Hate Having Your Picture Taken? You Can Still Love Your Wedding Photos

We hear it often: “I hate having my photo taken.” “I’m awkward in front of a camera,” “I have no idea how to pose.”

And then there’s the comment we hear the most: “We want great photos, but we really don’t want to spend our wedding day posing for them.”

Good.

Because while a wedding should be documented, we also don’t think it should act as a day-long photoshoot, either.

Your wedding is one of the few times in life when so many of the people you love are under one roof. There will be conversations you weren’t expecting, reactions you couldn’t have planned, people you haven’t seen in years, and moments happening around you that you may not even knew about until you see the photographs.

You should be present for this.

And here’s the real secret: not thinking about having your picture taken, is often the secret to a good a photograph.

You’re Probably Not Bad at Having Your Picture Taken

Most people aren’t professional models. So it’s completely normal that you don't naturally know where to put your hands, how to angle your body, or even which expression to use at a particular moment.

Why would you?

The awkwardness usually starts when you become aware that you’re being photographed.

Someone tells you where to stand. Then where to look. Then move your hand, your feet, your chin. Then to laugh. Then to walk toward each other. Then to walk away and do it again.

Suddenly, instead of being at your wedding, you’re performing being at your wedding.

That’s a very different experience.

Documentary wedding photography changes the equation. Rather than constantly creating something for the camera, we pay attention to what’s already happening.

What we have learned is that quite a lot happens when you give people the space to simply be themselves.

What If We Actually Need Some Direction?

The truth is: you will.

Documentary wedding photography doesn’t mean we show up, disappear into a corner and refuse to help you for eight hours.

There are moments when direction makes sense, and is completely necessary.

We organize family photographs so your relatives aren’t standing around wondering what’s happening. We find the good light. We place you in scenes for stunning portraits. In short, we’ll help when you need help. And the best part is, even during the moments that need direction, candid interactions still take place. 

We’ve photographed hundreds of weddings, and part of our job is knowing when to step in—and when to get out of the way.

You shouldn't have to manage the photography. You shouldn't have to wonder where you're supposed to stand next. And you definitely shouldn't feel like you're moving from one photo assignment to another all day.

The Photographs You Love Most Might Not Be the Ones You Planned

Of course you’ll want a beautiful photographs of the two of you. And you will get that. But years from now, it may not be the photograph you keep coming back to.

It might be your dad’s face when he sees you for the first time. Your grandmother dancing. Your best friend losing it during a speech. Your mom fixing something on your dress when she thinks nobody is watching. Your college friends together again for the first time in years. The look the two of you exchange during the ceremony that lasts about half a second.

Those photographs are difficult to plan because the moments themselves aren't planned.

Our job is to anticipate and capture them.

You Don't Need to Spend Hours Away From Your Wedding to Have Great Photos

Wedding photography has somehow developed a reputation for requiring enormous blocks of time.

An hour for this. Another hour for that. Then wedding-party photos. Then portraits. Then sunset photographs. Then one more photograph because the light changed.

There can absolutely be reasons to step away for portraits, and we'll help you plan enough time to create them without feeling rushed.

But photography shouldn't become the main event.

If you're excited about your cocktail hour, we want you at your cocktail hour. If your grandparents flew across the country to be there, spend time with them. If the dance floor is packed, that's probably not when we're going to pull you outside for twenty minutes because a photography timeline says we're supposed to.

In short, a great photograph of your wedding shouldn't require you to miss your wedding.

What Does Documentary Wedding Photography Feel Like?

Like your present for your wedding day.

You get married. You hug people. You cry. You eat. You drink. You dance. You talk to the people who came to celebrate you.

Meanwhile, we're watching.

We're paying attention to the big things, obviously. But we're also watching the edges of the room. The reactions. The interactions. The things happening behind you. The little moments that don't announce themselves.

There are photographs you'll know we took.

And there will probably be photographs you had no idea we took at all.

Those are often our favorites.

So, What If You Really Hate Having Your Picture Taken?

Then you may be exactly the kind of person who benefits from a documentary approach.

You don't need to practice posing before your wedding.

You don't need to spend months figuring out your “good side.”

And you don't need to become someone who suddenly loves being in front of a camera.

You need to be able to trust your photographer enough to stop thinking about the camera.

Because the goal isn't to spend your wedding looking like you're having an incredible time.

It's to actually have one.

We'll take care of remembering what it looked like.

Your wedding day isn't a photoshoot.