Diverse bridal photography.
In all honesty, I hadn’t really understood how important this subject was, until the last few months in my career. I’ve grown up in a world where the women modeling wedding dresses in billboard ads and in magazines all looked like me. I can still remember planning my wedding, and clipping inspiration images out of bridal mags to paste into my planning notebook.
Do you know how many women of color I found in those magazines?
None then–and I wish I could say that things have changed drastically since then.
The lack of cultural diversity in so many industries is a huge problem, still today. In the wedding industry, this lack of diversity means that little girls (and big girls) don’t get many chances to see women who look like themselves in pretty photos. I grew up taking that opportunity for granted. It makes me so sad, to think that there are women and girls out there struggling to fully imagine themselves in the inspiration photos they save for their own wedding day.
So, when Bustle Bridal of Baton Rouge contacted me with an idea for a shoot featuring women of color in their dresses, I was all over it! Sarah was intent on making sure every bride, regardless of ethnicity, felt welcome and included when working with her.
We share the same goal there, for sure–so the planning commenced!
We found some stunning models for these dresses, and Verde Beauty totally ROCKED their hair and makeup. Tina (owner of Verde, and dog-mom to the cutest pomeranian ever, incidentally) has a lot of experience working with beauty in all different colors. Every one of our models looked like a dream, and felt like a princess.
I’m so proud to show off these images. The dresses were stunning, and the camaraderie was fantastic.
And, because of a whole bunch of kick-ass women coming together, there are now more images in the world for little girls of all different shades to see, and kick-start their dreams with. ♥
Planning your wedding? Looking for some kick-ass wedding photos? CLICK HERE to find out more about working with me for your big day!
how beautiful! makes me what to be a bride again!