Modern Wedding Photography Tips With a Blast From the Past

A topic I keep coming back to is making sure you have a stylish wedding. This stems from the fact that when I photograph a wedding, I’m not shooting for the couple getting married. I’m the wedding photographer for their children, grandchildren and great-great grandchildren. For generations yet to come. I want those future generations yet to be born to sit down with the wedding album (yes, album – not just images on disc – but that’s a while other blog post topic) and while looking through the album, get a feeling for what it was like to be at their ancestors wedding.

I want those photographs to make the viewer proud of their ancestors. To respect their elders and have a slight sense of reverence. The problem is that I worry some couples are getting caught up in having a super trendy wedding, making sure that they are being cool and decorating in the latest way. Being on the cutting edge of fashion can be great, but everyone needs to realise that just as a super sharp edge goes dull quickly, so too does fashion. Cutting edge fashion of today is likely to be the embarrassing acid washed high waisted pants of tomorrow.

My mother just emailed me the wedding photo below. It’s my parents on their wedding day with my great grandmother. They look fantastic. They look timeless. They could have been photographed yesterday. This wedding photo makes me proud.

Dad’s suit is exceptional – check out that pocket square. He wore a tie pin. He made an effort. Grooms, respect your bride. Make an effort.
Mum’s dress is stunning. In a modern wedding world populated by very similar dresses, this is a breath of fresh air. It has sleeves. Long sleeves. And her bouquet is tiny by modern standards but beautiful. It’s gardenias. Imagine the fragrance of a gardenia bouquet.
Old Nan also looks wonderful. Wearing hats to weddings is a trend I’d like to see revived. And handkerchiefs. Dabbing at tears with a lace embroidered hanky is infinitely more stylish than grabbing a crushed tissue.

Everything is perfect and timeless. Except for the gloves. You never see gloves at weddings anymore. Can’t see that coming back into fashion any time soon.

Stylish wedding photography tips

That really is a nice suit. I wonder if he’s still got it. I reckon that would fit me nicely. Mum … I know you’re reading this. Does Dad still have the suit?