 Today I'm gonna help you shop for a grad dress for your graduation photo session. My name is Sonali and I'm actually a freelance photographer and the main thing I shoot are grads and it is literally so fun. They always have the cutest outfits so I wanted to make this video to help you guys kind of understand what colors you should be choosing, what styles you maybe shouldn't be choosing. So let's get started. We got a lot of dresses to go through. Before I start sharing all the dresses, I wanted to kind of go through some of the things I think about when I choose a dress for a special occasion. So obviously you wanna make sure you're feeling the most confident you have felt in a while because you're taking photos that you're gonna have for forever and these aren't just Instagram pictures. This is your graduation photo session. These are pictures you're gonna have forever and hopefully you'll show your kids and then they'll share them with their kids. So another thing to think about while we're on that topic is that you wanna have the most timeless look that goes for your dress, that goes for your hair, that goes for your makeup because you don't want to regret anything that you chose to wear or, you know, if you chose to do your hair a certain way. I would definitely practice your hair and makeup that you're gonna do for your grad session a couple times before just so you make sure that you like it and, you know, it photographs well. I don't recommend doing anything crazy that you don't do on a normal basis. So I actually wear my hair curled most of the time and not straight, so I probably would just curl it for the grad session. If you guys wear your hair straight, if you wear it natural, I just think you should just stick to whatever makes you feel the most comfortable because you don't wanna worry about, you know, this little curl is just like not sitting right if you don't normally curl your hair, does that make sense? So that kind of goes with makeup too. If you don't do a wing usually, don't do a wing that day and false lashes can be awesome but they can also be so annoying to deal with because if you don't wear them regularly and you don't know how to put them on, they might come off on the corners and some of the close ups, you may be able to see that. So if you're not a false eyelash girl, don't even worry about it, just maybe bring an eyelash curler to like curl it right before and just like curl it in the middle of your session. Okay, now that that's out of the way, we can actually dive into the dresses. So the first one is from Lulu's, we'll start with this store. I actually picked out this one because I thought the red was in stock because I thought this one would be a great one for a UGA grad. I mean, I definitely would say to stick to neutrals or your school's color or like pastels. You'll see kind of the colors I try to stick with but try not to go for any crazy prints and I honestly don't recommend florals all the time. It kind of depends on what it looks like but it just doesn't look timeless and it's something you could easily regret in like a year. Honestly, I don't think the stress needs that much explanation. It's a very basic dress and I think that if you do have a couple of outfit changes, you should definitely go with a maybe solid pastel color, definitely like a white or neutral like an off white and then you could mix in your prints or your florals if you're wanting to feel a little bit funky but always, always do a neutral dress. So if you're only able to do one dress for your photo session, maybe it's a 30 minute session, maybe it's an hour, maybe you don't even wanna change and like have to deal with it. Although I really recommend to do at least two outfits because what if you don't like the first one and you thought you would like it but the photos just don't look very flattering, at least you will have two options, you know? But anyways, if you choose one dress, make it neutral or make it pastel solid color. That's all I gotta say. This next dress I picked out because I have a bodysuit kind of similar to the top and I think it is so flattering, especially for, you know, heavy-chested women. So you could like tape your boobs to the sides and just like really tape them good and this will look so flattering on you, especially like the wrap in front. This one comes in black, white and red. So this one you have a little bit more of a choice. I'm currently looking through the review photos and a lot of people have worn this dress in their grad photos or like at graduation. The next dress is a little bit funky but I love these balloon slaves right now and this is a neutral dress. It does have some kind of like a texture to it which honestly, I think is really beautiful because it can still be like that timeless color but at least you have something going on. You know what I mean? So this one comes in cream or black and I wanna say something about getting a black dress really quick. If you have black hair, stay away from black dresses because your hair is just gonna blend right in. I know black is slimming but try to stay away. I think you could wear another color that's so much flattering. So just stay away from black. Anyways, back to the dress. Like I said, balloon sleeves are just really in style right now. So I did pick out a couple like this one. I also love that it looks like cinched in at the waist so it's really flattering. It will give you like that hourglass shape. This next dress kinda looks like the second dress but just like kind of like a little bit different style. I think this might be a longer one but this one will definitely look good on those heavy-chested women. Like I said, just definitely tape the boobs and I'll link a couple of like boob tapes down below. I heard Skims is really good. I need to purchase it. I have not gotten around to doing it but I wanna try it out and I'll let you guys know if it's really that great. The reason why I'm telling you to take your boobs is because I've seen girls wear this kind of a dress and if you do have a heavy chest, you will have a lot of cleavage and that's not what we want for our grad photos because these are photos you're gonna be sharing with your grandma and everything. So if you like separate the girls a little bit, like it's not gonna look as bad and it's just gonna look so good when they're like up and just sitting right. If that makes sense, I'd be like, I'm not in a little too much detail so we're gonna move on to the next dress. This dress is kinda more fun and flirty if you guys didn't wanna go like the cocktail dress route. You can obviously do like a really pretty summer dress like this one. I personally love anything that is halter. I think it just flatters my top so well and then it also has that cinched in waist with ruffles so if you're kind of self-conscious about your tummy area this is probably a really good pick because it has like everything covered. You got the halter, you got the cinch in waist, you got the ruffles to cover the belly, you know? You got it all on this dress and it comes in yellow and blue and I think yellow is such a pretty color. Don't sleep on yellow when you're picking out your grad dress. A mustard yellow or a pastel yellow would be so pretty. Maybe stay away from like a bright yellow. I know my school color was gold so at first I wanted to do a yellow but at the time when I graduated I couldn't find any really pretty dresses with that like beautiful yellow color. All of them were like bright, orangey yellows and I was like not about it. This next dress I feel like you cannot go wrong with. I feel like this dress is the epitome of grad dresses. It has that unique style, it's neutral, it cinches in at the waist. It really does look like a really good length and again in the reviews I'm seeing a lot of people have worn this for their grad pictures so I really think that this would be a foolproof dress to have as one of your neutral dresses. This next dress is my first example of what not to wear. So as you can tell it has bows at the top and I know most people do not think about all these things but since I am a photographer and I'm dealing with it at every single grad session I kind of make a note especially when people are asking me my advice on what to wear. At graduation sessions we do a lot of poses with the stole. So if you don't know what a stole is I'll put a picture right here of someone wearing it but basically it's gonna sit on top of your shoulders so it's gonna be looking really funky if you have like bows underneath it it's not gonna like sit perfectly flat so I would just say stay away from this and just like anything going on at the top of your dress. I think I'll have a few more examples later on but just you know no bows at the top. Do yourself a favor. Again you can see here there are just so many ruffles at the top your stole's not gonna sit nicely on you and it's just gonna be a little too much going on you know and I actually had a grad session where my grad was wearing something similar to this I think it was a little bit thinner and it was so windy and I couldn't take the photos you know like candids in the wind because this thing was like blowing up so it just looked like it was windy you know didn't really look like it was candid so the style is a no from me. Moving on to Windsor store this one again is that fun and flirty dress I know I said no florals but I'm gonna make it an exception for this one because this style with the balloon sleeves like I said is very on trend right now and I know you wanna pick something more timeless and classic but I think this could really pass for timeless if we're being honest. I'm not sure if I would say this one would be a good one for heavy-chested girls just cause it is a very deep fee but I think this is a really pretty one especially if you wanna wear a longer sleeve dress I feel like the material of this I feel like I can kinda tell it's like a thinner material so I know grad sessions are starting to happen like March, April, May and it tends to get really really hot then so that's another thing to be aware of just make sure you know what the weather is gonna be like during your session so you can plan accordingly you don't wanna wear something black that absorbs the heat if it's like a hundred degrees out if you live in Texas like me maybe even though this one is like a thinner material it would be a no for you because you just don't wanna have anything on your body when it's a hundred degrees. Next up from Windsor store is this beautiful burgundy dress I was gonna scroll past it because it is like a little bit more sexy but some people like to wear sexier dresses like this I personally think it's a beautiful dress especially with like your stole on you if your color of your school is burgundy like this would be perfect and also like you don't have to wear the color of your school I wore green actually I'll put a photo right here it was actually my sororities color I think green is just really pretty also so I thought I would just wear like a solid green dress it kinda had like a little bit of a sheen to it which I thought was cool this dress is cute but please stay away from anything off the shoulders like just trust me I've had a couple of girls who have worn stuff like this to their grad session and then when we go to like throw the cap then it's like weird and then there's so many poses that it just like wouldn't be too flattering if you weren't off the shoulder dress and I honestly just think that this trend is like fading out so I am gonna give this a no next we're gonna look at some dresses from Nordstrom like I said I wanted to give you guys price ranges so these are a bit more on the pricey side I saw this dress and I loved the color I loved the fit of the dress I think it would flatter a lot of people because it's not just like that shift dress that's like hanging on your body it does have like a little cinch on your waist so I think it's really cute it's very minimal which is also really great especially if you have a colored stole like I said it's always great to do a neutral dress alright again I know I said no florals but I saw this dress and I was like that's so pretty and it's under $100 so it's from Astro The Label and it is just this really pretty like pink orangey off-white dress and I think the style of it is what really caught my eye because the cinched waist thing kind of almost looks like a corset it's really cute and it has like some little texture and I think it's like tassels on the bottom no it's like a ruffle at the bottom the material just like looks so nice and high quality so I really think this would look so pretty this one girl wore like a floral red dress to one of her grad shoots and I absolutely loved it like I think it was more about the style though and because her stole was red it just like went so well so if you do florals right then go for it you know but sometimes florals can be just an instant regret when I saw this dress I immediately thought of all my UT girls because their color is burnt orange it had that ruched kind of texture which is great when you have those curves and wanna show them off but maybe like your stomach isn't as flat and just don't wanna like show that off so I think this is perfect it has a little bit of ruffles at the bottom and it's on sale currently for under 50 bucks so that's a steal next up we have Revolv and this is definitely one of the most pricey stores that I'm gonna put in this video but I thought I would just show you guys a couple of dresses if you wanted to splurge or if you wanted to like find similar styles somewhere else let's cut to the chase this first dress is just too much going on there's ruffles at the top there's ruffles at the bottom it's perfect for anything that you don't have to put stuff on top of you like the stole and the corset and your grad gown so unfortunately this one's a no for me I love the style of this dress I think it's so flattering because it's a neutral but it has that textured print on it so it's more of like a timeless classic piece with that fun and flirty feel I do feel like this dress is probably a little bit too short try to do your shopping as soon as possible so that in case you have to do a return and buy something else you have the time to do that trust me on this you do not wanna short dress when you're at a grad session because your photographer is probably gonna wanna switch it up and do some sitting poses and you just don't wanna deal with all that just so much easier if there's a little bit more length on the dress when I saw this dress I immediately clicked on it because first of all the color but also the style I think it's beautiful it looks like a romper but I could be wrong it might just be a dress with like a skirt you know but I feel like that short skirt that's really frilly that has like that waistband it's super trendy right now so I feel like this could be stunning on so many people I feel like red is just that color that makes you stand out and look so good and look so confident so again even if red's not your school colors like don't be afraid to wear it the next where I looked at was she in and I know some people don't like to support this company and honestly I was just really curious to see what they had so if you don't wanna support them you can totally find similar styles to this on another website but I just kinda wanted to show you guys the styles I found so this one is 20 bucks which honestly I can't really speak to the quality of this so again definitely plan ahead especially when you're ordering from sites like this you know you never know what it could actually look like in real life you know but this one's 20 bucks and it is stunning like look at this like bustier kind of moment and it has like that cinched waist I know corsets are really trendy too right now it kinda has that corset vibe I love slits and dresses if you do get a longer dress definitely make sure it has a slip because it's just so flattering when the leg kind of pops out in specific poses but also this color is beautiful I love this green dress honestly I feel like you can't really do wrong with any kind of like a satin slip dress this one is kind of longer than some of the ones I've seen but I really think that this is beautiful there's so many colors that you can choose from one thing you should be aware of is the length of your dress if you are going in a fountain I know UT and UCF have fountains and usually grads take photos in them so just make sure that at least your last dress if you're going into a fountain last is not the longest one because you obviously don't want it to get like soaked you know unless you're like going for that vibe you know it's kinda cool but if you don't want it to get soaked definitely plan to wear a shorter dress for that specific location here's another kind of satin dress and it has those like ruchings on the side with the ties which I think are really cool it might be a little too like busy on the sides with the ties because I think that just like looks cluttered especially if they're not perfectly tied so you might wanna like cut strings and not have so much length you know hanging from it cause it just looks bad but other than that I think this is a beautiful dress like I said the satin thing I'm so here for it this next dress is super cute for like a date night but not your grad photos in my personal opinion it probably will be showing a little bit too much of cleavage and I don't love velvet for grad photos I don't know why I just like think it's like a little too sexy I don't know it's just like not it's just not the vibe for grad photos next we're gonna take a look at one of my favorite stores to shop at and that is Nasty Gal so we'll start with this beautiful midi slit dress I love the color of it it actually comes in a pink color too I actually have a couple dresses that are similar to this more on the casual side but this definitely looks like more like fancy material and I just think this would be a really cute basic dress to have this color is what I'm talking about when I'm talking like pastels just like a muted even like earthy tones are so beautiful I did find a couple of dresses that I showed you guys in the previous videos probably just for a little bit cheaper so we have the black bodycon with a little ruffle at the bottom it's literally under 20 bucks freaking insane and then we also have that cowl satin mini dress and this one's the shorter version and it's $34 which is still really good for a grad dress okay moving into a big no this literally reminds me of Kim K's Met Gala look that one year when she was pregnant and literally her hair is the same everything it just like looks like you're a big blob of florals and you like don't even know what you're looking at honestly in this photo it's really just too much going on I do really like a high knack or a mock knack of some sort but this is just not it it just like would not photograph well I don't think I went over like one shoulder situations and I saw this dress and I thought it would be perfect I really do love this dress first of all the color is beautiful it also comes in white I personally think one shoulder dresses are so flattering because you can kind of see the collarbone and you just look really powerful in them I don't know how to explain it but you do have to think about you know your stole coming down I as a photographer love to have everything symmetrical so it might just like throw the photo off but I don't think anyone's gonna notice I think it's a beautiful dress honestly you'll probably see me in this dress a month from now like I'm not even a grad but I'm gonna get this we all know I love my naturels this brown color is everything on an everyday basis not your grad photos I just don't think this color would really be too flattering especially like in a body con if you're like tan it just like wouldn't really make you like stand out it just I don't know everything about this color for a grad dress is the note for me and also just like this style I know baby doll kind of dresses are really in right now but it's just gonna make you like look a little poofy and it's again not gonna be very flattering I randomly stumbled across this dress on Amazon and it's under $40 some of them are prime some of them are not which is kind of weird but I really like the style again balloon sleeves y'all I don't think I can say that enough in this video again it has like that cinched in thing it's flowy it's probably really breathable even though it's long sleeve they do have some solid color options and some florals so if you want to take the floral route you go girl those are all the grad dresses that I found and wanted to show you guys and kind of give you my opinions on them as a photographer one more thing I forgot to tell you guys is that you should definitely have some kind of like a darker lip color for your grad session it doesn't have to be like bright pink and honestly please don't do that pick more of like a natural darker color because it's just gonna help when it comes to editing for the photographer if you don't have any lip color and you're on the paler side it's just gonna wash you out so make sure you have like a lip liner a lipstick a liquid lip those are really awesome because they stay a really long time and maybe you wouldn't even have to like reapply during your grad session I really hope this video helped you guys out I will have a whole blog post with all of these grad dresses and if I find any more I'll definitely add it to the blog post if you guys saw a dress in this video that you want to purchase I'll have all the links down below and on my blog post like I said I'm guessing if you're watching this video you're graduating so let me know where you're graduating from I would love to hear it and I will see y'all in my next video bye