The first things Brandon and I shoot upon arriving on a wedding day are the brides details: her dress, shoes, jewelry, flowers, invitations, and any other detail items she would like photographed. Well before the wedding day arrives I email our bride to prepare in advance for the detail shots. Within this email I ask our bride or her wedding coordinator to bring along one wedding invitation suite, this suite typically includes an invitation, rsvp, and any additional information provided for guest in the invitation envelope. 50mm f/1.6 1/160 ISO 100

We begin by arriving to the bridal suite, saying hello, giving hugs and warm greetings. It is at this time that we collect all the details and head to a beautifully lit location to photograph them. We start with the invitations, here are 4 tips we use to stylize + personalize them. Keep in mind that Brandon and I both shoot the invitations at the same time. This allows for the change in lenses you will see. We have gotten this down to a “beautiful dance”  it makes the process very quick and efficient.

Four tips to stylize + personalize the brides wedding invitation
* Tip One – First we take into account our brides personal style and wedding day style. For example is her style chic + classic, country + rustic, soft + romantic. We then use her personal + wedding style to help us curate the look and feel of the invitation layout and theme. We begin with a nice clean full layout with an ariel shot.

Our beautiful bride Andrea, who’s invitations are featured for this post, has a sophisticated + classic style. With this in mind we wanted to keep the look clean, sophisticated, classic and polished. The top of a black baby grand piano sitting infront of a large bay window was perfect. The black keeps the photo clean and polished while highlighting the invitations. The high gloss and reflections of the gold lights bring in the understated touch of sophistication and polish. Wide Angle f/4.0 1/100 ISO 320

* Tip Two – Keeping the invitation layout the same I will add in some of the brides jewelry or flowers. This creates texture and movement + adds a beautiful personal touch. 100mm f/7.1 1/100 ISO 640

100mm f/7.1 1/100 ISO 640

* Tip Three – Once I have my main layout photographed + added in some personal details that texturize and create movement I then do a second layout. This layout I like to be little more fun and playful. Wide Angle f/4.0 1/100 ISO 640320

* Tip Four – We focus in on each piece of the invitation suite. Using the second layout I will focus in on each piece individually highlighting the bride and grooms names or a cute feature on the invitations.  Wide Angle f/4.0 1/200 ISO 640320

 I hope this sheds a little light on how we photograph the wedding innovations. Have fun with it and God Bless.