After photographing and filming so many weddings over the years, you begin to notice small details that people may not immediately associate with photography or filmmaking.
One of them is the wedding dress.
Of course, there is no single perfect dress for every bride. Your body type, personal style, personality and, most importantly, the way you feel in the dress should always come first.
But if a mermaid silhouette suits your style and body shape, our experience has taught us that it is definitely worth trying.
Why do we love the mermaid silhouette?
From a photographer's and filmmaker's perspective, mermaid dresses have something very special.
They follow the shape of the body, create an elegant silhouette and look beautiful both in wide shots and intimate close-ups.
During a couple session, this becomes even more noticeable.
When the bride walks toward the groom, turns around, moves through the frame or when the wind catches the train, the dress creates natural movement and gives the image an effortless cinematic quality.
But there is one very important condition.
Your dress has to work when you move
A wedding dress is not made only for standing in front of a mirror.
On your wedding day, you will need to:
walk,
sit down,
stand up,
get into a car,
climb stairs,
turn around,
hug people,
dance…
…and, if you are doing your wedding session with us, occasionally walk somewhere you probably did not imagine during your first fitting. :)
That is why we always encourage brides to do more than simply look at themselves in the mirror during a fitting.
Walk in the dress. Sit down. Turn around. Raise your arms. Try a few dance steps.
See how the train behaves.
See how much freedom the dress actually gives you.
A dress can look absolutely perfect while you are standing still, but if you discover after ten minutes that normal movement is difficult, that small problem can become a very big one on the wedding day.
Trying on your wedding dress should be an experience
This is one of the reasons we really appreciate the approach of the team at Azra Weddings.
Your first wedding dress fitting should not simply be about deciding whether a particular dress looks good.
For many brides, this is one of the first moments when the wedding suddenly starts to feel real.
That experience deserves time.
Time to try different silhouettes.
Time to understand what works with your body.
Time to walk.
To turn.
To see how the dress behaves when you move rather than only how it looks while standing in front of a mirror.
At Azra Weddings, we have noticed that special attention is given to that entire experience — from the selection of dresses to the way each bride is guided through the process.
And to us, that is almost as important as the dress itself.
You do not want to discover this on your wedding day
As wedding photographers and filmmakers, we have seen almost every situation imaginable during a wedding day.
And trust us — your wedding day is not the moment when you want to discover that you cannot comfortably sit down in your dress.
Or that taking a normal step is difficult.
Or that during your first dance you are constantly thinking about the dress instead of the person standing in front of you.
A proper fitting is therefore about much more than choosing the correct size.
It is your opportunity to understand how you will actually spend an entire wedding day in that dress.
And then comes the camera
When a bride feels comfortable in her wedding dress, you can immediately see it in the photographs and film.
She stops thinking about the dress.
She stops worrying about every step.
She simply moves.
And that is when our favourite images happen.
Not when we create a perfect pose, but when the bride can walk toward the groom, turn around, dance or move naturally while the dress follows her.
For us, that is one of the greatest strengths of a well-chosen mermaid wedding dress.
It can look incredibly elegant while still allowing the bride to simply be herself.
Our advice to future brides
If the mermaid silhouette suits you, give it a chance.
Try it on.
Walk in it.
Sit down.
Dance.
Do not only imagine yourself standing in front of a mirror. Imagine yourself spending an entire wedding day in that dress.
And if you are looking for a place where choosing a wedding dress feels like more than simply shopping, Azra Weddings is worth visiting. Give yourself enough time to experience the fitting and find a dress that feels as good as it looks.
Because the best wedding dress is not simply the one that looks beautiful in photographs.
The best one is the dress you eventually forget you are wearing.
— LegeArtis Weddings
