Why a Wedding Veil Could be Your Favorite Wedding Detail and What to Look For

You just got engaged to the person of your dreams. Everything during the proposal went off without a hitch and now you’re ready to start planning and making investments and purchases for your big day! Ever since you were a little girl you’ve been dreaming of this chance and now it’s here! You book a consultation at a bridal shop in town and take your best friends and your mom with you to try on a few different gowns. Well… in reality maybe more like 100 different dresses! While there, you find THE DRESS and then you start to consider all of the different options you have for accessories. The stylist then suggests you try on a veil to match your dress. There are so many different styles and options, you aren’t sure which to get because while they all have a different look, so many of them look great on you! Have no fear, that’s why we’ve put together this blog post. Here’s why a wedding veil could be your favorite wedding detail and what you should look for when choosing one!

Creative and Dynamic Portraits

If you choose not to wear a veil with your wedding dress that doesn’t mean that you won’t still have outstanding images, BUT there’s a certain extra something that veils add. When you wear a veil, it gives us as your photographers something to use as an extra tool. Whether we let it fly and slowly float through the air, or use it as an additional layer for interest, it creates a huge impact in your photos. Veils add a romantic and soft feeling to your images that can’t be replicated. It’s also important to note that not all veils are created equal. In fact, some veils can do more harm than good in portraits!

The Weight

While veils with added detail and glam are often incredible sights to behold, that extra weight that they create hinders portraits more than you’d imagine. Instead of a veil that slowly drifts and falls to the ground to create a shot with movement and softness, the weight will make the glammed up veil fall hard and fast. It can be heartbreaking to invest in a veil that won’t give you the portrait you’ve always dreamed of. A beautiful veil addition to make it stand out from a plain tulle veil is one that includes lace. Most veils adorned with lace don’t suffer from too much weight, but if you want to be sure, lift it up from one edge and see how fast the end drops from the weight. If it falls fairly slowly you know you are set!

 

The Veil Color

We can’t say enough that off-white or ivory colored veils and dresses are the most ideal. If you are getting married in the temple, be aware that off-white may not be an option if you want to wear your wedding dress during the ceremony. Our best advice is to check with your specific temple about their policies. Many temple brides also opt to wear a temple dress when getting married and change into their wedding dress to exit. The reason we recommend off-white or ivory dress and veils is because pure white fabric can actually photograph “blue” and that is very hard to hide in editing! Off-white, light ivories, and creams are actually better for photos!

How Long Should My Veil Be?

The length of your wedding veil is one of the most important components to consider when you are selecting the one for you! To sum it all up, the LONGER the veil the better. Shorter veils, while pretty, don’t allow for much creativity in your photos. If you’re going to invest in a veil, go ALL out! Specifically, we love the look of veils that are Waltz to Cathedral style in length. We can then fly it, wrap it, and create some incredible images!

Wear Your Veil Just for Portraits

For some brides, the idea of wearing a long veil throughout their entire wedding day seems overwhelming and frankly a bit of a hassle. We totally get that! Our best advice is to invest in the perfect veil and plan on wearing it at least for portrait time and your ceremony if you are having a traditional wedding. After portraits are over, feel free to put it aside during your reception so that you can dance, cut your cake and greet guests without worrying about it getting in the way. Some brides love their veil so much though that they wear it as long as possible, and that is awesome too! It’s all your personal preference. Another fun idea could be to have a flower crown made that you wear once you remove your veil! Then you can have incredible photos with both looks!

 

Wedding veils are totally a personal decision because it’s your day and we want you to have the wedding you have always dreamed of! More than anything we want you to be educated and informed about veils and some ideas of how to incorporate them to create dynamic and creative portraits! We can’t wait to hear about what you choose!

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