with e-pics. Likely another $300. And likely you have a lot of nonprofessional couple pictures already. So....if you add that up it's another $600 on top of the day of photography. Oh and would you be getting your hair and makeup done for the bridal shots too? There's another $100. So now we're at $700. Are you going to frame those pictures? What will you do with bridal shots? Wouldn't you have your wedding photo on the wall instead? Just posing the questions and you may have better answers than I do.

I am not doing a bridal portrait session because I'm trying to keep $$$$ down.

My e-session is actually included in my wedding package, as is a second photographer, 4 HUGE laminated, dry mounted prints, dvd's with all of the pics, a photo site for 3 months, and all day coverage! It was $2100 with the added fee of full reception coverage, and I think it will be well worth every penny! I don't have many, if any pictures of us together as a couple, my FH avoids the camera like the plague. He is all for this session, which I am thrilled with! It will give us a chance to finally have some beautiful, casual pictures of us, which we are lacking right now!

Some brides just don't have a mountain of photos of themselves with their FH, e-sessions give them a chance to reclaim that. I've been with my FH for 6 years next week, there are maybe 5 photos of us together over the course of our relationship.

Ya same here gina my FH is the same way so i'm really looking forward to the e-pics. and i wonder if there's a way to incorporate the bridal portraits into a wedding photographers package for the wedding etc? brian any thoughts on that???

@ mellojean what exactly is a trash the dress shoot? not really familiar with that i've never known anybody to do this let alone mention it till i got on this site lol.

Mine were included in the wedding package. It was so much fun and totally worth it. Plus it gave me the opportunity to do a hair trial that wasn't wasted.



trash the dress shoot is when you literally trash you dress after the wedding. I've seen where brides roll around in the mud, play in the sand, and some other weird ways to get down and dirty.

We seldom see traditional bridal portraits done anymore, but they make classic heirlooms. Trash the dress sessions don't need to be destructive to the clothing - pose in unusual settings for fun shots to show off a couple's personality. These are typically done in the days after the ceremony.

I am going to go to JC Penney and can get mine done after the dress is altered. In my southern family, it is kind of traditional to display it at the ceremony. I don't think it is a must have though.

"girl meets gown" takes place in the south and bridal portraits are a much more southern tradition so it's just kinda expected more down there. I think that we get plenty of "bridal portraits" the day of the wedding so it seems like overkill to me. But hey if you have the time and money I'm sure it's fun

I think that bridal portraits are more common in the southern part of the U.S. or at least here in Texas anyway. I decided against those because of the added expense and also because I still don't fit into my frickin' dress!!

My mom made me get them done. Obviously she paid because I wasn't paying for a million pics of me!! But...we went to Portrait Innovations. My avatar is actually one of the photos they did. It was $300 and we did pics of my niece (FG) and of my niece and me and left with 57 sheets of photos. LOL. They even did airbrushing.

They're really popular down here in the south, but I don't understand the concept either really so I didn't do them. Paying for another session with the photog, hair and make up, bouquet... all for pictures you'll also get on the wedding day doesn't make sense to me.