Guelph Grad Photos · Regalia

Caps, Sashes and Stoles.

Ideas for personalising your grad regalia: decorated cap designs that photograph well, cultural sashes and stoles framed with respect, club and society stoles, and keeping every decoration ceremony-safe.

The gown is the uniform. The cap, the sash, and the stole are the signature. They are the pieces of regalia that say something about you specifically: your culture, your club, your family, your sense of humour. This guide covers the personal touches that photograph beautifully, the ones that quietly do not, and how to keep everything ceremony-friendly. Every tradition and every grad is welcome in front of our cameras, and the personalised details are usually our favourite frames of the whole session.

Decorated caps that actually photograph well.

A decorated cap is photographed two ways: close up, where every detail shows, and at distance, where it becomes a small tilted rectangle. Design for both and it works everywhere.

  • Matte over glitter. Glitter looks great in your hands and terrible on camera; in direct sun it blows out into white speckle and steals focus from your face. Matte cardstock, vinyl lettering, and fabric flowers keep their colour in every light.
  • High contrast reads at distance. Light lettering on a dark base, or the reverse. Subtle tone-on-tone designs disappear ten steps away.
  • Few words, big letters. Three to six words at a size you could read across a room beats a paragraph nobody can.
  • Work around the button. The centre of the board holds the tassel button, so build the design around it instead of over it.
  • Straight lines, strong glue. A ruler and a proper adhesive are the difference between crafted and crafty. Wind finds every loose corner.
A smiling graduate in a cream dress holding a red, gold and black stole over her shoulder in front of a brick building entrance.
A graduate in a black gown with a red stole sitting on the stone wall of the Lang School of Business sign at the University of Guelph.
A graduate with long red hair in a white dress with a red stole sitting on the base of the bronze gryphon statue at the University of Guelph.
Two graduates in white dresses with black and gold hoods smiling between two stone columns in warm evening light.
Three graduates in black gowns with red and gold hoods looking back over their shoulders on a brick path with a green lawn behind them.
Four graduates in black gowns with red and gold hoods, two wearing hijabs, seated together at the Portico columns at the University of Guelph.

Cultural sashes and stoles, framed with respect.

A cultural sash or stole is often the most meaningful thing a grad wears, and it deserves more than an incidental appearance in the corner of a frame. We photograph them deliberately: full-length shots so the whole piece is visible from shoulder to hem, close-ups that catch embroidery, beadwork, or woven pattern, and angles that put the detail into the light instead of into shadow. Colours like red, gold, and black sing against campus limestone and greenery, and we choose backdrops that let them lead.

If you are wearing a piece with cultural or family significance, mention it when you book. We will plan frames around it, ask how you want it worn and shown, and follow your lead. You are the authority on your regalia; our job is to photograph it the way it deserves.

Club and society stoles.

Varsity teams, cultural clubs, residence communities, student government, honour societies: if a group shaped your degree, its stole belongs in your photos. Two tips make these frames work. First, decide the layering before the session; a stole worn over the hood hides the hood colours, so we usually photograph both arrangements and let you choose later. Second, book with the people who share the stole. Matching stoles in a group frame, walking Alumni Walk or lined up at the Portico, tell the story of the club better than any solo shot can.

A few of our favourite regalia moments, pinned up where they belong.

  • A graduate in a black gown and sunglasses holding a bouquet of flowers in front of the bronze gryphon statue at the University of Guelph.
    Bouquet, sunglasses, cap. The whole mood.
  • A graduate in a black gown holding her cap on her head in front of the Johnston Hall clock tower at the University of Guelph.
    A hand on the cap always reads.
  • A graduate in a beige dress seated on the stone balustrade of a limestone building with a red, gold and black stole beside her.
    The stole gets its own seat.
  • Two graduates wearing hijabs and black gowns smiling beside the bronze gryphon statue at the University of Guelph.
    Friends first, grads second.
  • Three graduates in black gowns with red and gold hoods holding hands and looking back on a tree-lined brick walkway at the University of Guelph.
    Hoods catching the evening light.

Keeping decorations ceremony-safe.

Ceremony rules about decorated regalia vary, and they can change year to year, so check the guidelines that come with your convocation information before you commit a design. A few habits keep you safe on both fronts:

  • Keep decorations flat and secure, with nothing dangling past the edge of the board.
  • Leave the tassel free to move; it has a job to do on stage.
  • Use removable mounting, or decorate a second cap just for photos, and keep the official one plain.
  • If your gown is rented, make sure nothing pins through it or leaves residue.

The photo-day version of your regalia can be as bold as you like. That is rather the point of booking a session: the ceremony has rules, your photos have none.

Bring what makes it yours.

Cap, sash, stole, flowers, the dog, all of it. Tell us what you are bringing when you book and we will build the session around it. A $50 deposit holds your date.

Book your session