Today’s blog is covering what I bring in my styling kit on wedding days!
Photographing weddings is a lot of pressure. There’s a lot going on during a wedding day; hair, makeup, flowers, cake, catering, drinks, photos, videos – is there even a moment to breathe? Well, from experience, fleeting ones. Savor them.
But as a photographer, I do my best to set us all up for success with one simple tool; My Styling Kit!
What is a styling kit?
It’s my little bag of essentials I bring with me to style wedding detail photos. My styling kit essentials ensure I’m prepared to assist my couples in creating beautiful wedding images. From invitations and shoes to dresses and bouquets, these little things will help you curate beautiful detail photos for your couples to WOW them with your skills. Check out some of my styling essentials below!
My amazon addiction is real so feel free to click the links – most of them will take you to Amazon for the exact products I use to get me through a wedding day.
Here are my styling kit essentials!
Rolling Suitcase
This addition to the styling kit is the most important because it what carries all my other things. It’s the perfect size to fit everything I need to bring with me, including some essentials I keep with me to help my clients with things they may have forgotten. And it folds down small to save me space when storing it!
Styling Box
This is where I keep many of my little things. I roll up my silk ribbons so they aren’t wrinkled, I keep some of my ring boxes here, extra rings (just in case), binder clips, extra command hook stickies, tack and stick, safety pins other little things I don’t want to end up lost.
The Mrs. Box
I love these beautiful little velvet boxes. They are so beautiful and really do help complete an image. I have a few neutrals and some colors I love so I am prepared for any color scheme. These are definitely a favorite in the kit because these small velvet beauties make those detail photos so much prettier!
My brides also appreciate it because they don’t have to stress about buying things for me to style I come fully prepared, and it’s just one more thing I can do to enhance their experience.
Silk Ribbons
These are probably one of my favorite things I keep in my styling kit because they are so pretty! It’s the perfect accent to a ring shot, a great way to complete an invitation suite, a quick way to color match the bouquet or use it to create a lovely spot for the ring shot like I did above. My favorite ribbons are from Tono & Co. and I’ve also purchased one of their fabulous table runners. I love that the edges are perfectly torn, but not over the top. Their colors are rich and beautiful, and the quality of the products are hard to beat. I’ve bought ribbons from other companies, but nothing compares to Tono & Co. Seriously you guys have to check them out.
Tack N Stick
Wanna know how I get crazy shots with rings? Sometimes the bride and grooms rings don’t exactly fit together perfect enough to get a pretty photo. Sometimes the ring would be so much better in the shot if it would just stand on its own or perfectly rest together. This is a great tool for complicated ring shots and keeping the rings in place without having to be a wizard.
Styling Boards
These are essential to great detail photos. When you’re shooting a wedding, there isn’t always a great spot to take detail photos. When you have a styling board, you can just make your own spot where the lighting is perfect! In front of an open window, in some shade outside the venue or wherever you find the light you need, with a styling board you can bring your details to the great light instead of trying to make great light where there isn’t any.
I’ve made my own styling boards with canvas, plaster and paint for a more modern look, or use canvas and fabric for a more natural look. All you need is;
Large Canvas or Large Board
Plaster
Putty Knife
Paint
Linen Fabric
I prefer to use the canvas for my linens so I can pull the fabric tight and staple it to the back of the canvas, but I prefer the boards for the plaster because the plaster can get heavy on the canvas and crack. Since the boards are flat the plaster doesn’t crack as easily. I love those paints because you can make custom colors easily by mixing them together; plus they’re bold and rich and affordable! And Michael’s or JoAnn’s are my favorites for fabrics. There’s so many options and you can purchase a cheaper fabric, or something more expensive. Whatever your budget though, you can create a beautiful styling board really easily and take those detail photos to the next level.
I also have a board from Simply Rooted Surfaces which rolls easily for travel!
Macro Filters
These babies are a must for ring shots! A good macro lens is around $750 or more – YIKES!
Other than the rings, I don’t really have a use for a macro lens. And why should I when I can easily attach one of these filters onto my Canon 35mm 1.4 lens . I have used the Canon 100mm 2.8 once before and it was pretty legit so if you do have the extra money I’d go for it! But if not, these macro filters are kind of amazing!
Acrylic Blocks
These blocks are perfect for adding depth to your styled images I use these for layering invitations and paper goods. These simple clear blocks come in different sizes to support whatever you need. I’ve seen some for sale for ridiculous prices, and these are just fine AND they’re reasonably priced!
Vintage Stamps
I’d go check out Etsy for vintage stamps. You can find some really neat stamps to complete the look on your invite photos. Stamps bring the whole look together.
Reflector
This is perhaps one of the more practical items in my kit. I have the 12 inch reflector and all you need to do is buy one and look at how the sparkle in the ring changes just by adding a little more light from another direction. GAME. CHANGER!
Command Hooks
These babies are a life saver! The thing is, not every venue has a good place to hang the wedding dress. And what if the bride is getting ready at a house somewhere. Hanging on the closet isn’t always the best idea. Command hooks to the rescue. I have two of each (just in case) and I have a set of silver hooks and a set of clear hooks.
I’ve hung dresses on pretty walls, the trim of a home, fireplaces (see the above image).
I also bring hangers with me in case they don’t have a pretty hanger for the wedding dress.
These are just a few of the items I like to keep handy on wedding days so I can curate beautifully detailed photos of all the things for my couples so they have sweet memories to look back on. What are some of your favorite things to pack along on a wedding day? Tell me below!
This post may contain affiliate links.
