The Beauty of Documentary Photography: Choosing Real over Produced to Capture Your Wedding

Written and photographed by An Endless Pursuit

An Endless Pursuit Photography

You’ve scrolled endlessly through collections of carefully curated photos on Instagram, you’ve read the blog posts giving you all the tips on how to have the perfect day, you’ve downloaded the checklists and hired the vendors. You’ve been sold the illusion of control.

The best piece of advice my matron of honor gave me was “Something will go wrong on your wedding day, but in the end you are still getting married, and that is all that matters.” It completely shifted how I looked at our wedding day. It allowed my shoulders to drop and gave me a chance to actually look forward to our wedding day instead of just stressing about things not unfolding exactly as I planned.

This is the essence of candid wedding photography. It is a mindset that allows you to embrace every joyful, chaotic, hallowed moment and consequently allows your photographer to capture the reality of your day, not a staged façade. It also gives permission to your family and your friends to enter into the day more deeply by your very attitude. They can put their phones down, they can pray with eyes closed, and they can dance with abandon.

This doesn’t mean you have to give up all the details – in fact, it gives you permission to enjoy them more fully. Did you create a menu that reflected your heritage? Great! Sit down and actually taste it! Are you so excited that peonies will be in season for your bouquets? Fantastic! Smell them, hold them, let them ground you! Let the tears of joy flow, let the belly laugh out, let the wind blow your hair. All of these incredible things surround you on a wedding day, don’t let anxiety or anticipation keep you from experiencing them to the fullest.

Candid photography allows you to relive all of those experiences over and over, not only with your spouse but also with future generations. Your children and grandchildren will have the opportunity to see the real you. They’ll see the way your nose crinkled, the way your eyes welled, the intense embraces with your loved ones. They will know you more deeply because what they will see before them is true.

Don’t let the feverish planning and striving for perfection get in the way of the sacredness of your vows. Don’t let your double chin stop you from laughing while the camera is raised. Don’t let the timeline cut into being present with your loved ones. Don’t miss out on your own wedding day.

If this resonates with you, if you want photographs from your wedding to echo memories and not produced moments, we would love to talk to you about our approach. We would be honored to capture your day and bless you with images that will always bring you back to the start of your marriage.

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