Looking Good In Your Wedding Photos

It’s all very well that you’ve gone to extraordinary lengths to find a great photographer for the day, and are paying him a small fortune to take the right pics.

But how can you make sure that he doesn’t catch you in those awful moments, with your mouth open as you issue commands to your bridesmaid to quickly get a few more bottles of champagne, or in those typically embarassing ways that include double chins and hang dog expressions, which only someone like your brother-in-law can manage to catch?

You’ve a number of things going your way on the big day. Number one, your make-up, your dress, your hair and the excitement of the day will mean that you probably look incredible (name me a bride who doesn’t), and the photographer is there to make sure you look good.

But there are a few poses you can use to give you that extra ‘edge:

Avoid the double chin/fat face look – raise your chin just slightly and twist your head ever so slightly away from the camera. Your eyes can either remain looking at the photographer, or at a point slightly above your natural eye line. If the photographer is shooting from a low angle, this slight lift will really help.
If you’re slightly self-conscious about your nose in profile (and it’s rather unlikely that a photographer will do this to you, but just in case), twist your face very slightly at a 45 degree angle and tilt the chin slightly down.
If you’re worried about your upper arms looking fat then simply keep them away from your body, or have your hands on your hip(s), although this can look a little ‘obvious’ in wedding pics. Just keep them away from your body a little.
Try not to oversmile; this leaves you with too much gum, too little eye and more teeth than lips. But don’t inhibit yourself either, you want natural, not uptight.
To look thinner (just have a look through your average magazine for the red carpet celeb photos and see what they do), stand with your weight on one leg, usually the back, and push your hips forward (usually one hip more than the other).
How best to arrange your legs, if you’re wearing a shorter dress: position each leg differently, unless you’re blessed with perfect legs. It might feel awkward but usually looks great – practice this in front of the mirror first, and shift your weight, possibly collapsing one leg at the knee, until you get the right look.