bridal flowers and photography tips

Every bride wants to shine, and flowers are a perfect medium for adding extra glamour and style. Sally Newell, co-founder of Serendipity Media Melbourne, a boutique Melbourne wedding photography company for Melbourne brides, gives advice regarding photography and bridal flowers for creating stunning wedding images, and answers your questions regarding flower size, shape, colour and holding the bouquet in relation to to your theme, mood and figure.

Flower choice

Fresh flowers are the best, they look better and last better so choose flowers that are in season for the most beautiful look in the photos and the lowest impact on your budget. Out of season flowers may not stand up well to the climate or time on your day.

Most brides use flowers to complement rather than overpower the dress and decorations. At Serendipity Photography we find that is easy to make beautiful photographs from bouquets with either a single flower type with a softness to the rhythm of the flowers or subtly toning colours or textures, rather than harsh contrast of, say, white and red roses jam-packed in one posy.

Bouquet types: most brides carry some variation of the posy, often larger and softer than the traditional Victorian version, graduating up to the larger teardrop, trail and cascade bouquets, with origins in the shower bouquet (complete with trailing flowers on lovers knots) of the 1920's and 30's. It is good to complement your dress and figure: a larger bouquet may overpower a more modest dress or petite bride, but be fantastic for larger figures; you can hold the bouquet across the neckline or over the shoulder to enhance bridal close-ups, or hug the figure at the waistline for three-quarter portraits.

Colour and mood

A question to consider when you are choosing a bouquet, is when your family and guests see you, will they first up see mainly the bouquet or rather your face. The bouquet should enhance your own skin and dress tones. The more dramatic rich flower colours suiting darker skins would swamp my Celtic looks, for instance, which are better with toning pastel roses and orchids. Some brides choose a theme with brighter colours or a stronger, more exotic look and that mood should carry into the bouquet and floral accessories.

Holding the bouquet

The short answer is any way you like! Swing it, trail it, by your waist or side or under your chin… flowers can really enhance bridal portraiture. At Serendipity Photography, we create beautiful bridal portraits, using the flowers to softly frame the face, or the bottom of the photograph, even shooting past several bridesmaids bouquets held close to the camera, so the bride can be surrounded by a sea of flowers. Alternatively, the bouquet can be placed on the table, nestling in the veil perhaps with jewelry, and photographed with softly rounded backlight, or, for those who want something sharper and crisper, flowers could become an abstract shape on a glass surface.

Timing

A good time for all your flowers to arrive is around two hours before you leave (drive time, plus ten minutes extra to cater for chats with neighbours, last minutes checks and special moments with family) so that you can have beautiful photos with your flowers where you are getting ready and the flowers will be as fresh as possible.

Flowers on location

For wedding photography in Melbourne, we all have to consider the weather! Four seasons in one day,straight sun, no clouds—equally bad for photographing weddings where you would generally prefer the soft light of a balmy spring day with a light dusting of clouds. At Serendipity we conserve the condition of your flowers on very hot days—by choosing shady or interior locations, more flattering for faces as well, or suggesting a water spray or even cradling your flowers in an esky when driving. Of course it is important for you to have asked your florist to prepare the flowers for maximum freshness, a service offered by any reputable florist.

At the reception

Ask your photographer to place the bridal bouquet next to the centre table flower arrangement and then shoot between them for a nicely framed couple portrait at the bridal table. We gather plenty of views of the table, cake and other details of the room with using your flowers for that extra touch of glamour; for instance holding a bridesmaids bouquet next to a mirror frame for a view of the room with a glint of gold through the edge of the bouquet; or having flowers at the top of the shot of the place names. For the photos of throwing the bouquet, take your time, throw with a slow up sweep and rush over to congratulate the winner for lovely candid shots.

In your album

Bridal flowers in all their variety of shapes and sizes, with the changing rhythms of both fine and larger details can form beautiful backgrounds in contemporary digital wedding albums. Backgrounds can very very subtle or form an inherent part of the image mix. Flowers can offer shape, line and texture to your album images—imagine the intricate patterns of orchids or the long sinuous lines of lilies in your page mix. Perhaps you prefer the classic shapes of rose petals as a contrast to your jewelry or dress fabric.