Alysia and Randy are two of our friends so it was such an honor to shoot their wedding photos! They had a small and private civil ceremony in January, and a few days later we went out exploring in Samuel P. Taylor State Park to snag some photos of them in their wedding attire against a gorgeous wooded backdrop for their day-after wedding session. 

Somehow, the weather held and was perfect, considering it was January in one of the wettest rain seasons we’ve seen in a long time! And of course, we had to bring along their adorable furbaby, Shadow. She’s accompanied all of us on numerous camping adventures before so she’s no stranger to adventure! Before we get to the good stuff, please enjoy some photos of said adventure dog Shadow from a four day mountain trek with our gang last year. 😄 

So what’s a ‘day after’ session & why is it great?

It’s an opportunity to have more casual, laid-back portraits of the two of you the day or two after your wedding. Your wedding is often a super jampacked and busy day, so you don’t have a lot of time for photos of the two of you! A day after session allows you to slow down and spend an hour or two enjoying each other’s company and snap some portraits that you may not have been able to get otherwise, whether due to timing or location (like, if you had your wedding at an urban venue but still wanted some epic outdoor adventurous wedding photos!).

It’s also a great option without having a big wedding preceding it! Randy and Alysia are a perfect example of why you would want to do a day after session in that scenario: if you don’t have a wedding, or even a budget for a photographer all day for it. It’s the best of both worlds: you can opt to do a ceremony without any vendors, and still get photos the next day of you in your wedding clothes after the festivities have died down.

Have you done a day-after wedding session? What was your experience? Leave a comment below, I’d love to hear about it!! 

If you liked this post, you might enjoy a bridal session in the woods a few posts back — check that out here!