Adriana+Ray’s wedding venue, Cathedral Oaks, offered oodles of beautiful places to take pictures -inside and out.  They opted for outdoor formal portraits with family and the bridal party between their ceremony and reception and their choice illustrates beautifully how to easily get great pictures with your loved ones.

 If given the option, choose outdoors instead of indoors.  Why?  It’s all about lighting. I prefer to use available light. It’s faster, it’s easier and it’s generally more even.  Available light is surrounding light and, in an outdoor context, means sunlight.  Did you know that an overcast or partly cloudy day can actually give you some of the best light?  It can!  Though we shot these as dusk was falling, the even light and the beautiful wooded background created pictures that are definitely frame-worthy.  Often times indoor lighting has mixed tones (yellow light from above and blue outdoor light coming in from windows) that create lighting havoc, so I always suggest that if there is a beautiful outdoor location for pictures, take it outside.  You’ll be far happier with the pictures than if you keep it all indoors.

Formal portraits are a great opportunity for candid moments, too.  Here Adriana and her Grandmother share a little love :)

Color and black and white -providing options so you can create your ideal home decor with your pictures.

This was such a fun bridal party!  We had do to some goofy shots just to capture their true spirit!

Ugh!  This makes me melt.  What a handsome couple!  Completely classic.

High fives!

We snuck inside the bridal suite to utilize that stunning furniture and fabulous mirror.

Bringing the kids in for their close ups :)

Are you having an outdoor or indoor ceremony?  Either way, consider taking the formal pictures outside.  If you’re having an indoor ceremony, there will be oodles of pictures of all the key people during the ceremony and prep, so even if you have a stunning church altar, think about taking the formal shots outside.  If you have a different venue for the reception and it has some beautiful outdoor areas, let’s take those formal shots at the reception instead!

Crunched for time or sunlight?  Consider doing all of your formal pictures before the ceremony.  Here’s a great post on First Looks (the bride and groom meeting before the ceremony for an intimate time of connecting and formal portraits) -you can follow your First Looks with all the other formal portraits with family and your bridal party.  It is SO nice to knock those out of the way so that once you say “I DO” you can move right into enjoying the party with your guests and let everything flow!

Let’s talk about your wedding day itinerary and ensure you get creative, gorgeous photos for your formal portraits!

kelly@kellycameron.net  {and} 512-639-6908