There are some wedding photographs you already know you want.
Walking down the aisle. The first kiss. Confetti. Family groups. A gorgeous photo of the two of you where everyone is looking in roughly the right direction and nobody has mysteriously acquired half a tree growing out of their head.
They matter. Of course they do.
But some of my favourite photographs from a wedding day are the ones my couples could never have put on a shot list.
Because they didn’t know they were going to happen.
They’re the reactions happening behind you. The little interactions between guests. The nervous preparations. The person quietly taking everything in. The ridiculous thing happening three tables away while you’re completely oblivious.
And sometimes, they’re moments that become far more important than anyone could have realised at the time.
You can't make a list of moments that haven't happened yet
I’m always happy to talk through the photographs that matter to you before your wedding. In fact, I want to know about the people and details that are especially important.
But I don’t want you spending the weeks before your wedding trying to produce a list of every possible photograph I should take.
That’s my job.
While you’re busy actually getting married, I’m watching.
Not just you, either.
I’m watching your parents. Your children. Your grandparents. Your wedding party. The friend trying not to cry. The best man nervously checking his speech one last time. The flower girl who’s had quite enough of weddings for one afternoon.
Because your wedding isn’t only happening wherever the two of you happen to be standing.
This is exactly the sort of photograph I mean.
He wasn’t performing for my camera. He was going back over his speech before his moment arrived.
It’s a tiny part of the story happening behind the scenes, but it says something about the anticipation and nerves of the day that a photograph of someone simply standing smiling at the camera never could.
Sometimes the biggest emotions aren't coming from the couple
During a ceremony, obviously I’m photographing the two people getting married.
But I’m also looking around the room.
Because while you’re concentrating on vows, rings and remembering what you’re supposed to say next, your guests are watching something pretty important happen too.
This little boy wasn’t upset.
He was the couple’s son, completely overcome with emotion because his mum and dad were finally getting married.
🥹
His parents couldn’t have known beforehand that he would react like this. They certainly couldn’t have added “photograph our son’s face when it all gets a bit much” to a wedding photography checklist.
But I could see it happening.
So I photographed it.
Some of the most important photographs from your wedding are of moments you couldn’t possibly have known to ask me to photograph.
The people watching can be part of the story too
One of the most obvious photographs to take during a father-daughter dance is, unsurprisingly, the bride dancing with her dad.
And yes, I photograph that.
But sometimes the story isn’t only happening on the dance floor.
The bride’s dad had been poorly and there had been uncertainty over whether he would be well enough to make the wedding.
He did.
So while they danced together, I noticed her mum and sister standing at the edge of the dance floor watching them.
Look at their faces.
You don’t need me to tell you how much that moment meant.
That’s why I’m always looking beyond the obvious photograph.
It's in the little details too
Documentary wedding photography doesn’t mean I completely ignore all the beautiful things you’ve chosen for your day.
Quite the opposite.
It’s about photographing the things that help tell your story rather than working through the same generic checklist at every wedding.
A detail can have history, family significance or a story behind it.
It deserves more than a quick snap because “photographers are supposed to photograph wedding details.”
I’m looking for the things that are yours.
The same goes for the smaller details you’re carrying or wearing.
You might barely notice them during the day itself, but afterwards they can transport you straight back to how everything looked and felt.
There is a whole wedding happening while you're getting ready
One of the reasons I love photographing the preparations is that there are so many separate little stories unfolding at once.
Nobody needs a photograph of every buttonhole being attached.
But the interaction?
Absolutely.
It’s the laughter, concentration, nerves and friendships around the practical stuff that make those photographs worth having.
Even without a person in the frame, photographs like this help build the story.
The clothes waiting. The setting. The calm before everybody puts them on and the day properly gets going.
They’re the visual equivalent of those tiny bits of a memory that suddenly bring everything flooding back.
Weddings don't happen in a bubble
This is another thing I love.
You can spend months planning a wedding and then, on the actual day, the rest of the world carries on regardless.
People walk past. Cars drive by. Someone stops to look. Someone else hasn’t got the faintest idea what’s going on.
Meanwhile, there you are. In a wedding dress. In the middle of it all.
Those wider documentary photographs give your gallery a sense of place and reality that we’d completely lose if I only ever photographed carefully arranged scenes.
And sometimes it's just wonderfully chaotic
Not every photograph needs to make you cry.
Thank goodness, frankly. We’d all be dehydrated by the speeches.
I LOVE photographs like this.
There isn’t one perfectly arranged focal point. There are people laughing, leaning in, pulling faces and generally getting involved.
It’s messy.
It’s joyful.
It’s a wedding.
And years from now, you’ll probably spend far longer looking around photographs like this spotting everyone and remembering what was happening than you will studying the perfectly arranged table decorations.
The quiet photographs matter as well
Not every meaningful moment announces itself.
Sometimes it’s a cuddle.
A child needing a quiet moment with someone they love isn’t traditionally a “must-have wedding photograph”.
But look at it.
These are the photographs that show relationships, not just attendance.
They remind you what it actually felt like having all those people you love together in one place.
Your wedding gallery should be more than proof that you got married
Of course I want you to have beautiful photographs of the two of you.
I want the portraits. The confetti. The groups. The details. The photographs that immediately make you think, “Yep. That’s going on the wall.”
But I want something else too.
I want your gallery to contain things you missed.
Things you’d forgotten.
Things that make you say:
“I didn’t even know that happened.”
“Look at Mum!”
“What on earth are they doing back there?”
And occasionally:
“I can’t believe you caught that.”
Because ultimately, I’m not there to manufacture a version of your wedding for the photographs.
I’m there to photograph the wedding you’re actually having.
And some of the photographs you treasure most might be the ones you never knew you needed.
Want your wedding to feel like a wedding, not a photoshoot?
My approach to wedding photography is relaxed and documentary-led. I’ll make sure we get the important photographs without taking you away from your guests for hours, while keeping an eye on all those little moments happening around you too.
If you’re planning a wedding in Perthshire, Stirlingshire or elsewhere in Scotland and that sounds like your kind of wedding photography, I’d love to hear what you’re planning.
or
