Things you need to know about Wedding Photojournalism before your wedding day.

Hello — hopefully you’re here because I’ve sent you this article a few weeks before your big day. If so, I’m really looking forward to it. That’s not just a platitude — I genuinely look forward to every wedding, and the day I stop feeling that way is the day I pack the cameras away and figure out what I want to be when I grow up.

If you’ve just stumbled across this, it should give you a good sense of what to expect from a documentary wedding photographer, and how to prepare for having your wedding photographed in a photojournalistic style.

The good news is there’s very little you need to worry about. Wedding photojournalism is largely — and sometimes entirely — observational and non-intrusive, so this should be a quick read. Then you can get back to refining the table plan.

Live for the moment, not the photo.

My greatest hope is that you spend your wedding day fully present — relaxed, soaking it all in, making memories with the people you love. I don’t want to control those moments, or become one of them.

I’ll be in the thick of it, quietly capturing the day, but it’s far more important that the atmosphere and emotions unfold naturally than that I get the perfect shot. And in my experience, the perfect shots come from exactly that –  trusting the moments to present themselves.

Let you’re family and friends know you’re going au naturale

It really helps to give guests a heads-up that you’ve chosen a more observational, natural style of photography — and that they don’t need to think about posing. This is especially useful if they’ve been to weddings with a more directed photography style before.

You and your guests are not in my way.

Related to the above: you are probably not ruining a photo by stepping in front of me. If something needs to happen, let it happen. Chances are I’m using you as a framing device, or simply keeping my presence low-key until the key moment arrives and I can move in and grab the shot.

(I’m sneaky like that — which is why people often say they barely saw me all day, even though I was right there the whole time.)

Things I’m going to bring to your wedding are.

Curiosity and playfulness.

Quiet observation.

A sense of humour.

A willingness to go with the flow.

A sensitivity to the stories and emotions unfolding around me.

Probably, also, some camera gear.

Phone cameras, guests with cameras, gran with her iPad.

Guests love to document the day and collect their own memories — and that’s a wonderful thing. I’m not going to pretend my photos hold more value than anyone else’s. I’ll work around guests with cameras, and I’ll often work them into the photos.

So please don’t hold an unplugged ceremony on my account. (That said, if your officiant wants to use me as an excuse to keep cameras tucked away until after the ceremony, I really don’t mind.)

One last thing

Your wedding day is yours. My job is simply to follow it, feel it, and bring back the photos that remind you — years from now — exactly what it felt like to be there.

So on the day, forget about me. Laugh too loud. cry if you need to. Dance before you’re supposed to. The best photos I’ve ever taken have come from couples who stopped worrying and just lived the day.

If you’ve got any questions before then, I’d love to hear from you.