I’m always a little nervous when I ask a bride, “Do you mind sitting down for me?” Actually, when I more specifically ask, “Do you mind sitting down on the ground for me?” I normally ask this question when I find a beautiful photo spot and envision a beautiful portrait that involves the bride and groom sitting down instead of standing up. But to ask a bride to sit on the ground or in the grass in a white dress? That’s just crazy, right? What if the dress gets dirty??

Yesterday, I asked bride Nikki if she minded sitting down in the grass for a few pictures and she quickly responded with a carefree, “Nope, not at all!” Music to my ears! Of course I was excited to make my photo vision come to life by having she and husband Chris sit in the grass, but I was also excited and refreshed by Nikki’s trusting and carefree attitude. She trusted me as her photographer and didn’t care if her dress got a little dirty. Even though her dress did eventually get dirty (not from sitting in the grass), it was all around a stress-free and carefree day for Nikki, and I think she made that decision going in. While people pointed out the mud spot, Nikki simply didn’t care. She knew that little bit of dirt couldn’t ruin her big day so she decided to just leave it alone. Now how many of you brides have gone running for the hills looking for Shout pens or tried finding your trusty grandma who knows how to remove stains from everything!?! How many of you think might react that way if your wedding dress gets dirty?

Here’s my advice to you future brides: If you get a little dirt on your wedding dress, leave it alone. Use Nikki’s trusting and carefree attitude as an example. Instead of going crazy over a little mud spot, grass stain or leaf camping out in your lace overlay, have some laughs with your wedding party and go enjoy your guests instead. Soak in the beauty of your big day and take in all that love that surrounds you and your partner because that’ll all be gone when you wake up the next morning. I really think you’ll have a much more enjoyable wedding day if you do. So go ahead and sit down on your wedding day. Relax, take a load off…and take some beautiful pictures while you’re at it. 🙂

Thanks for sitting down in the grass for me yesterday, Nikki and Chris! It was totally worth it.