The Greenes Photos + Films Favorite Bridal Session Locations
Last week I had a lovely bride ask me for bridal session location recommendations. Years ago I had a post about some of our favorites, but as we have gained more experience, our preferences have changed a bit. I figured it was time for a new post.
First things first… A bit about bridal sessions. We shoot about 20 bridal sessions each year. So, they certainly aren’t for all of our clients. And that’s completely okay! In fact, each year we have a handful of clients that have never even heard of bridal sessions. Crazy, right? But the bridal session is actually a southern tradition. One that we love, but we can absolutely understand why it’s not a priority for everyone.
We think bridal sessions are a great way to “trial” a portion of the wedding experience. It’s a great trial run for your hair and make-up. You’ll spend several hours in your full wedding day attire, so it’s a great opportunity to see if your shoes are comfortable, if you need more supportive undergarments to keep them from slipping down, if your alterations are just perfect, etc. You’ll also get to see what your wedding day bouquet will look like and will have the chance to work with your florist if you’d rather it be larger/smaller or have a different variety of blooms. While we see the many pros to the bridal session, we can also recognize that it can get quite pricey with hair/make-up/bouquet payments on top of our session fee.
Will and I always like to schedule a two hour block for our bridal sessions and ideally they are scheduled in the two hour window prior to sunset.
Alright, so here’s the highlight of our post… LOCATION IDEAS!
Your Venue
Most of our brides have one of two schools of thought on using the venue for the bridal session. Either they are worried that using the venue for the session will overuse the property OR they are worried that if they don’t use the venue, they will regret not having lots of photos taken there. So our best advice is to think about the variety of spaces at your venue. If your venue is a “one trick pony” (think barn standing in a field by itself or a ballroom type space), it may not be the best option for an entire session. But if your venue is set on several acres and offers both indoor and outdoor options, it will be a great option because there likely won’t be time on the wedding day to explore ALL of those spaces. Many of the venues I’m sharing here offer brides without a contracted wedding to have a session on the property with a fee. So other wedding venues are always an option and are great because they offer an indoor option in the event of rain.
Washington
Washington is always a top pick for our brides. We love it because there is a lot of variety. It is only 45 minutes from our home in Farmville, so there is no travel fee for us. It is a great option year round since even in the dead of winter, there’s not as much noticeable lack of greenery. In the summer, there’s typically a decent breeze off the water.
Elmwood 1820 Bed and Breakfast
We love this quaint bed and breakfast in Washington. While there are some indoor options (depending on how many guests are on site), the beauty truly lies in the porch and walkway up to the main house. There is a fee for this location.
Rose Hill Estates
Rose Hill is an amazing wedding venue that will allow outside brides to use the property. There are SOOOO many options for epic photos on the property. There are several indoor spaces as well as large porches in the event of rain. There is a fee for this location.
Merrimon-Wynne House
The Merrimon-Wynne is one of our favorite choices for an indoor bridal session. The only drawback is they schedule bridal sessions during business hours, so there’s not an opportunity for golden hour photos, but the house has sooooo many amazing spots with lovely couches that you won’t even miss having tons of outdoor photos. There is a fee for this location.
May-Lew Farm
Another favorite wedding venue of ours is the May-Lew Farm in Farmville. It’s super close to us, so there is no travel fee for us. But the property is simply amazing. While, we love to focus on the outdoor spaces, there are several indoor options in the event of rain. There is a fee for this location.
Tryon Palace
If you’re looking for epic shots, Tryon is your place! There is definitely opportunity for lots of epic shots at Tryon. We personally don’t feel that adding on the indoor option to your bridal session package is worth the extra fee, but it’s always an option. There is a fee for this location.
Rocky Mount Mills
Another hidden gem in eastern NC… The Rocky Mount Mills is such a lovely area, and they have such a large indoor space to capture some really dramatic photos. There is a fee for this location.
Yankee Hall
Yankee Hall is another of our favorites when it comes to a back-up indoor plan. SOOOO many gorgeous spots on property for a variety of indoor and outdoor photos. There is a fee for this location.
A few things to keep in mind when choosing a location for your bridal session:
1- At the time of this writing, our bridal sessions are $450. There is an additional travel fee for locations >45 minutes from our home in Farmville. We do our best to keep our fees reasonable for sessions between 45 minutes and 2 hours of our home. However, the fee does go up for locations >2 hours from our home to compensate for us essentially blocking off an entire day at that point. Trust me, ya’ll, our local sessions are MUCH easier on us than planning an entire day around a session.
2- Speaking of distance traveled, you’ll want to choose a location relatively close to home. Between hair and make-up and the two hour session late in the day, it’s a long day. Also, I promise that when the day comes and you’re tracking rain chances, it will feel SOOOO much less daunting with a session closer to home.
3- Bridal sessions require a bit more planning than an engagement session - hair, make-up, bouquet… So choosing a location with an indoor option from the get-go may save you LOTS of stress when it comes to thinking about what will happen should it rain.
4- Will and I do not set up the session with venues. You will be the one to call and check on availability and pricing of using the location.
Tips for the bridal session:
1- Eat a little something and hydrate before the session and bring along a snack and water. I know this sounds crazy, but we have had MULTIPLE brides feel faint during the bridal session. I personally think it’s a mixture of nerves and the fact that hair/make-up often take longer than our brides expect meaning they are a bit rushed and don’t get time for a quick bite to eat.
2- Bring along only one or two people with you. While an entire entourage feels like fun, they can often feel a bit overwhelming with opinions and distractions.
3- Plan for a bouquet. Otherwise, you’ll spend a lot of time wondering what to do with your hands.
4- We typically recommend scheduling your bridal session for 4-6 weeks prior to the wedding, but we can do earlier to plan for a more photogenic season. We can even do closer to the wedding but we HIGHLY recommend choosing a location with an indoor option if you choose to do closer than 6 weeks prior to the wedding date.
5- Less of a tip, but more of an FYI our clients typically receive 100+ images from the bridal session.
6- We highly recommend that you arrive and are fully dressed at the scheduled start time of our session. Getting into your dress and all of your accessories will take longer than you suspect. We schedule the timing of your session to best use available natural light. Starting even 15 minutes late can significantly affect the number of images you will receive in your final gallery.
7- There’s no need to bring a sheet to place under the dress. We promise we move slowly and intentionally to keep your dress as clean as possible. When we used a sheet in the past, we ended up tucking it so far under the dress so as not to be seen in the photo that it truly defeated the purpose and simply slowed us down. A white towel is however helpful for any sitting poses.