In the last issue we talked about lighting tips to make your photos look

professional. In this issue we are going to talk about taking wedding

pictures that will capture the moment!

Your wedding album will be one of the most precious memories of this

big day that you will have.  But have you ever noticed how so many of

those “professional” pictures are all the same from wedding album to

wedding album?  In fact, one thing that jumps out about the wedding

photographer is that for a little while on the wedding day, everything

halts and it’s all about him.

You know the drill.  The ceremony is exciting and fun and full of joy,

some tears and plenty of meaning as the bride and groom kiss and

become one family.  Then it’s all over and everybody files out to go to

the reception to dance, have cake and celebrate this union.  But wait,

the whole proceeding has to grind to a halt while the photographer

stages the wedding party for as long as an hour or more to “recreate”

the ceremony and make those perfect wedding photos.  Meanwhile the

reception may be getting underway and many of the guests that the

bride or the groom or others in the family want to hug and share the joy

with may have to go because they just can’t wait out a fussy

photographer.

Somehow this complete disruption to the day has become accepted as

just part of what the wedding day is all about.  And the worst part about

it is that the photographs, while nice and well staged, look like a bunch

of mannequins being arranged for a store window.  The joy and fun of

the ceremony is over.  For decades to come everybody will say they

are beautiful and meaningful but if you look closely the wedding party

looks nervous, uncomfortable, bored and like they wish they were

somewhere else.

Well maybe it’s time to throw that tradition out and put some creativity

into how the wedding photos and the wedding photographer works in

your wedding.  By finding a photographer who will put together some

wedding pictures that have some style, some creativity and some

sense of inventiveness, you will have that wedding album that really is

full of memories worth remembering.

To get that kind of photographer, you are going to have to start early.

You have to find that maverick photographer that “gets it” that the

wedding is about the people, not the gowns and the hall and that his

photographs must shout out “this was a wonderful day and we

celebrated this union.”