When it comes to planning your wedding, it can be quite easy to burn yourself out by taking on a little too much work. Especially if you have several D.I.Y. elements that help intertwine beautiful, personal touches throughout the day. Planning, creating and just the amount of time and energy that is spent thinking about these parts can feel like a part time job.
So when it comes to your wedding photography, it’s safe to say you want to avoid unnecessary work, stress and wasted time. That’s before, especially during, and even after your wedding (because your photographer will be intrinsically involved throughout). You’ll want a professional who actually knows what they’re doing; who is going to care for you as if it were their own wedding, and appreciate all the nuances of this once in a lifetime experience for you.
I’ve got to confess, I’ve made a huge mistake here.
And it’s a mistake that I’ve been doing for years now.
This isn’t easy to admit, not only because of the hundreds of clients I’ve had the pleasure of working with, but because I find it a little embarrassing, too. It’s not easy to say I’m Wrong, but there, I said it. I was wrong. Wrong to sensitively photograph authentic moments in my clients lives. Intimate, subtleties which aren’t there only for likeness, or vanity, but to share the history of your shared experiences with those you hold dearest to you in the world. That give insight into the thoughts and feelings of your actual, unscripted experiences.
I’m sorry.
What I should have been doing is setting you on fire.
The thing about trends in wedding photography is… it’s funny until someone get’s burned.
New, quirky trends appear every year, such as this article from The Knot which lists 85 exact images you simply must have, as if your life was orchestrated by staged photos. These photos are always something fashionable to chase because of… someone doing it before. Considering today, the viral era, there is all the more pressure to seek something that’s familiarly approved. If I see something everywhere, it’s naturally on the top of my mind, but that doesn’t mean it forms all of my opinion.
Not even close to it.
Yet it’s not too difficult to go beyond the trends, just ask that deeper question: What is really important to me for my wedding photographer? What is going to be just as valuable, or more valuable in 30 years time?
