to any bride who is on the fence of "should i do bridals" or "should i not do bridals" - let me help you. do them.
a lot of brides are on the fence because they think the day of the wedding you'll have so much time to snag shots of just them in their gown and they couldn't be more wrong. the wedding day is straight up insane - for women anyway.
having a whole afternoon dedicated to myself & finally seeing myself in my gown, with my hair done & make up done - it's honestly like nothing else i've ever felt.
the day started off at 9 am with my mom, my maid of honor, danielle, and myself traveling down towards rock hill to pick up my bridal bouquet and my flower crown from pink petunia designs. shortly thereafter, we drove even further south to meet erin, my make up artist of erin ashley makeup. i can't put into words how much i love her work. she sat me down, asked me questions about my preferences, and inquired about "how bold" i was willing to go with make up. i told her i wasn't scared of make up at all and she could go to town. her response? "i love clients like you."
my mom and danielle watched as she worked and about 45 minutes later, i glanced in the mirror and gasped in awe. she's a miracle worker. here are some photos we took after makeup and then again after my hair was curled and styled by my own hairstylist, meghan of MKL Salon located in Ballantyne.
after hair and makeup were complete, we had about an hour and a half to kill at home before i was to meet garrett of carolina portrait designs. side story: the second story air conditioner for our house decided to stop working about 2 days before my bridal portraits. our first story AC was still working, but as we have a two story living room, it was extremely hard to cool the whole house with one AC unit. so what's that mean? it means our house was 84 degrees inside.
you try not sweating off your makeup or sweating out your curls in that weather. i was freaking out. i was stressed. i was nervous - the weather on the day of my portraits predicted rain. i wanted some outdoor shots, even though the location, Ritchie Hill Estate, had indoor areas we could shoot. you know when you want what you want and that's all you want? that was me. hello type A planner.
we got back to my house and grabbed my dress. in the midst of everything, my floral crown snapped in half. there i was yelling "help! help!" as danielle and my mom were downstairs. danielle ran back upstairs and somehow performed straight magic with leftover bobby pins i had lying around. crisis # 1 - adverted.
since it was so hot in my house due to stupid AC issues, garrett graciously allowed us to come to his studio prior. he let me change into my dress, touch up my makeup, and just calmed me down overall due to the stress of everything. admittedly (and embarrassingly), i can get worked up easily. so have i mentioned i love my photographer?
i saw myself in my gown and was instantly calm. the rain held off for the most part and we captured the below. i will always cherish these.
