Getting ready is my favorite hour of a wedding day and the one couples plan for least.

It is also the hour with the most variables. Ten people in a hotel room, a hair stylist working, somebody's mom looking for a steamer, pizza boxes on the bed. I can work in that. But a few small decisions beforehand make these photos dramatically better, and none of them cost anything.

Pick the Room With the Window

If you have any choice at all, pick the brightest room.

Window light is soft, flattering, and it makes everything look expensive. Overhead hotel lighting is orange, harsh, and comes from directly above, which is the least flattering direction that exists.

Bride reflected in a mirror while getting ready, black and white — One window. That is the whole lighting setup.

If your room is dark, I bring lights and it will be fine. But the free version is better.

Clear One Corner

Not the whole room. One corner near the window.

That corner becomes where you put on the dress, where the portraits happen, and where I shoot most of the emotional moments. Everything else can be chaos, and usually is.

Practical version: pile the bags on one bed, keep the other bed clear.

Hang the Dress Somewhere Good

Not on the back of a bathroom door under a vent.

A window, a doorframe, a balcony rail, anywhere with light and a clean background behind it.

Wedding dress hanging in a doorway, black and white — A doorway with light behind it.

Wedding dress hanging outdoors on a balcony before the ceremony — Outside works too, if it is not windy.

Also worth saying: a nice hanger takes ten seconds and replaces the plastic one from the shop in every photo.

Get Everyone Dressed Before You Are

This is the one piece of scheduling advice that changes the most.

If your people are still in robes when you put your dress on, every photo of that moment has bathrobes in it. If they are dressed, the photos look like a wedding.

Have your wedding party fully ready thirty minutes before you get into your dress. Your hair and makeup team can build this into the schedule if you ask.

Bridesmaids in matching robes and sunglasses during getting ready — Robes are great for this part. Just not for the dress part.

Decide Who Is In the Room

The moment you put the dress on is usually small and emotional, and it plays differently with four people in the room than with fourteen.

There is no right answer. Just make it a decision instead of an accident.

Bride with her mother in a quiet moment before the ceremony — Usually the quietest photo of the whole day.

The Guys Room

Two honest notes.

Everyone is ready in fifteen minutes and then sits around, so the real photos are the sitting around. Cufflinks, tie, watch, the last look in the mirror, someone's dad helping.

Groom adjusting his tie before the wedding, black and white — Fifteen minutes of getting ready, an hour of waiting.

And the room is usually a disaster. Take two minutes to clear the beer cans off the table before I get there. That is all I ask.

Timing

Details: 20 to 30 minutes, ideally when I first arrive
Candids during hair and makeup: overlaps with the above
Getting into the dress: 15 to 20 minutes
Portraits with your people: 15 minutes
Buffer: 15 minutes, because hair and makeup runs long. It always runs long.

Roughly 90 minutes total for a relaxed version. You can compress to 60 if needed.

The Short Version

Bright room. One clean corner. Nice hanger. Everyone dressed before you. Details in a box.

Five things, none of them expensive, and together they change the entire first chapter of your gallery.

Let's Plan It

If you want help building a getting ready timeline that actually holds, send me your hair and makeup schedule and I will work backward from your ceremony. More on the portfolio, and you can reach out here.

Getting Ready Photos: How to Set Up the Room