How to look good in your wedding photos

I run through many of the following points with my brides on or before their wedding day, or as needed, and they are simple yet hugely effective pointers to help anyone (not just the bride) get the wedding photographs they love.

1. Relax and enjoy the moment

An increasingly popular style of wedding photography is reportage, or the capturing of spontaneous moments. As a contemporary wedding photographer in the East Midlands and across the UK, Mirror Imaging has plenty of examples of this type of photography and we mix it with some gentle direction to get a good combination of timeless and fresh photographs of your wedding.

It is really important therefore to try not to worry about how you look on camera! Your wedding photographer will almost certainly stand a better chance of getting a great picture if you relax and enjoy your surroundings and be in the moment. A good digital wedding photographer will never put a bad picture forward and will kindly delete it immediately! This is why I emphasise on my homepage my understanding and empathy with my subjects; it’s in my interests professionally and personally to make you look amazing.

2. Practice posing

Not an obvious one and not perhaps one which many brides will consider. As a wedding and portrait photographer I spend some time working out at which angles a woman looks good, so I can best direct my brides and models (it helps that I’m a woman myself!). When you are next sat in front of the mirror, perhaps doing your makeup, really look at your features in the mirror and practice posing for the camera (perhaps close the bedroom door first!).

One huge advantage to those brides treating themselves to our makeover portrait sessions held at Norwood Park in Nottinghamshire is that, by the end of the session, being in front of the camera will feel a lot more comfortable and you will instinctively know on your wedding day at which angles you feel your most confident. The resulting picture will also hopefully do wonders for your love of the camera and yourself! For example, my beautiful sister almost always blinked in front of the camera flash for years, resulting in unflattering photographs of her with her eyes predictably closed. She thought she was afflicted for life, but since she had her first photoshoot with me she’s not blinked for the camera again and even now enjoys having her picture taken.

2. Do the tilt and turn

All celebrities on the red carpet know how to pose to maximize their assets and minimise their flaws. And it can make a huge difference to how you look in your wedding photographs.

Stand at a 45 degree angle, put your weight on the back leg and slightly bend the other, twist your torso back to face the front and gently drop your shoulder furthest from your back leg. This makes your waist and hips look their absolute smallest and pushes your chest forward, but looks surprisingly natural in your wedding photographs (especially in a wedding dress).

3. Smile!

It may sound obvious (and you try and stop many brides!) but however critical you are of your own smile, just go for it! Often there will be a good number of photographs without you smiling and it makes for a better wedding album to have at least one or two wonderful happy shots. If you feel really self conscious, don’t smile at the camera, smile at your new husband instead!

4. Have your makeup done professionally

A good makeup artist will know which makeup finishes look good on camera and which do not. As a rule, a matt finish tends to look better and the camera will absorb the colour so you can go slightly stronger than you would normally do. Make sure you have a trial makeup run before your wedding day (and take your dress, veil or a fabric sample along), so you know exactly what you will look like on the day. I work with Nottingham makeup artist Pretty Flamingo, whose trial sessions (diary schedules permitting) include a photograph by me for you to take away (whether or not you have booked me as your wedding photographer).

4. Don’t shy away!

The most difficult job for a photographer is photographing someone who simply does not want their picture taking. If you’ve invested in a wedding photographer, make sure you get your money’s worth by allowing them to click away and take as many quality photographs as possible. The more they take, the more likely it is they’ll capture that golden moment. A very good wedding photographer won’t be too intrusive either and will help to put you at ease, so you have nothing to lose and everything to gain by letting them do a great job for you.