Fine Art Bridal and Boudoir Photography Session

Back in February, I had the opportunity to style a fine art bridal and boudoir photography session with a dream team of vendors! Because ‘bridal portraits’ are fairly traditional, I feel like a lot of brides stick mainly to the traditional studio/portrait style of photography when it comes time for their session. This typically consists of the bride in either a photography studio or an outdoor setting, in her dress/veil/bouquet, with posed and poised smiles. And although those types of sessions are undeniably classic and gorgeous, I wanted to show brides that they could get a bit more artistic with their sessions!

By incorporating unconventional poses and harsh shadows/light, these fine art portraits feel a little more elevated than your typical bridal portraits hanging in your grandmas living room! So when it comes to scheduling your bridal portraits- consider hiring a stylist for your shoot, or talking with your photographer about what creative direction you want to take it in!

If you do want to get more creative with your portrait session, I recommend turning to Pinterest and start collecting a lot of inspiration pictures. These pictures can be used as a source of inspo for things like: poses, colors, lighting, etc. If you are looking for inspiration on pinterest that is a similar style to this shoot, try searching terms like “fine art bridal portraits” or “classy fine art boudoir.” Take a look at what my preliminary inspiration board was for this shoot, and you will definitely notice some similar poses and lighting that we used as inspiration for our own shoot!

My favorite thing about this bridal portrait session is that we decided to do a boudoir session as well. In the boudoir session, we were able to incorporate elements from the bridal looks to create sophisticated and cohesive looks! I think a lot of the time, people have an idea that boudoir photography has to be raunchy and moody. Although that style works great for some brides, I think it might discourage some brides as well. So once again, I wanted to show that there is another way to take boudoir photos- a way that was a bit more soft, feminine, and elevated. I love that we were able to use the veil in a lot of the boudoir portraits, as well as the skirt from one of the dresses. It created a very romantic and feminine feel!