8 Simple Tips for Posing for Your Wedding by Studio Uma

Lights, camera, romance! With all the wonderful chaos of your wedding, one of the most important parts of the day (besides saying "I Do" and marrying your true love—of course!) is when you and your S.O. escape for a portrait session! These everlasting moments bring fairy tales to life and will be passed on from generation to generation so surely you want them to be the best! Studio Uma knows just how to capture your best self on film, so keep reading and get ready to flash those pearly whites and strike the perfect pose!

Taking posed portraits is one of my favorite parts of being a wedding photographer. I love being able to capture a person’s natural beauty in an image. Sometimes brides ask me for advice before a shoot. So I’d love to share a few modeling tips for brides and grooms-to-be. Whether you’re getting ready for an engagement session or your wedding day portraits, I hope these pointers are helpful!

1. Use Your Hands to Communicate
Your hands can be caressing your fiances face or resting on his shoulder/chest/etc. Any kind of interaction is better than just arms just limply hanging there.

• For example, an expression of love or passion – like a kiss – is more convincing if you’re also using your hands to communicate. Like running your fingers through his hair, or pulling him into you. A good photograph tells a story about the people in it. The more you can communicate “love” with your body language – the more stunning your photos will be.

2. Elongate Your Spine
This is one of the most powerful tips on the list! It automatically makes you look more graceful. So shoulders back and stop hunching (your mother was right!) By the way, having good posture is something that makes all your wedding photos better – not just the portraits. It makes ceremony pictures better. And first dance pictures better. And putting-on-your-dress pictures better. Good posture does wonders for photos.

3. Make Each Other Laugh
The camera LOVES it. Even if you don’t think of yourself as a comedian, you do know your fiance pretty well and I bet you could think of one or two things to whisper to him/her to make them react (and if you know where they’re ticklish, then hey…) And making another person laugh is a chain reaction. Soon you’re laughing at their surprise, and voila – a real moment for the camera to capture.

4. Shift Your Weight
Posing is all about creating pleasing lines and angles. For standing poses, let your weight shift to one leg – so that one hip pops out. That creates an elegant curve to the body. To take this one step further, emphasize the bend in your other leg, pointing that bent knee slightly across your body.

5. Sometimes The “In-Between” Moments Are The Best
When your photographer is setting up/changing lenses/etc it’s better if you engage with each other. Joke around, kiss, laugh, whatever. I find that in-between time can be magical, when the couple is truly relaxed and having fun – and not overly concerned with me. I see that as a gift. I didn’t have to orchestrate a moment of love, they’re just connecting naturally.

6. Smile With Your Eyes
In other words, smize. If you’ve ever seen America’s Next Top Model, you might have heard this term from Tyra Banks (the queen of smizing). Your eyes convey your inner emotion. So your eyes are a really important part of the pose. If you can bring intensity into your eyes, the photo will be infused with energy and life. Professional models know how to do this, but for the rest of us – here is one way to achieve the smize. One of my favorite is to ask a bride to convey “passion” or “possessiveness” using just her eyes. A model I once worked with said “I think about shooting laser beams out of my eyes”! Whatever image works for you. The idea is to avoid a blank stare.

7. Play With Props
From sparklers to rose petals to a Vespa to your adorable dogs – will make it easier to create movement and moments in your photos. Props can transform a typical photo into something magical.

• But props don’t just mean sparklers and rose petals. You can create movement and moments simply by playing with your dupata, your bouquet, his tie etc – items you have readily available. It can be as simple as reaching down to smooth out your dress or reaching up to “fix” your earring. The subtlest action can take a “good” photograph to “amazing”.

8. Forget Everything – And Relax
While it’s great if you know what a smize is, I don’t expect my clients to know anything at all about posing or modeling. After all it is the photographer's job to direct the photo shoot and make beautiful photographs. So find a photographer that you’re comfortable with – and leave the difficult stuff to them (figuring out how and where to pose you). It’s amazing how what you feel inside is literally broadcast on your face and in your body language!

• Of course choose a photographer whose style you like, but more importantly, sit down and have coffee with this person if you can, and just see if you like spending time with them. They are present for the kisses, and the tears. So when they’re around, you should feel relaxed and free to be yourself. That sense of trust and comfort shines through in your photographs.

Now you're ready for the spotlight! Grab your hubby and get ready to fill up your wedding album with a bevy breathtaking portraits! Thanks Studio Uma!