It goes without saying that the big things that make up a wedding need pictures - you know, stuff like the first dance, walking down the aisle, confetti walk, cake cut, first kiss etc etc, as a Documentary photographer (and assuming those things happen) then there will be pictures of them happening naturally.

For me though they’re the easy things to take pictures of, even though not directed or set up by myself it’s pretty simple - bride walks down the aisle before she gets married, bride and groom usually kiss after ceremony, they walk out and people throw things at them, if they have a cake they cut it - all pre-determined all very easy to get pictures of.

For me though pictures of weddings aren’t about those things , they’re about the feel of it, the people at them, their relationship with each other and the couple, the cute things that happen, small exchanges, ordinary things with big meanings to the people there, someone’s smile in a picture perhaps their only one for a long time because they suffer massively with depression or anxiety - to an outsider it’s a picture of someone smiling, to an insider it’s the most important thing in the world, funny things, sad things, poignant things, the party, a little bit of irony or humour never hurt either - that’s what I’m there for, the real important stuff.

See, the traditional stuff is easy, your guests will take pictures of that too, a lot of them will be half decent as well. For me the story is more important- the traditional pictures make up about 3% of the pictures I take, the other 97% (I know, I know maths genius right) make up the important things.