So last week we didn’t have a Dear Bride series. The Memorial Day weekend hangover (not an alcohol hangover LOL) was real and I needed a weekend from my weekend, ha!

This week I want to chat about something I like to do after every ceremony:

The 10 minute rule

Here’s how this works! I scout out an area earlier in the day that I know will have beautiful light, and will be somewhat secluded. I don’t allow friends, family or guests of yours wedding to interfere with this 10 minutes. I simply guide you there after you walk down the aisle as husband and wife, and the two of you have 10 whole minutes of alone time! I shot far away with a 70-200 (a really long lens so I can be far away instead of interfering in your intimate moment), and capture all of the raw emotion thats about to happen.

I love this 10 minutes on every wedding day because most of the time, you spend the night before your wedding day apart. You wake up with your bridesmaids, you have butterflies of seeing your soon to be husband all day, you go all day without seeing each other or speaking. And its TOTALLY out of the norm, right?! You’re used to being together every day, so on this day especially, you’re just dying to see him and spend some one-on-one time together! This 10 minutes allows the two of you to just relish in the moment of just getting MARRIED, to chat about how your day unfolded, to tell each other how much you missed each other all day and what each of you were thinking as you were walking down the aisle/seeing you walk towards him. Its an emotion filled 10 minutes and it usually makes for some really amazing photo’s.

I’m a sucker for raw emotion and these 10 minutes always provide the best of it!

So not only does this small part of your wedding day provide beautiful images, it provides you a very small break. You get a chance to sit (or stand) and have a few minutes with each other. Have a glass of wine (or water), get your tears out, and get ready for the rest of your beautiful day together.

In my 4 years of shooting weddings, I’ve only ever had one couple opt out of the 10 minute rule and to this day, they STILL regret it!! Without it, you could potentially get bombarded by guests without a second to breathe or really be in the moment of just vowing forever to the love of your life!! You deserve that 10 minutes!!

Of course, its totally up to the couple as to whether or not they want that 10 minutes of alone time, and if not, I’ll always respect their wishes!! :)

So thats it! That’s all I have for you beautiful brides today!! I hope you’ll implement the 10 minute rule into your day and I hope I’m the lucky one that gets to capture it for you!

Next week we’ll be chatting about your timeline — Yay!! Happy Tuesday, have a great rest of your week loves! Xo!