It may be surprising to learn that one of my favorite parts of the wedding day is when I first arrive and get to photograph all. the. details! I adore getting to the venue and seeing all the pretty pretties laid out for me to arrange and style in beautiful flat lays that will make stellar additions to blog posts, wedding albums, and gallery slide shows. Brides put so much work into their wedding day details, and I love capturing them!

To make this process totally painless and super smooth, I ask brides put together a “detail box” before their wedding day. The detail box can have basically anything in it, depending on what kind of details you have. Detail boxes help make for fantastic wedding photos, and my brides love that they can do something before the wedding day to help ensure fantastic photos. Here are a few ideas for putting together your “detail box” and making sure your wedding photographer gets some awesome shots!

What goes in your Detail Box?

1. Paper products

Keep an extra invite or two and tuck them away for your wedding day. I love shooting these amongst the flowers or even a bridesmaid dress or veil! If you have an extra envelope, slap a cute stamp on one. Grab a program, too!

2. Wedding and engagement rings

You’ll want to wear your rings in your pre-wedding portraits (even if you aren’t technically married yet!) but they can start the day with me. Ring shots are the best!

3. Jewelry and Garters

Determine ahead of time exactly what jewels you’ll be wearing on your wedding day (if any) and set them aside for me before you get ready. Bling always makes for good photos! If you’re wearing a garter, that can be a great item as well.

4. Shoes

Wear your mocs or TOMS to the hair salon and leave the fancy shoes for me! You can also leave a pair of your bridesmaid’s shoes if those are super sweet, too.

5. A cute dress hanger

This one is easily forgotten! The plastic hanger from the dress shop just isn’t cute. I bring wooden hangers to every wedding, but if you want something more custom, like these engraved hangers or this cute one showing off your new last name, that would be awesome!

6. Fancy perfume

Another one that I don’t see super often, but makes for fabulous photos! Even if you aren’t a perfume chick (like me!) a really pretty bottle that matches your wedding colors looks amaaaazing.

7. Groom details

See if your groom minds giving up a few of his details a bit longer and stick a bow tie or some cuff links in the box, too!

8. Flowers

These probably won’t go in the box, but if your flowers can be there within the first hour your photographer arrives, we can work them into some detail shots. Flowers give a fantastic pop of color and usually tie your wedding colors in throughout the detail photos. I’ve even had some florists throw in some extra loose florals, and I will use those like whoa! If your flowers can’t be there bright and early, no worries! We get plenty of shots throughout the day.

9. Heirloom Pieces

Whether you have something old, new, borrowed, blue or all of the above, I’d love to capture it. Any heirloom pieces that are special to you are the perfect sorts of things to include.

10. Odds and Ends

I bring a styling kit to help pull everything together, but if you have any elements from your wedding that you’d also like photographed, throw them in the box! Some fun ideas, depending on the theme of your day, are seashells, wine corks, loose ribbon or fabric, loose florals or greenery, and ring boxes (I die for these). Again, I bring a lot of these things, but if you have anything that’s specific to your day’s theme and colors, definitely bring them along!