Love Captured By The Lens ~ Would You Consider A Pre-Wedding Photo Shoot Experience?

GIt's been a while since our contributing writer Jess shared her latest bridal musings with us – and that's probably because she only went and got herself married! Congratulations Jess! I can't wait to see the photographs! Today, Jess shares her thoughts and poses questions for our readers today on the idea of the 'pre-wedding shoot' – a term I tend to avoid on the blog, I much prefer 'Love Shoot', but, whatever you prefer to call it, we're talking about the idea of posting for photographs before your wedding today. Why do it, what the benefits are and how do you feel about the idea? 

Since having our wedding pre-shoot, so many people have asked me what the experience felt like.  Friends have said they want/wanted one but weren't sure what to expect.  I know exactly what they mean – I'm not a shy person by any means and I feel like we "click" (excuse the pun) with our photographer Andy from Harrera Images, but even though he is friendly and I feel I can be myself around him, I still dreaded the pre-shoot experience.

Love My Dress Wedding Blog – Photography Copyright (c) 2013, Harrera Images

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The reason for dreading it?  A million reasons – forced intimacy, kissing in front of a lens right in our faces, awkwardness, you name it.  The day arrived: a rainy, wet, cold day.  I put on my leggings, boots, jumper and winter coat.  Looking in the mirror before leaving the house I realised how normal I looked, like I was about to walk the dogs.  I didn't look particularly glamorous or photo-shoot worthy!

I considered a slick of vibrant red lipstick to add a bit of allure before remembering Andy's advice: "the pre-shoot is about being yourself and acting natural in front of each other and your photographer.  You need to act like I'm not there and don't worry about looking a certain way, this is simply an opportunity for you to get used to the process and to capture those genuine moments, what makes you you."  I put the lipstick back on the dresser and off we went.

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The location?  A beautiful expansive beach in Cornwall, practically deserted due to the January weather.  Now I have to be honest, it did feel a little weird to begin with: Andy telling us to "walk to the shore, have a little kiss and then walk back" – despite being together for the best part of a decade, we didn't know where to put our hands, do we hold hands or not?  Hug?  Skip?  Argh!  We ended up walking slowly to the shore holding hands then not, standing apart, standing together.

The further we got from Andy the more we relaxed and started being able to laugh about the experience.  Once we reached the actual shore we sometimes even forgot he was there (which wasn't difficult as he was hundreds of yards away from us with a long lens).

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The entire shoot lasted around an hour and once that first five minutes was over we began to relax.  Andy would come towards us, go away, sometimes we couldn't even see him.  He would let us do our own thing then direct us, for instance he showed us a particular piece of sand to stand on which all seemed random but when the photos came back what makes the picture so great is where we are stood in relation to everything.

The style of Andy and his team at Harrera Images is a natural reportage style, grainy artistic images that document a genuine moment instead of posing for a staged event.  Therefore the best bit when we received the photos back was knowing that everything he had caught on camera was the truth of what happened between Jake and I on that day.  He actually said before the pre-shoot commenced "whatever happens in front of the camera I just try to make it look nice, my job is to facilitate engagement between the couple then capture the emotion between them and bring it to life".

I love that.  Even the images where I'm looking at the camera usually happened because he called my name.

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Would I recommend the pre-shoot experience to other people?  Absolutely! 

We had a lot of fun on the shoot and learnt what to expect from being with Andy on the wedding day.  Receiving the photos back we did a shortlist of our "favourite few" The shortlist of "favourites" came to 26.  We realised we love these photos more than any others we've had taken.

After ten years together and going to numerous events and having many photos taken (including several of myself at business events) I've never seen pictures of us I love more than this one hour shoot in my shabby beach walking clothes, without any make-up on a rainy Sunday afternoon in January.  The way Andy caught the genuine emotion and closeness between us – our bond, is incredible and I'd do it again tomorrow.  My only concern now is how can the wedding pictures possibly beat this?  We are currently awaiting those images now so I'll keep you posted!

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What do you think readers?  Would you consider a pre-shoot?  Does the idea of learning to relax in front of the camera if you're more than little camera shy help? Or do you find the whole idea rather irksome? 

I hope I have helped convince you if you're on the fence, as despite thinking it was a bit embarrassing and pointless, I got a lot from it and the experience was truly fantastic.  Perhaps you've already had it?  How was it and did you enjoy it?

You can see some really beautiful pre-wedding/couples images on Love My Dress here.

Jess

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Jess Billingham, Blogger at Love My Dress and Founder of www.treatalady.com

Annabel

Annabel View all Annabel's articles

Founder of Love My Dress. Passionate Podcaster and Editor. Annabel lives in rural North Yorkshire with her husband and business partner Philip, their two daughters and menagerie of furry hounds. She loves photography, meditation, walking, being outdoors and star gazing. She is fierce when it comes to championing talent within the wedding industry and when she's not working on Love My Dress, she supports her husband Philip in the running of the family's sustainable flower farm and floral design business, Moonwind Flowers. In 2013, she became a published author.

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