Dreamy, Timeless and Stylish: 20 Inspirational All About the Wedding Dress Pictures

Fishtail or full-skirt, strapless or lace-sleeved, a wedding dress has oodles of character and can say so much about a bride’s personality. Let the dress say it all with these 20 beautifully different ways to photograph the design of a fairytale wedding gown

There’s no doubt that once the buttons are fastened, the shoes are on and you're wearing the wedding dress of your dreams, a surge of emotion kicks in. This all-important snapshot in time, which means you’re about to live your fairytale wedding, is a memory photographers from the 20Collective have documented beautifully in these frames.

1. An Italian Lake Como Wedding by F5 Photography – Rahul Khona
“I wanted to create a dress shot that encapsulated the surroundings of this amazing location for the wedding,”says Rahul Khona of F5 Photography. “I found this place to take the image, and this was a risky shot to take as I had to climb up a wall to get to the pillars, but it was totally worth it.”

2. A Peckforton Castle Cheshire Wedding by ARJ Photography
“I don’t often take a hero dress shot,” says Adam Johnson. “But with a bit of spare time at Katie and Ali’s Peckforton Castle wedding in Cheshire, while Katie was having her make-up done, I set up and shot this image of her Pronovias gown. I absolutely love it because it’s not just a dress photo –it tells a story of this part of the day. The morning builds towards the moment when a bride gets to finally put her dress on for real, and I feel like I captured that story in one shot, as well as obviously showing off Katie’s beautiful wedding dress.”

3. A Wrenbury Hall Cheshire Wedding by Adam Riley Photography
“The wedding dress shot can be a bit clichéd, and often a shot taken just because it’s on a list of images to get,”explains photographer Adam Riley. “Many times, I don’t actually get a picture of the dress hanging, but will endeavour to include it if it has some context. This image at Wrenbury Hall is of the bride showing her bridesmaids the dress in the morning.”

4. A London Wedding by Albert Palmer Photography
“This photograph was taken in London on a pre-wedding shoot," says Albert. “Asking most brides to lie down on damp grass in August isn’t something I’d normally entertain on a wedding day but when I visualised this image I had to ask. The colours and composition really float my creative boat.”

5. A Chapelle Expiatoire Wedding in Paris by Andy Gaines
“I love this shot of the dress, and Lourdes, just before she is about to put it on and go to marry Graham in Paris at the Chapelle Expiatoire,”recalls Andy.

6. A London Syon Park Wedding by Ben Joseph Photography                                              
“This image was taken at one of my favourite venues, Syon Park near Twickenham where I am an accredited supplier,”says Ben. “I like the simplicity of the shot, the soft window light coming from one side of the subject, giving dimension and shape to the dress. In this room (the long gallery) the quality of light is soft and warm in tone which is ideal for portrait work and enhancing detail.”

7. A Kent Rowhill Grange Wedding by Jackson & Co Photography
“This morning was the definition of calm,”remembers Michael and Hannah of Jackson & Co Photography. “Rowhill Grange is a gorgeous venue and on that morning everything was just crisp and bright, still and serene. The bridal suite has a set of stairs going up to the bathroom and I’d just been waiting for this moment to happen. Surrounded by her mother and bridesmaids, Jen had her dress laced up before heading out the door to get married.”

8. A Midlands St John’s House Hotel, Solihull, Wedding by Kristian Leven Photography
“Sometimes it's all about the classic look,”says Kristian. “This was taken just after the ceremony finished, and thankfully I had the benefit of a timely gust of wind, and Lucy's smart decision to wear a classic, flowing vintage dress. I love black and white imagery and this image just lent itself perfectly to it.”

9. A Devonshire Shilstone House Wedding by CG Weddings by the Crawleys
“This frame was created in the grounds of Shilstone House in Devon,”explains Liam of CG Weddings by the Crawleys. “As a creative wedding photographer, I’m constantly searching for new ways to show off a bride’s awesome dress. We are all used to seeing that standard dress shot –usually hanging on a cupboard or a four poster bed. The dress is the star of this image, and this is my take on a detail shot we all must shoot, but the challenge is to make it unique.”

10. A Chelsea Town Hall Wedding by Lorenzo Photography
“The bride was preparing for her wedding at Chelsea Town Hall in Chelsea, London when I took this wedding dress photo,”says Lorenzo. “The wedding dress was beautifully understated: simple and elegant without overbearing details. To reflect the simplicity I decided to use the mirror in the room to frame the shot as it hung in her bedroom in the natural morning light just glimpsing through the window.”

11. A Cornwall Polurrian Bay Hotel Wedding by Lyndsey Goddard Photography
“When most people see the bride for the first time on her wedding day, it will be as she is walking down the aisle, a picture of beauty and serenity,”explains Lyndsey. “What many people don't realise is that moments before it may have taken four people to dress her, losing each other under layer upon layer of net and silk. Here we have a bride at the Polurrian Bay Hotel in Cornwall during one such moment. I like this image as it suggests a moment of chaos, but the bride is still smiling.”

12. A Canterbury St. Augustine’s Abbey Wedding by Matt Tyler Photography
“This photo of Monica in her beautiful dress was taken at St Augustine’s Abbey in Canterbury,”says Matt. “The venue held great meaning for Monica as it’s where she went to school. I love the shape she’s making as she walks up the stairs and the natural framing under the archway.”

13. A Chiswick House Wedding by Miki Photography
“El and Mike got married in a stately home which was now partly run as a school,”says Miki. “El got ready in the library, so hanging the dress up with all the books kind of made sense to me. I was just snapping away when El walked into the scene, oblivious of what was going on. I like it because she's in her bathrobe about to have her make-up done, and holding the awesome pair of shoes that she wore (check those bad boys out). So in an instant it becomes not just a dress shot, but a getting ready and shoe shot too.”

14. A Cheshire Peckforton Castle Wedding by Neil Redfern Photography
“I always like to take photographs of the wedding dress on the morning of the wedding, before the bride has put it on,”Neil explains. “However, these photographs will never quite have the same impact or feeling as a photograph of the bride wearing the dress. For this reason I love this photograph of Jess at Peckforton Castle, the light coming through the window was beautiful and I couldn’t resist taking this shot.”

15. A French Chateau La Fourtonie Wedding by Rik Pennington Photography
“This picture was taken shortly before Frankie walked down the aisle at her wedding at Chateau La Fourtonie in the Dordogne,”Rik says. “She had just finished getting ready and was practising the all-important walk in her dress for the first time. I'm always looking out for creative lighting situations and the light coming in from the shutters provided enough light and shadow to create the image I was looking for.”

16. A Cotswolds Elmore Court Wedding by Sam Gibson Photography
“This shot is of Anna’s dress hanging in one of the beautiful rooms at Elmore Court,”explains Sam. “I really love the symmetry in the room, with the lamps and the pictures in the background mirrored in her shoes underneath the dress. The side lighting really emphasises the shape and texture in the dress. Elmore Court is a relatively new venue in the Cotswolds but it’s one of the best places I worked in 2014 –a fantastic team with a real passion for what they do.”

17. A Bedfordshire Bromham Hall Wedding by Samuel Docker Photography
“Sarah married Owen in Bedforshire before heading to the stunning Bromham Hall for their wedding reception,”Samuel Docker says. “Her dress held slightly more significance than I imagine for most brides, because her late grandma had chosen to pay for it. The shot of the dress itself held huge meaning, as we chose to hang it from her grandma’s rose arch that sat at the foot of the family garden.”

18. A Royal Tunbridge Wells Hotel Wedding by Stephen Bunn Photography
“This simple, monochrome image shows Catherine moments after she’d put her wedding dress on,”says Stephen. “Taken at the Royal Tunbridge Wells Hotel, I like the clean strong lines and the contrast of the dress against the dark background.”

19. A Lancashire Rivington Hall Barn Wedding by Lawson Photography
“This shot is from an amazing wedding we shot at Rivington Barn, but this was from earlier in the day as the bride was about to get into her dress,”say Pete and Laura of Lawson Photography. “I was struck by how comical the dress looked 'walking' down the stairs. Having already got the traditional dress shot, it's fun to see what other contexts you can find.”

20. A York Sandburn Hall Wedding by York Place Studios
“One of our favourite photographs from last year, the dramatic moment when the gorgeous Rachel began her journey to greet her groom at York’s Sandburn Hall,”explains Dominique and Liam of York Place Studios.“Completely unposed, the bride was simply walking slowly down the stairs and we captured the moment in this aerial shot concentrating on the dress, the flowers and the symmetry of the lines.”

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