Unique wedding photos don’t come from doing more.
They come from doing what actually feels like you.
Before anything else, it helps to think about the kind of photos you want from your day, not in terms of trends, but in terms of experience. There are countless wedding photographers, each with different approaches.
Some create very artsy, editorial images.
Some are completely hands-off, fly-on-the-wall observers.
Some fall somewhere in between.
None of those approaches are wrong. But the most unique photos happen when the photographer’s style aligns with how you want to spend your day .
Letting go of expectations
One thing we’ve noticed after photographing over 60 weddings is that most people walk into their day with a pretty fixed idea of what a wedding should look like. And it makes sense because we’ve all seen weddings, and most of us have attended at least one, so there’s a baseline expectation floating around of how things are “supposed” to be done. They think a timeline has to check off Typical Wedding Events A, B, and C.
But who made the rule that there needs to be an “entrance” into a reception?
Who said the couple needs to do a dip and kiss after walking back up the aisle?
Where’d the idea come from that people need to get in a stiff, straight line for family photos?
I don’t know who made those rules, but we prefer to break them. Let this post be your permission slip to question all of it.
No “shoulds.”
No “we have to do this because that’s how weddings go.”
You don’t have to check off traditions just because your guests expect them.
And no, not even any “My parents want my wedding to be like theirs, so I’m stuck doing it their way.”
Instead, open your mind to the possibilities of how you and your person want your day to play out. Your wedding is both the last day you spend together as an unmarried couple and the first day you spend together as a married couple. It should reflect you both as individuals, not a version of a wedding you’ve seen before.
Your friends and family who expect formality, rigidity, and cookie-cutter-ness will enjoy themselves even if you break the rules because they are there for you, not for themselves.
Being yourselves is what makes photos unique
Being yourselves is what makes photos unique. Yes, of course a photographer’s skill, experience, and artistic eye matter. They affect how a person is captured. But they don’t affect who is captured. Truly unique wedding photos come from you being fully, unapologetically yourselves.
You don’t have to fake a first look for photos because your real first look was private. The lack of first look in this case reflects the realness of you guys wanting privacy on that day.
You don’t have to place your hands a certain way for the ring to shine. No ridiculous “Pretend you’re holding an acorn” guidelines to make you appear “poised” and “graceful” 🤮
You don’t have to recreate moments you saw in a trending wedding photo or at your friend’s wedding.
Are you goofy with each other? Quiet and affectionate? Sarcastic? goofy? Soft? Loud?
When a friend snaps a quick phone photo of you and your instinct is to stick your tongue out or make a face, that’s not something to unlearn on your wedding day. That’s exactly the energy you should bring.
However you naturally exist together is exactly what makes your photos one of a kind.
Getting ready, the real way
Getting ready (in our opinions, at least) should look like what it would look like if we weren’t there.
No asking you to sit by the window and put on your earrings.
No styling your space to look perfect.
And definitely no re-enacting moments for the camera’s sake.
That kind of photography exists, but in our opinion, it’s not what makes photos feel honest.
Getting ready is usually messy. Beds can be unmade. Bags can be half-packed. People can be moving in and out of the room. Thirty-nine water bottles are placed haphazardly around the room. That’s real life, and that’s what we document.
Your day doesn’t have to follow a script
You can share your vows privately, just the two of you, without the audience during the ceremony.
You can attend your cocktail hour instead of disappearing for an hour of staged portraits. (Assuming you even have a cocktail hour; your wedding, your rules, maybe there is no cocktail hour!)
Your family photos don’t have to be a prom-style lineup. We can photograph you with your people as you’re actually spending time together.
You don’t have to change your dress for the reception or take your veil off unless you want to.
If the weather is weathering, lean into it. Your wedding was meant to be during that weather whatever it is. Let your dress get dirty and just go with it (another post on that at some point).
Not that the day is about the photos–it’s definitely not–but trust us, you’ll get unique photos if you allow yourself to be yourself.
We hope this helps you realize that your wedding is your own and that it can be unique if you (and your photographers) let it.
If you nodded a lot while reading this, it means you’re our people! Hit us up to see if we have your wedding day open!
