Wedding Day Styling Kit

For Photographers

Last month I wrote up some great tips for my brides with tips for perfect Getting Ready photos! This month, I’m addressing my fellow wedding photographers and sharing some ideas on creating a useful Wedding Day Styling kit.

Before going any further, I do want to talk about the “why” behind bringing a wedding day styling kit to your weddings. Because I do think there is a fine line between enhancing your bride’s photos with a few fun extra items, and completely altering their style and memories of the day! We don’t want to be so concerned with “Instagram-worthy” images that we make their day look like something that wasn’t even theirs to begin with.

Instead, I like to walk into my bride’s getting ready space knowing that I am there to serve her as well as I can. To highlight HER story and THEIR love and THEIR day in the best way possible. I like to include items in their detail photos that enhance that, not take away from or change that. I also choose to include items that naturally fit and keep their images cohesive to the flow of their entire day! Here are some great items to have on hand to help create stunning detail photos!

 

Some of my favorite items

On a typical wedding day, I will usually bring a few favorite items to help style the details. These include ribbon, fabric, ring boxes, and sometimes even a tray to lay things on. I try to include textures, decorative pieces, and colors that will match with their wedding day and theme.

Check with their florist!

I mentioned this in my post for my brides, but I feel it’s important to mention here, too! Make sure your bride asks her florist for a few extra pieces for you to use in flat lays. Typically they will have at least a few leftover pieces of greenery or flowers that can add so much to the detail photos!

Other ideas to include

Some other fun and useful things to include in your wedding day styling kit could be:

• Wax – this helps keep rings standing up and in place for fun and creative ring shots
• Specialty ribbon. You can find gorgeous colors at Frou Frou Chic or Silk & Willow
• Flat-lay styling blocks. These help create layers and different depth to your flat lays with your invitation suites!
• Double-sided tape can help with invitation suites staying in place too!
• Vintage postage stamps can be a fun addition to envelopes
• Other collectible items like scissors, ribbon spool, or wax seal stamp can be used at your discretion! Sometimes a ring holder, bowl, or ring box can add a lot to showing off the rings.
• A styling mat for when you don’t have an ideal place to put your flat-lays! You can either purchase a folding one like The Styling Mat sells, or you can make your own with a canvas and any material you like.
• A pretty hanger for the bride’s dress always photographs better than a plastic hanger!

 

For inspiration

If you’re looking for some inspiration on other items to include in your flat lays, you should check out Curated Behavior or browse The Styling Mat! You can also order samples from invitation designers like Minted to have some gorgeous invitation suites to practice on!