I had heard over the years of photo shoots with daughters in their Mom’s wedding dress as kids. I probably found it through Pinterest when I was trying to figure out what to do with my own dress! Alas, I have boys. Though I do think they would have fun trying to climb in and out of my poufy dress!
When this mama asked about a shoot of her girls in her own wedding dress, I was very game to try! We planned it out, got super excited, and then got rained out. Then it rained for years on end. No, not really, but it sure felt like it this last Spring in Kansas.
Eventually the rains passed, or at least gave us sunshine in between, and we set up a shoot date yet again. This time no rain. Just heat. Lots of it. And bugs. And distracted toddlers. But that part is par for the course! And of course, a big, fluffy wedding dress.
We headed out to an easement type shared space for their neighborhood. It had beautiful light, a foot bridge, pathways, a pond, and zero people. It was glorious for me. I could shoot there for days.
The girls were excited and goofy. Baby F was unamused. Their mom and I had accessories a-plenty. Mom brought her original TWO sets of shoes…her originally chosen pair, and the pair she ended up wearing. She said one was comfortable, and one was cute. They were both fully coated in silver glitter and magnificent.
We had plenty of goofy outtakes. The girls would get uninterested, or silly, or distracted. Lots of silly faces, elaborate stories (love them!), and shenanigans.
M went first and did so well. She was our test subject for how to get the dress to stay up on the girls’ small frames. We even had to play with hair pieces to get them to stay up. This little girl always cracks me up. She has a great smile and laugh, but I love her serious faces as well. We talked about her day and what she was currently interested in. We also talked about her baby (her sister), and how she helps make her smile. She gave me so many adorable shots that it was hard to choose which ones to keep!
E was in love with the jewelry, the shoes, the veil, and just about every accessory we had. She desperately wanted to wear the sparkly shoes, but the adults knew that wouldn’t go well. I made sure to get them in some of the shots though! She told me some stories of her recent outings and loved rolling around in the dress!
With the heat, and probably the time of day, as well as the excitement of the shoot, and simply being toddlers, the window of photo opportunity was short. We didn’t get a lot of photos of the girls together. Partly because of disinterest from them, and partly due to failing to get them all to look anywhere near me. The few group shots we did get were mostly by accident. It was often one kiddo plopping suddenly into the shot of the other. It just makes me laugh to watch toddler actions sometimes. There mom was also doing some smart thinking and plopped baby F into the setup and one point and E went with it! Sadly M immediately left the area and refused to come back. Again, par for the course.
Overall I had a blast and I would say it was a complete success! I laughed so much during our shoot and came away with way more images than I even thought that I would at the beginning.
Their mama says she loves them, and that always makes my day. The girls got to play dress up, and I got to make beautiful photos. I think I may need to revisit this type of session in the future!
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