Not Your Grandmother's Wedding Photos

Weddings are one of the most important events in any couple’s lives. Many people dream of their wedding years before they’re even part of a couple. However, the actual form of those dreams can vary greatly. Adventure weddings, traditional, modern, or themed – all of these options and more are chosen by brides and grooms who want their wedding to be a reflection of them. These couples also want their wedding photos to equally reflect them. Though posed studio shots are still popular with many, a growing number of people would rather the photos reflect their own tastes and creative visions. Below are a few ideas that may get creative juices flowing for any future brides or grooms reading.

Include Four Legged Family Members

Your pet was an everyday part of your life before the wedding, and he or she will continue to be integral to your life afterwards. While you may decide not to have your dog or cat hang out for the ceremony, including them in some of the wedding photos is a great way to document this moment in your life more fully. After all, you are all a family now.

Find Glamour In The Mundane

It’s a sweet twist on the formality of wedding photos to get a series of photos of the bride, groom, and wedding party helping to prepare for their big day while all glommed up. The mother of the bride ironing in full makeup, the groom grabbing some breakfast in his tux – these are all endearing ways of showing the reality behind the big day. Show some of the chaos as well as the perfect facade. Those shots will be treasured by your kids and grandkids one day – or by that one niece who thinks you are the coolest aunt and uncle in the family – as being a more real representation of what went on during your wedding day.

Who Doesn’t Love A Theme?

Not everyone wants a wedding straight out of the roaring twenties or for the groomsmen to all have matching light sabers, but for some couples a wedding is a chance to spread their fantasy wings. Even in more conventional ceremonies a photographer can find out what elements the bride and groom may want to sneak into their photos, as a way to share an inside joke every time they revisit the wedding album. This is just another way of letting the personalities of the bride and groom, rather than just their lovely outfits, shine through.

Go Sexy

Wedding traditionally focus on the sweet, virginal aspect – hello, white dress. But not every couple is all that sweet or virginal. That doesn’t mean not being tasteful, but it is certainly possible to include a bride’s interesting tattoos or a pre-wedding round of shots without offending grandma too much. If a couple is edgy, their photography doesn’t have to try to mask that. Embrace the cool, and you’ll end up with photos that are treasured for decades.

In the end the most important thing is for a wedding to reflect the spirit of the bride and groom. That may mean traditional and family oriented, or it may mean free spirited and quirky. If every wedding photo was a couple holding hands in front of a pretty backdrop, weddings would be very boring indeed. Or at least the photos would be. Couples and photographers shouldn’t be afraid to show a little of the gritty – but still oh so charming – reality behind the fantasy when they pictures are being taken. A crying child, a sleeping dog, a broken wine bottle – these are all just the signs of a really good party.