So many of my clients for this season have had terrible experiences at the weddings of their friends, where the photographer has dragged the couple away for hours on end, leaving the guests to talk amongst themselves – as an awkward small-talker myself, I can understand this is not a situation my clients are keen to impose on their own guests.
As a documentary style wedding photographer, this isn’t the type of scenario I would ever cause luckily – my creative shoot with the bridal party and couple usually lasts not much more than one hour. The other option though is to do the creative shoot BEFORE the wedding ceremony. Not for the superstitious nor traditional among us. Because that magic moment of seeing each other for the first time as the bride comes down the aisle at the wedding ceremony is sacrificed by shooting the creative before the ceremony, instead we can recreate the emotion of that moment by staging a ‘first look’.
For Amy and Todd’s wedding I positioned Todd at the top on the stairs, bathed in beautiful light. Amy crept up on him from below. The anticipation in the room before that shoulder was tapped could have be cut with a knife.
What do you think? Would you consider a ‘first look’ on your wedding day? Have you had a bad experience with the photographer stealing the bridal couple for hours on end? Got any other solutions to the boredom factor as a guest at a wedding while the couple are out having their photos taken?
.jpg)
.jpg)
.jpg)
