Pre-Wedding Bridal Photo Shoot?

The suggestion of having your sister put on her wedding dress is weird to me. This is your wedding day. I'm sure you didn't get to put on a wedding dress the day your sister got married.

As far as pre-wedding pictures I would tell her your photographer will be getting all key shots. There are certain emotions you have on your wedding day that can not be duplicated.

I agree with Bethany. The point of the photos is to remind you of the emotions of the day. This can't be faked.

If your mum wants to do a nice photoshoot of you and your sister, then you can do that, but treat it as something TOTALLY different.

What you might want to do is a POST-wedding day bridal session. "Rock the dress" or "trash the dress" sessions can be fun, you can do them with or without your husband, and you're free of worries about the dress getting dirty because the wedding will be over and you'll probably be planning to get it cleaned anyway. This is becoming an increasingly popular photo shoot to do and a fun reason to put on your dress after the wedding, whether it's the day after or months later.

Bridal shoots actually used to be a standard when it came to wedding photography. However, "in the old days" they were done in the studio so the dress would remain pristine. There are some brides opting for bridal shoots on location these days. You do need to be careful with the dress...and there is a possibility it will need to be cleaned afterward (so allow enough weeks before the wedding to get it cleaned). As a professional photographer, I wish more brides would do bridals...the dresses are amazing, and I'm always wanting more photos of just the bride! Rock the Dress sessions are great...maybe your mom might be open to it instead. Adding in the sister....I'll just say that it's something I personally might not want to shoot.

The sister thing is a little weird... maybe if your sister wanted to put her dress on and get her own bridal portraits done, that wouldn't be so bad, but together... eh, I wouldn't.

I would definitely have your mom take some shots though. Maybe you can schedule your hair/makeup trials and then take some photos. Personally, I would stay inside to take them though, I wouldn't chance your dress getting dirty before the big day.

A lot of packages offer a bridal portrait session or e pics. I think its weird to do the pictures with your sister, though. YOu could do the bridal shoot and consider it a trail run for the big day. Then you can always have a picture blown up on an easel outside of the reception. I've seen that before.

Is it because she wants pictures of just you and you and your sister in your wedding dresses? If that's the case, can she do it after your wedding?

It's def unfair to have your sister in her gown too just tell your mom you'll do it after the wedding sometime. She is your mother and it probably really means something to her to see both her daughters in the gowns so it will def mean something to all of you in a different way if it comes AFTER the shoot. like "hey we are both married now " sort of thing instead of "Im getting married and have to be in my dress for this just because my mom wants it with my sister who was married ages ago which feels like my thunder is being stolen"