WFW: Bridal Portraits

I found a weekend in late October when my mom could drive up from Houston and scheduled my bridal portraits.  Now this is a southern tradition, that I never realized wasn't common elsewhere.  It serves as a great dry-run for your wedding day look and frees up time on your wedding day, since you already have a million gorgeous pictures of yourself.

We went back to the Dallas Arboretum, where Ross and I had taken our engagement pictures.  I brought both my mom and MOH M with me to be my helpers.  It was great to have people help carry my stuff and help me get dressed in the parking lot.  Yeah, remember how I said that you can't get dressed inside the Arboretum?  Since all 3 of us had itty-bitty Hondas, there was no way to get into a giant wedding dress in the car... So I wore my bustier bra and boy shorts under sweatpants and a zipper hoodie.  We parked in a spot off to the side and threw down a sheet on the empty parking spot next to us.  Then we gently pooled the unzipped dress on the sheet and I stepped into it.  When it was pulled up, I ditched the hoodie and wriggled out of the pants.  Then the girls zipped me up!  It was super-classy.  It was actually really quick and easier than I'd thought it would be.  We'd brought a second sheet to hold up to shield my modesty, but it ended up being pretty unnecessary.  The sheets came in handy later for when I was laying on the grass or sitting on dirty surfaces.  (Hint: Bring ones that are similar in colour to your dress so they blend in.)

Another added benefit of my helpers:  All too often, I end up with a smile on my lips, but at "take the fricken' picture" look in my eyes.  Working with our awesome photographer, who captured natural shots and having mom and M to make me laugh really minimized this phenomenon.

Doing the pictures at the Arboretum, means that we had a variety of backgrounds to choose from and that we could repeat locations from the engagement pictures which was very fun.

OK, enough talk...

Mom and MOH M were dancing to make me laugh.

These were very strange to take, but I love how they came out.

The photographer wrapped my veil around me to make it look dreamy.

MOH M is just out of frame to the right.  There was no wind.  

Just M holding the veil high and letting it go.

How sweet was this little girl!?  

She was there with her mom and sister and got excited when she saw me in my dress.

Her mom kept apologizing that she was in the way, but the photographer loved it and snapped away.

I had fun pole dancing in my dress ;)

This is the one that we displayed at the reception.

(That's one of the purposes of the bridal portrait- to have one to display at the reception.)

This day was a lot of fun!  It was close to Halloween, so there were lots of kids in costume.  More than one asked if I was a princess.  The Arboretum is a popular place for portraits and even weddings, so I saw plenty of brides scattered around.  It was a fabulous way to gear up for the big day and get comfortable with my dress and veil.