The wedding day is one of the most important days in any persons life. The bride especially has likely been dreaming of the day since she was young. When doing shots of the bride by herself, it’s super important to capture photos that show off her elegance and beauty but also reflect the natural joy and excitement she felt. This is one tricky balance, so our Atlanta wedding photographers use a variety of poses and shots to make sure the bride looks her absolute best. This week, let’s walk through just a few of our favorite bridal solo poses!

1. Standard Head-To-Toe

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For this pose, simply have the bride stand straight and smile while you take a head-to-toe shot, reminding her to keep her chin up, shoulders down so that she doesn’t look tense. If she’s holding her bouquet, make sure she keeps her elbows away from her side so that they look longer and leaner. This is a very classic, very simple pose that is a no-brainer and it is a perfect ice breaker to start off the session. The bride will also have a lot of room to play with the way they hold their arms, pop their hip, etc. It’s a perfect way to ensure you capture a photo of the bride looking completely natural and by going from head-to toe she will get to show off her undoubtedly gorgeous bridal look!

2. Accessory Adjustments

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For this pose, have the bride refasten her earrings or straighten her necklace or bracelet. Tell her to look at the action while doing so, but make sure you can still see her face and facial expressions in the shot. This is a shot that can add to the “story” of the day, in a sense. It can be very candid and catches the brides feelings in real time as she puts on the attire that she will start the next chapter of her life in. This can capture her joy and her thoughtfulness and may also reflect the support of those around her if you capture her mother adjusting the necklace or her sister helping with her shoes.

3. The Mirror Shot

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In order to get a more artistic feel, take a photo of the bride in front of a mirror. For this shot she can either be facing towards the mirror or standing with her back to it. This is another opportunity to show off the brides killer ensemble while also showing off a beautiful asset of the wedding venue, which is always a plus. This shot can also be very deep, very poignant photo made to represent her change from a young girl to a bride with a husband and possibly a new family. Shooting this in black and white can really add to the deep and thoughtful tone as well.

4. Shot From Behind

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This shot can be incredibly artistic and beautiful. Have the bride stand with her back to the camera and then turn her head around to face you. Make sure you do this in front of a window or glass door with lots of light coming through and have the bride hold open the window curtain or place her hand on the doorframe so that her arm looks longer and leaner. This shot is the perfect way to capture the brides amazing train and/or veil while not looking deliberate. Also, by shooting in front of a window or glass door, the light can frame the bride and sometimes shine through her veil, making for a really incredible effect for the final shot.

5. Smelling The Bouquet

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This one can be a pretty casual shot but it can be done in so many ways and can display several different emotions. Simply have the bride smell her bouquet and take a snap of it. You can shoot it so that the bouquet covers her face up to her eyes to convey an air of mystery. You can have the bride smile with her eyes pointed towards the camera to show her joy or you can have her face be calm and her eyes tilted downwards to the bouquet to give off a sense of thoughtfulness and calm. On a different note, this is also a great opportunity to show off the bouquet, especially if the flowers have a special meaning or if the bride added a special trinket to them.

6. Sitting Down

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This pose is one of my favorites and it is sort of unique but more and more brides are doing this one. Have the bride sit on one of the venues nicest chairs or couches and take a snap. You can go simple with this and have the bride sitting straight up and holding her bouquet in front, smiling at the camera or you can go very dramatic and she can be draped in the chair a little bit with her arm draped on the armrest and her chin tilted up looking away from the camera. Personally, I think that the more dramatic you go with this one the better. Encourage your bride to really have fun with this one and play it up because if she does it can look very high fashion and like she’s the queen of the castle sitting on her throne.

7. The Twirl

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This pose is a classic and it’s an easy one to do. Simply have the bride grab a handful of her dress and spin around so that the skirt fans out. This works especially well is the bride is wearing a ballgown silhouette but can also work if she has an interesting train or veil and you can get the series of motion of the skirt twirling around. During the twirl the bride can show off her dress and have a little bit of a laugh while almost dancing around, lifting her spirits and helping her forget her nerves.

8. Standing on Steps

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This is another way you can get really artistic with your photos, as long as there’s a staircase of any kind nearby. Have the bride stand and pose on the staircase, or have her walkdown the stairs and capture her movement. You can really swoop the veil along the stairs to capture all of the detail of the ensemble, or you can have the bride really play it up. As you can see, we had one bride who wanted to do a fun shot that recreated the Cinderella palace steps pose from the film! This photo can also be a great metaphor for the bride stepping into this new chapter of her life.

9. “Hooray For Getting Married” Pose

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This one is probably the most fun of all the poses. Just tell the bride to let out her excitement about getting married, or maybe ask a question along the lines of “are you excited about today?” and photograph her reaction. She may do a fist pump or jump in the air and if you ask her to do the reaction facing off camera or with her back to the camera this can look even more candid and fun. What’s special about this pose is that it will be her natural reaction on camera and it can help her get all of the jitters out and she can just focus on being happy in that moment.

Thanks for checking out this Atlanta wedding photographers blog! I hope you enjoyed the read and that it inspired you with some new ideas. Make sure you keep coming back to our blog to see what the Atlanta wedding photographers at Atlanta Artistic Weddings are up to! If you’d like to contact me go to the contact page and drop me a line at https://www.atlantaartisticweddings.com/contact-atlanta-wedding-photographer. I would love to hear from you!

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