Over the years I have covered a fair bit on not only the overall style of my work, but to also to give a broad perspective on certain aspects of your wedding day.
Just in case anyone is still under any illusions, the way of working is to capture the entire day in a candid manner. And as mentioned and stressed previously, this allows for each day to be truly unique and for your wedding to literally stands on its own. Which of course sounds a bit cliched. It really isn’t.
With this piece I will focus on Candid Bridal Party Wedding Portraits
Now, quite often the couple will slip away for a few moments by themselves. And sometimes it will be the newlyweds with their bridal party.
The couple will often have a spot in mind to go for a few pictures.
It is not a priority.
For me, once they are all engaging, laughing, and chatting. That should be more than enough for me to get a few nice images.
More often than not the newlyweds and bridal party, or most of them, will have a good idea of how it is going to work by this stage. Which reminds me of one story from a few years back.
It was a Kerry wedding, and the couple with their bridal party went to a few spots for some pictures.
One bridesmaid had a few ideas. Most of them were terrible of course. But I guess the concept of them all just doing their own thing. To just wander about with no choreography was rather new. Maybe even a bit odd. And in that situation I may even say “well, what you do if I wasn’t here?” which tends to work.
This frees everyone up, it loosens everyone up. It therefore can allow the potential images to open up and breath more, because for me anything else is too constructed, can comes across generic. And ultimately a bit boring.
The simplicity here is the wedding crew taking a moment away. They should not even think pictures. Or to be more precise, not think about me the photographer. I will get what I need to get. Regardless of what may or may not happen. I will piece together the moments that will capture that part of the day. And this will blend in with the rest of the wedding day.
As I have said before, it is story telling. It is observing you on your wedding day. Documenting the wedding. With the minimum of fuss. And with candid bridal party wedding portraits, no one knows what will happen. It makes the eventually set of pictures more fun.
Documentary wedding photography, it just might be for you.