Choosing a location for your pre-wedding portraits
Where should you have your pre-wedding portraits?
The possibilities are endless. We can suggest a few places in and around Colchester or Ipswich, but if you have somewhere specific in mind, we’re always open to suggestions. Do you have a preferred location; perhaps your favourite place to relax and unwind, the proposal spot, or simply where you go to walk the dog? It is important that you choose the appropriate location for you as a couple, as it plays a big part in the overall atmosphere of your images. It is also important to select somewhere that matches your personality – if you hate the feel of sand in your shoes, don’t go to the beach. You need to enjoy the experience and by including your interests and something of your personality, it creates a complete portrait.
We have put together our most popular choices of locations, but would love to hear from you about any other more unique suggestions…
The Beach
The beach offers a huge array of options all in one place. There is the sea, the sand, sometimes beach huts, a cliff wall… all that provide colour and variety for the backdrop. This setting creates stunning, natural portraits if you’re not afraid to have wind swept hair. It can be quite windy and chilly by the shore even in the summer, so come prepared – bring an extra layer and a hairbrush is a must! The beach is a romantic setting for a couple taking long walks of an evening.
Beach Locations in Colchester and Ipswich
West Mersea Beach
Orwell Country Park by the river (pictured above)
Brightlingsea
The Park
A country park or something similar is a very popular portrait location as it offers variety. With natural, uninterrupted idyllic landscapes your engagement photography options are endless. The four seasons create different backdrops – spring and summer provide the most common backdrop most associate with portrait photography, with leafy trees and colourful blossom. Autumn brings in beautiful earthy colours of reds and oranges, while winter in the park can appear quite stark with exposed branches. This is something to consider when choosing an outdoor portrait and what colours and environment you would like your photographs to contain.
Park Locations in Colchester and Ipswich
Westlands Country Park, Colchester (pictured above)
Chantry Park, Ipswich
The Woods
If you’re the kind of couple who lives in your wellies - out in the woods rain or shine, this might be the perfect place for your pre-wedding portraits. It can be a more challenging environment in terms of photography if the tree cover is too heavy for the sunlight to shine through but the layers of trees can create beautiful depth to the photos and the textures are fantastic.
Indoors
For winter portrait sessions, you might not want to brave the cold and biting wind or would prefer to not have the bare, leafless trees in the background of your pictures. This is when going indoors is a great idea. However, we don’t want to lose the feel of a natural, lifestyle portrait by using plain studio backdrops. Perhaps you’d consider doing the session at your home. If you have a fairly spacious, light room this can be ideal as it is the perfect reflection of who you are. You can be comfortable in a familiar environment and have everything you might need to hand.
Things to consider…
Travel/Car Park: When choosing a location for your portrait session, you will need to think about how you will get there. Are there public transport links nearby or can you drive to it. If you drive, consider your parking options – is there parking available and is there an extra cost for this. Being prepared means you won’t turn up flustered for your shoot.
If you think you might feel a bit self-conscious while out on a photo shoot, think of somewhere that might have less people milling around or walking by. Although in our experience, people barely give us a second glance and carry on their way.
All of your decisions should help make the day relaxed, stress-free and enjoyable.
Written by Eleth Mageehan, (c) 2021, all rights reserved.
So you’ve had your pre-wedding portraits and you LOVE the photos but now what do you do with them? Rather than keeping them stuck on a computer, here are a few creative ways to use them throughout your wedding.