Wedding Photo of the Week: Taking it Easy

We always try and keep the portrait portions of the wedding day as painless and stress-free as possible. But some days, especially hot summer days, it can be a challenge for bridal parties to muster up the energy and enthusiasm during the portrait time.

It is never a good idea to be overly ambitious in the limited time frame we have for portraits on any wedding day, but especially not when when temperatures are soaring and bridal party patience can be limited.  With a good and realistic game plan in place, we are able to do plenty of creative as well as traditional portraits at a relaxed pace and also keep stress levels down.  We work with each couple well in advance of the wedding to come up with specific ideas, but also tips specific to the time of the year.  For example, for summer weddings, it is also a good idea to have plenty of water and a few salty snacks available on the trolley (or other transportation) to help replenish folks after the portraits are finished.  The best transportation companies always provide water and other drinks, but it doesn't hurt to grab a few extra bottles, some salty nuts or other snacks, and even a roll of paper towels to throw in for good measure.

Wedding Photo of the Week: Staying Cool at Summer Weddings

It's summertime in the city, which means fun in the sun for the most part, but on a wedding day soaring temperatures can be miserable for folks in formals.  For our featured photo this week we look back to Candice and Robert's wedding when the bridal party was lucky to run into an ice-cream vendor along the lakeshore.  He offered some sweet relief to the near 100 degree heat and high humidity.  Everyone in the bridal party got a cool treat.

© Wedding Creativo Photography

As we head into summer wedding months, here are our top 5 tips for staying cool at hot summer weddings:

1. Stay hydrated:  the top way for everyone to stay cool is to drink water.  Especially for outdoor weddings it is important to have plenty of cold water for guests throughout the entire time.  You could get creative by using old-fashioned picnic coolers placed around various areas with water bottles on ice.  Be sure to have a recycling bin for those empty bottles!

2. Wear cool fabrics:  consider light fabrics made of natural fibers for your formal wear.  Looser fitting clothing will help.  We love seersucker suits and dresses...we'll be saying more about that later this week!

3. Humans sweat:  there is no way around this, unless you are my partner Giorgio.  He is the only human I know that never sweats.  For everyone else, guys can carry a handkerchief in their back pocket and gals can keep blotting tissue papers in their purses.  Lower maintenance lighter makeup is best for the hottest days.  It is also a good idea to bring a few travel size deodorant sticks for women and men in an all-purpose "wedding day survival" bag.  Trying to fight what naturally happens during summer will always be a losing battle, so it is best to just plan for the inevitable.

4. Block the sun:  wearing sunscreen is a must, especially if you'll be outdoors for long periods of time.  A bad sunburn is not something anyone should experience on a wedding day.  Parasol umbrellas can be a stylish way for the bridal party to keep cool and also fun for pictures.  And, if we learned anything from William and Kate's royal wedding, hats can also be a fashionable way to keep the sun at bay.

5. Think of winter and go slow:  if it is going to be extremely hot, over 90 degrees, we will generally recommend couples take it easy and avoid being out in the sun too long during portrait time.  Extreme heat is just as bad as a thunderstorm when it comes to portraits.  As much as the bridal party will try to be good sports, no one likes having their portrait taken when they are hot, sweaty and exhausted in the heat.  For our couples with summer weddings we'll suggest cool - literally - indoor alternatives if the heat is going to be dangerously high during portrait time.  When we are outside in higher temperatures, we try to keep it as painless as possible, and remind folks to keep thinking about frosty the snowman and how much we all love Chicago winters, and that in just a few months the ice and snow will return.

Happy summer!