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Weddings: Looking beautiful on your big day

Wedding season is well and truly in full swing, and we asked one of our favourite wedding photographers, Elysia, to share some of her insider knowledge with us. So if you’re a bride (or groom!) getting married soon, or just a guest who wants to make sure they look good in all of the photos, read on to find out how…

”Every wedding I’ve been to has been vastly different – from extravagant themed weddings to intimate civil ceremonies; and every bride has been totally unique too. But one thing every bride that ever was has in common is wanting to look beautiful on their wedding day…

I’ve come up with my top tips that I tell the brides I work with – have a read, and I assure you will look beautiful on your wedding day (and everyday)!

Let Your Guard Down

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Most of us might think we do a pretty good job of hiding our emotions. We put on a front most of the time, we’re conscious of how we appear to others and what we want to portray – It’s normal.

But no matter how good at faking it we are, our faces and bodies can’t help but show how we truly feel, even if just for a split second. Fortunately, my camera is capable of capturing those split second moments!

When our guard is down, we show our real emotion. Real joy, fear, laughter, TRUE love, happiness.

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Capturing that, seeing those moments in front of my eyes, evokes emotion in me – even though I don’t really have a relationship with the people I’m photographing. Because it’s beautiful. It’s real and it’s raw and it’s honest and there is nothing more beautiful than that.

If you let your guard down and don’t worry about how you look in front of the camera, and embrace the moment you are in right there and then, then you will look beautiful.

Be You (And Happy With You)

We’ve already established that real moments are beautiful, and the same rules apply that real is beautiful.

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I’m not trying to put hair and makeup artists out of business, I think it’s nice to take pride in your appearance and I’d certainly want to make an extra effort to feel beautiful on my wedding day. But don’t try to be something you’re not, be comfortable in your own skin and accept what you look like when you’re not posing for a selfie.

We can all make ourselves look however we desire with decent make up and hairdressing skills (I’ve seen Youtube videos of a man who made himself look exactly like Beyonce, seriously you’d never know the difference!) good lighting, good angles, styling, and of course Photoshop.

 

We can change ourselves into whatever we want to be. We live in a day and age where we have more choice than ever, and we can spend lots of money modifying our appearance, striving to reach the unattainable perfection that we believe is the norm thanks to the media’s constant use of all of the above… Or we can just accept that this is what we look like.

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If you feel happy and comfortable with yourself, and you FEEL beautiful, you will LOOK beautiful.

Think Of The Future

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It’s the era of the profile picture. That tiny photo represents us. To people we hardly know, it’s who we are.

But the person you’re marrying, they love the person in the photograph, they’ve seen you at all angles & in all lights – when you’re happy, when you’re sad, in sickness and in health; they’ve seen you with a runny nose, surrounded by tissues and empty cough sweet wrappers and they still love you. (I dare you to put THAT as your profile pic!) And I know they love you because when they let their guard down, and I take a photo, I can see it in their eyes, in their faces, in their bodies. They tell the story.

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And the children you may have with the person that you are marrying, they may have children one day too, who won’t have been to your wedding day. But their children can look at your wedding photographs and know exactly who you were.

And their children will have children who may never have met you, but who can look at your wedding photographs and know exactly who you were. Because you followed steps 1 and 2 and let your guard down on your wedding day, and you were you.

I hope that brides, grooms and guests everywhere everywhere follow these steps and I look forward to photographing lots of beautiful couples, their friends and their family’’

Elysia is wedding photographer based in the Buxton, Derbyshire, but she captures beautiful moments all over the UK. You can find her website here, or go and say hello on her Twitter / Facebook pages…she’s very friendly!

Last modified: 37months ago

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