Documentary Wedding Photography
What Some Photographs Say — and What They Hide
Documentary wedding photography is often described as simply photographing a wedding as it happens.
It sounds simple.
Don’t interrupt. Don’t stage everything. Watch for real moments and photograph them.
But there is another side to documentary wedding photography that isn’t visible in the finished photographs.
A photograph can show exactly what happened while hiding everything that was required to make that photograph possible.
This wedding is a good example.
What the photograph says in this photo: Bride and bridesmaids are working together to help the bride with finishing touches.
What The Photograph Doesn’t Say
One of the beaded straps on the wedding dress had just broke and while her mother rushed to gather a repair kit so her bridesmaid could try to fix it, 15 minutes of time had run down.
The 20 minutes I was suppose to have for portraits was narrowed down to just 5 minutes. I quickly directed this bridal portrait.
The photograph shows a relaxed quiet bride.
It was quite the opposite in real time. Her face and body language showed all over stress.
.
Upon Arrival at the Wedding Venue
The strap broke again!
Now Let Me Paint A Picture of the Ceremony Setting
This image demonstrates how far away the actual club house is away from the ceremony.
The ceremony is further down the hill from where the videographer is set up and pointing to on the left side of this photo.
The bride will be escorted by golf cart to the center of the dip in the hill out of site from guests.
As you can see there is no shade on a very hot bright day.
Next you see the bride and father having to go through the golf club shop before getting into their golf cart.
As you can see the dress strap is back in tact.
The Revere Golf Club, Henderson, NV
Things are all coming together, here they come!
This was an action shot…not a still.
What to expect at Golf Course Weddings
Golf Course Weddings are full of green grass and trees but what is overlooked is the fact that heels don’t work very well in this setting.
Wedding coordinator and father trying to pry the brides heels out of the grass.
So this is the third dramatic incident so far.
Yes, she decided to go barefoot.
Not just because her heels got stuck in the grass just one time, but there was also the liability of her getting hurt.
Later on down the post, I will explain why this was so important.
At this point the wind decided to pick up.
I have to say she was in really good spirits here. Hair a mess, veil blowing, barefoot and repaired broken strap on dress twice.
Oh, did I mention it was over 100 degrees and no shade.
I have never experienced so many people wearing sunglasses at a ceremony. It was so bright.
More wind and thankful the sun was behind the bride.
The bride is still barefoot and the only time I ever saw her hair perfect was at the house.
When To Improvise
What you don’t see. Barefeet. Instead of doing a formal I made this shot fun so the focus was not on the hems of the dresses dragging on the ground and the unforgiving sun.
Documentary and editorial wedding photography aren’t opposites in the way I work.
One is about recognizing what is happening.
The other gives me another tool when direction will make the photograph stronger.
Knowing when to do which is part of the job.
I had to include this editorial shot below to show that even with bright sun you can make a good color picture great in black and white!
Moving On To The Reception
The Cake Smash
There isn’t much hidden in this one.
The cake went everywhere.
Including up the bride’s nose and into her eyelashes.
Any plans for beautiful close-up portraits later in the evening were pretty much over.
And this was the third time the strap broke on her dress.
Dress fixed again.
And the fun continued…
But there was one more thing I was quietly aware of throughout the entire wedding. The bride had a difference in the formation of her hands, and she did not want them to become a focus in her photographs.
That meant I had to think about it with every photograph I made, without allowing that thought to interfere with documenting what was actually happening.
Now that you know this, scroll back to the top and look at each photograph of the bride again with this in mind.
Look at how I composed the photograph. Where the bouquet fell. Where another person’s body could naturally block part of the frame. When a tighter crop made sense—and when it didn’t.
None of those choices needed to interrupt what was happening. They simply became part of how I saw the photograph.
Documentary wedding photography is more than standing back and taking pictures of whatever happens. It is also knowing your couple, paying attention, anticipating what matters, and making decisions in real time—often without anyone realizing you’re making them.
