Order UP!

An Argument For Arranging For Your Wedding

Photographer To Stay Late... Featuring Professional

"Dancing With The Stars" Wife Brylee Armstrong

venue: Intercontinental Barclay New York Hotel    photography: Susan Stripling    dress: Designer Loft

jewelry: William Barthman    headpiece: Bridal Styles Boutique shoes: Bella Belle    makeup & hair: BridalGal

Picture it: your wedding is over. It's been a marathon of a day, beginning with you sitting in the hair and makeup chair at around 2 PM, surrounded by your mother, sister/Maid of Honor, and bridesmaids, getting bridally-beautified for photos at 4:30 PM with your soon-to-be husband and his men. Photos went well, by the way, thanks- in small part- to the three Mimosas you drank with your ladies during glamming.

From there, you went back to the bridal suite as your guests began arriving at 7 PM. Next came your ceremony at 7:30, which seemed to flash by in a blur, after which... more photos! with your husband as your guests enjoyed hors d'oeuvres at your wedding's cocktail hour. Then, on to the reception, within which you made your first-time-as-husband-and-wife-entrance, danced your first-dance-as-husband-and-wife-dance (something about which he may have been a bit stressed; see "May I Have This Dance", featuring married "Dancing With The Stars" pros and WeddingDance.School founders Daniella Karagach and Pasha Pashkov), danced with your daddy, shook a lot of hands, kissed an uncountable number of cheeks, cut the cake, etc., etc.

During your matrimonial marathon, you may have grabbed a little bite of the food your guests were applauding. Maybe not. You can't remember. But you can ask your photographer. Your photographer was with you every step of the way, documenting every beaming smile and every tear- many of which happened simultaneously.

Again. Your wedding is over. But you're not done. You want to prolong the party. Perhaps you already planned for an after party. Maybe you didn't. But you're having one! Your friends follow you as you step out of your ballroom and into the lobby of your hotel where you and your husband will stay the night, and right onto a valet cart- holding onto the cart with one hand and clutching your Champagne flute in the other- as your spouse ushers you to the elevators. It's possible you spilled a bit of Champagne on your journey. However, no one from the hotel sneers or scoffs. After all, you're the bride.

venue: Intercontinental Barclay Hotel    photography: Susan Stripling    dress: Ines Di Santo for White House Bride

jewelry: William Barthman    headpiece: Bridal Styles Boutique    shoes: Bella Belle    makeup & hair: BridalGal

As the bride, it is entirely your prerogative to enter your hotel suite and jump up and down on the couch. Hell- it is expected of you! And as your friends who followed you upstairs cheer you on, you begin to realize that you are hungry. You pick up the phone and order up the biggest hamburger the hotel offers on their late night room service menu (maybe it's an impossible burger). Or, more likely, someone does it for you. Just as your food arrives, you finally kick off your shoes, remove your headpiece, and sink back into an empty bath tub, where, ultimately, you will chomp down on that burger, because... because... why not? You're the bride! It makes total bridal sense to enjoy your delicious hamburger in an empty bath tub while [still] wearing your dress, diamonds dripping from your ears, and your bridal groupies cheering you on as they document the sight on their iPhones.

venue: Intercontinental Barclay New York Hotel    photography: Susan Stripling    dress: Designer Loft

jewelry: William Barthman    headpiece: Bridal Styles Boutique    shoes: Bella Belle    makeup & hair: BridalGal

Now, as you imagine all of this- grinning because you can totally see yourself as the bride in this scenario- here's the monumental question: do you really want to trust such a terrific moment to your friends' amateur photography on their iPhones, a device that is also employed when they need to hear their favorite vintage Britney tracks?

Of course not! You want this hysterical, illogical moment of conventional abandonment encapsulated by your wedding photographer! Not only is your photographer a professional that you researched and vetted, but this person has been with you all day- from the makeup chair to the ride on the valet cart, real camera aimed at you with skillful precision, your photographer has been studying you. They know your smiles- which ones are real and which are polite. By the end of your wedding, your photographer is not only a professional as capturing beautiful images, but also a professional in you.

So, with all this in mind, and with the taste of that hamburger dancing on your tongue, we advise that you and your betrothed have a conversation with your photographer- or potential photographer- about staying late for the after party, whether it's planned or not.

*The photos above are from our magazine feature: "A Post-Wedding Glow UP", featuring Brylee Armstrong.