As you’re planning your wedding day here at one of the wonderful wedding venues around Cincinnati, Ohio, you’re looking at the space available for you, the bride, to get your wedding dress on.  However, you may briefly scope out the groom’s suite and move onto the more eye pleasing spaces.   One detail often may slip your mind when planning, the groom pre-ceremony prep photos.  Sadly, this is not highlighted in the wedding industry as much as the bride, but it is just as important to capturing your full wedding story. 

Majority of the time, grooms do not understand why we would want to capture photos of him getting ready.  To help you “sell” these photos to your guy, we’ve put together our top pros and cons for getting these images of your guy on board with this part of the wedding day timeline:

In our experience, most grooms are not excited for the getting ready portion of photos on their wedding day, but we love sending Ryan to his suite to capture these images, as well as a few of him hanging out with his guys.  Our goal is to get amazing photos to highlight this part of his day with not being overly intrusive.  Preparing your groom for what to expect about this part of the wedding day will make his experience as smooth as possible.
To help with this, we have put together our top tips to help you set the appropriate expectations:

• Set Expectations:  Often grooms are not as involved in the wedding planning process and at times are, as nicely as we can sound, clueless about the day of events.  We recommend explaining to your groom about what to expect on the wedding day regarding his prep.  While you normally see the pre-ceremony prep photos of the bride, the groom is just as important on this day and there are a few photos that are must haves.  Letting the groom know what to expect will ease his nerves and annoyances.  We understand he just wants to hang with the guys but we also understand how capturing a few photos of him getting ready will complete you wedding day story!

• Gather the Details: Most of the time when we make the statement “gather the details”, we’re referring the bridal details but this also applies to the groom.  Typically, the guys do not have as many details as his counterpart, but nevertheless, they are a great addition to your wedding gallery.  You may wonder, what kind of things should we gather?  Keep it simple and personal!  Here is a quick list of the most common details we see (this not an inclusive list). 
  • Shoes
  • Belt
  • Tie
  • Cologne
  • Cufflinks
  • Watch
  • Unique Socks (unworn)
  • Any Important/Personal Items

• Window Light:  We cannot tell you how many times Ryan walks into a groom’s suite and it’s literally a dark cave.  While this space can be great for a game of pool while enjoying an ice cold beer, it really makes it hard to capture well lit photos for you, the bride to gush over later on.  Our recommendation is to talk ahead of time with the groom and get him in a mental space where he would be willing to head to another location with a beautiful light (normally by a window or door) for a few minutes to get some photos.   Since the groom is normally mostly dressed, no need to worry about being too scantily clad to be seen in case someone walks by expectantly.

• Helping Hand:  If you know anything about us, we’re all about being prepared!  One way to help your groom prepare for his pre-ceremony prep photos is to determine who is going to help him with the finishing touches before the big day. This will ensure the right people are there at the right time.  Plus, it can help avoid any awkward conversations.  There is nothing like having to choose who is going the help in front of everyone, especially if there is a bigger bridal party.  Please remember, guys have emotions and feelings too!  Plus, he may want his dad to help with his jacket or maybe his mom help him with his cufflinks…. Or he could be the type of guy who wants to do it solo!  Having this conversation ahead of the time will give him a space to let you know what he would like. Remember, it’s his day too!

• Efficiency:  After capturing weddings for a bit now, one common concern we hear from grooms are about taking away time from relaxing with their buddies.  While a bride getting into her dress does take some time, a groom getting ready will take a whopping 10 minutes.  Ok… maybe 15 if Ryan takes his time!   Honestly, this part of the day is super quick and will cause minimum interference to the groom’s day.  Now… the details are done separately and are done without the groom.  Just let you guy know we’re not here to drag out photos. We know he is doing most likely doing them for you and we want to make sure he has a wonderful day!

The groom is as much of a part of the wedding day and deserves to be highlighted accordingly.  Although he may not be thrilled with having photos taken of him getting dress, years to come, both of you will be ecstatic to reminisce about these moments.  Following these tips will allow us to work as efficiently as possible to make sure he has plenty of time to hang out with his guys before we have to whisk him away to meet you for the first time on your wedding day!

Happy Planning,

Nicole and Ryan