Your Wedding Day Was Never Meant to Be Photographed Just One Way
When you're thinking about your wedding photography, I don't think the question should be, "Do I want candid or posed photographs?"
I think the better question is: What photographs will tell the whole story of this day?
There will be moments when the best thing I can do is step back and allow life to happen in front of my camera. Your dad seeing you dressed for the first time. Your best friend laughing during a speech. Your new spouse reaching for your hand when no one is paying attention.
There will be other moments when a little guidance helps create the photograph. I may put you in beautiful light, give you something to do, and then allow the two of you to take it from there.
And sometimes, we need to intentionally stop and make the photograph.
We need the portrait with your parents. We need the photograph of your grandmother. We need the wedding party together. We need a beautiful portrait of the two of you where you're both looking at the camera. Those photographs aren't somehow less authentic because we intentionally created them. They are documentation, too.
Your wedding gallery is a record of a day that only happens once. Part of documenting it well is knowing when to observe, when to guide, and when to step in and create something with intention.
Trends have a place here, too. The creative techniques we love right now will someday become part of what visually identifies this era, and I think that's beautiful. But your wedding doesn't need to be photographed entirely according to what social media currently tells us wedding photography should look like.
There is room for the blurry photograph on the dance floor. There is room for the quiet candid moment no one knew I captured. There is room for the editorial portrait we carefully created. And there is room for everyone to stand together, look at the camera, and smile.
Because twenty, thirty, or fifty years from now, you may care far less about which category a photograph belonged to.
You'll care that you have it.
posed
Intentional, structured, and just as meaningful.
Posed photographs are created with intention. I may guide where you stand, how you position your body, where you look, or even adjust the smallest details to create a strong portrait.
And posed doesn't mean stiff or inauthentic. Sometimes, we need to intentionally stop and make the photograph. Family portraits, wedding party photos, and classic portraits of the two of you are all part of documenting your wedding day.
These photographs matter because sometimes the moment isn't going to happen on its own—we make sure it exists.
guided
A little direction, with room for you to be yourselves.
Some of the photographs that look completely candid actually begin with a little guidance. I may place you in beautiful light, ask you to walk together, pull each other closer, or give you a simple prompt, and then let the moment unfold.
I'm creating the opportunity for something natural to happen without controlling every part of it. You don't have to wonder what to do with your hands or how to "act natural." I'll get you started, and you take it from there.
candid
Nothing created. Nothing directed. Just the moment as it happened.
Candid photographs are the moments I simply observe. The reaction during the ceremony. Your mom watching you get ready. Your best friend laughing during a speech. The hug you didn't know I saw.
There's no prompt and no direction. My job in these moments is to recognize what's happening, anticipate what might happen next, and preserve it without interrupting it.
These are the photographs that document what your wedding day actually felt like while you were busy living it.
