A Disney Parks Bridal Portrait Shoot is something very special offered by Disney Fine Art Photography and Disney Parks. Basically, you and your partner (and that’s it…NO entourage allowed!) are escorted by a photographer and their assistant into a theme park in the wee hours of the morning, usually before sunrise, to take pictures. Most of the time, you will only see a few cast members in the park while you are there–it’s a really amazing experience for the true Disney parks fan–those moments when you are almost alone in the park, looking your best and getting photos taken with unique and beloved set pieces. Can you imagine? I can, and I did. And I dreamed about it, long before I ever even knew it was possible!
As I mentioned before, when we originally planned our Disney Fairy Tale Wedding, some of the rules were different than they are now. At that time, you could only book a Bridal Portrait photo shoot in a Disney Theme Park if you were having a Disney Fairy Tale Wedding. In addition, the Magic Kingdom photo shoot could NOT be scheduled in advance UNLESS you had booked Disney Fine Art Photography to shoot your Disney Fairy Tale Wedding. Since I had made the decision VERY early onto use David and Vicki Arndt Photography as our photographers, I knew that put my dreamed of Magic Kingdom Bridal Portrait shoot at risk…But as much as I wanted that darn picture in front of the castle in my wedding dress, I wanted David and Vicki for the day MORE.
When you are planning your wedding, most experts will tell you to choose 2 or 3 things that are THE MOST IMPORTANT things, and focus on those things. For Frank and I,Photography/Videography, FOOD, and the overall experience for our guests were the three most important things for us. I am a photo junkie. If you’ve read any of my trip reports, you know that I am the person that drags everyone to almost every Photopass photographer. I come home from every vacation with THOUSANDS of pictures…It’s probably some illness in some psychology textbook somewhere. But for me, photos are memories.
At the time, I personally felt Disney Fine Art Photography was a risky choice. You couldn’t choose your photographer, and you couldn’t even REQUEST a particular photographer. You wouldn’t even find out who your scheduled photographer would be until about 30 days before your wedding. And while MANY of the Disney Fine Art Photographers are amazing, some, especially at that time, were not. AND the Disney Fine Art Photography packages were a LOT more expensive—it was kind of Sophie’s Choice…if I went with DFAP, I probably wouldn’t be able to AFFORD the Magic Kingdom Bridal Portrait Photo Shoot, but if I didn’t, I ran the risk of being able to afford it, but not being able to schedule it. (Please be aware that many of these policies have since changed, primarily based on feedback from countless Disney brides, grooms, and family members!).
Since knowing 100% that I would have beautiful photos that I would love from our wedding day was so important, I chose to go with David and Vicki and have NEVER regretted it. I wanted to ensure some kind of a “Park Photo” experience, so I went ahead and scheduled a Hollywood Studios Bridal Portrait photo shoot for two days after the wedding; Frank and I both really like Hollywood Studios, and I thought that would be fun–and that one didn’t have the same restrictions that the Magic Kingdom one did.
And I hoped and wished that I would be able to add the Magic Kingdom shoot to it when 45 days before the wedding rolled around and they would finally let me schedule it. And of course, you guessed it….By the time I COULD book the shoot, it was too late, and all available slots after the wedding were filled. Ironically, they did have a slot open for a couple days before the wedding, but I didn’t take it—I didn’t want Frank to see me in my dress until our wedding day, and I was worried about the dress getting dirty, etc. Plus we were so scheduled up for those days…but in hindsight? I wish I’d grabbed it. Oh well, live and learn. Maybe someday, we’ll do one for an anniversary. Now that the rules have changed, it’s a bit more possible than it used to be. Of course, it’s a lot more expensive now,too.
As I’m sure you can guess, Bridal portrait shoots in the other three parks are much more affordable than they are in the Magic Kingdom. When DFAP heard how upset I was that I couldn’t schedule a MK shoot for after the wedding, they offered to add an Animal Kingdom session for the morning after the wedding. They couldn’t bundle it with the Hollywood Studios session already scheduled for Tuesday, but they went ahead and priced it as if it was a two-park session on one day, instead of two separate sessions on two separate days. I love the set pieces in Animal Kingdom, and thought pictures there would be super cool, so we took them up on their offer and booked the session. What this meant for me: I was up to shower and do hair and makeup at3:30 am three days in a row. Actually, I think the wedding day may have been 3 am, I’ll have to hunt down my notes!
I’m so glad we did that. There are a few Animal Kingdom pictures that are some of my favorites from the entire wedding! If you want to read about THAT Bridal Portrait Shoot experience, you can go here.
So the wedding was Sunday, the Animal Kingdom photo session was early Monday morning and then the Hollywood Studios photo session was early Tuesday morning. By Tuesday, Frank was a PRO at getting me in and out of my dress, thank goodness! My mom did NOT enjoy the corset back on my dress!
Also by Tuesday, we had gotten really comfortable with this whole picture taking thing…we’d basically had people taking pictures of us for two days at that point, so we weren’t nervous anymore. I had the same person come do my hair and makeup for all three days and she was a total pro day 1—by day 3, I think she was sick both of my music and of me, but she was really terrific and did a great job. (Jenny, Beaute Speciale).
I have a couple (very minor regrets) for our Hollywood Studios photo shoot. One, I went with a different hair style. I wanted to go kind of “old Hollywood glam”, but I don’t think it really worked. I got lots of compliments, but it didn’t really feel like me and I didn’t love it…and I didn’t feel as pretty that day as a result (and we all know that when you feel pretty, you just look better!)
Two, I did not bring my veil or my sparkly shoes on the Hollywood Studios photo shoot. I don’t know why, but I didn’t even think about it! I’d gotten so used to wearing the sparkly flip flops with my dress, that was kind of what automatically went on…but I should have brought the sparkly shoes for at least a couple of shots. And the veil…I think I didn’t really think it went with the hair style,but I still should have brought it. In hindsight, I do not have very many pictures at all from the wedding with my veil, and I wish there were more, overall. (And to think I originally thought I didn’t want a veil at all!)
Other than that, everything was wonderful about the Hollywood Studios photo shoot. We had the amazing Stephanie Caldwell as our photographer—I’d requested her (back in those days, they did let you request 30 days before but they made a big deal out of “no guarantees”) because I really liked her work, and I was so happy to learn she would be our photographer.
Stephanie and her assistant photographer that morning, John, picked us up in a van at our resort at 6 a.m. It was dark and a little cold. As with the Animal Kingdom shoot on Monday, we went backstage to access Hollywood Studios. Stephanie had a few spots she wanted to make sure we visited and she had a pretty good routine and pace down;she also paid attention to the weather and the light as the sun came up to plan where we went. She did ask us if there was anything we really liked. We pretty much just went with her plan, and we did request Toy Story Mania, because we both love the ride so much.
We started at the Tower of Terror, while it was still pretty dark outside. I think this is probably my favorite memory from the morning. There was hardly anyone in the park, just a few cast members getting things ready for the day, but mainly it felt like just us. We took pictures outside TOT and then inside the lobby and the elevator area. Stephanie even played with double exposure and took some very cool“ghost bride” images. I love the TOT lobby so much, and I really enjoyed that we got to really look at it without being in line or tons of people around.
After TOT, we took some pictures on Sunset Boulevard, and then some of my favorite pictures of the morning. We took some pictures with a classic car, and then with the Planet Hollywood “movie marquis” sign. After that, we headed towards Pixar Place and Toy Story Mania. We were almost out of time, but we asked if we could stop and take a couple pictures with the giant Sorcerer’s Hat, since we knew it was coming down soon. Stephanie agreed, but told us very honestly that she didn’t think they would be very good, and she was right. They weren’t good.
We ended the session with some great shots at Toy Story Mania which I LOVED. And they just seem so funny to me…these two people all dressed up, in among all the colorful toys. I felt like a bridal Barbie or something. Very fun.
Stephanie and John were so much fun to work with, they were terrific at putting us at ease, making us laugh, making sure we were comfortable and relaxed. The parks only give you a fairly short window for these shoots, and these photographers work really hard to make sure that they get as many pictures in as many locations as they can to make sure the couple is happy. Both Frank and I were VERY impressed with how well both teams we worked with managed to move very quickly but never make us feel rushed.
Once we were done, we hopped back in the van and headed back to Bay Lake Tower. After they dropped us off, we headed into the hotel to go up and change before heading to breakfast and then back to the room for a NAP. Our family all left Tuesday morning or Monday afternoon, so Tuesday was our first day on our own…but we were exhausted. So we slept for a few hours before venturing BACK to Hollywood Studios to play. In regular clothes this time!
Happy Dreaming!
Brooke