Do you take pictures of details? Yes.
It’s not top of the list – but details shots are still important.
People, people, people. That’s my focus, ninety percent of the images I deliver are focused on the people. Their energy, love and enthusiasm is what makes the day, without the people you love, a wedding just isn’t the same.
However…
Details are important too.
Weddings are a big undertaking and is absolutely a team effort. Contribution to the details, décor and ambience of the day is often how friends and family physically manifest their desire to see you achieve what you want. Mums sew miles of bunting, aunties bake cakes, best friends make five hundred vodka jelly shots. Everyone contributes to the day in the same way that all the guests you invite have contributed to your development as a person.
That is why I do photograph details as well. They form part of the story, and having a consideration for the big and the small elements of the day is what I think makes for good wedding photography.
I don’t tend to show those photographs on my Instagram or portfolio because to me they are additional images that are nice to have. In the fine art wedding photography world, details are everything, the photographs are amazing, but that’s just not me.
In the same vein, I do also believe that if you’re going to photograph something, anything, then you should do it properly and approach it with the same care and attention to detail that you would any photograph. Despite focusing on documentary wedding photography, I think my detail shots are good enough to rival any dedicated fine art practitioner. I honed my skills photographing restaurants in the midlands whilst I was at university, and that’s how I learnt to compose images of flowers, table settings and entire rooms to get them looking their best.
Another reason why it is incredibly important to photograph details is because you will definitely forget them. Nothing prepares you for your own wedding. No matter how good you are at being present in a moment, the emotional current that takes you away on this amazing journey has the power to erase massive parts of your memory. I think it’s because the whole experience is so overwhelming, the brain can’t cope with it and struggles to create new memories. This is just from my experience, I struggle to recall many parts of my own wedding, I think it’s because the whole thing felt so alien to me (yes I appreciate the irony considering how many I attend). All the family, the intense feelings of love and joy, the unfolding of formalities and planned events one after the other, it is a lot to take in. I for one, am glad there are photographs of the room as it was set up before anyone sat down as it was so damn epic that I’m glad I have it preserved.
Lastly, details are important because everything costs money. Flowers and cake are often big bits of expenditure for weddings. Decorating the venue and buying bouquets and buttonholes for groomsmen and bridesmaids is not cheap and can run into the thousands of pounds. Weddings are a celebration after all, preserving and celebrating every element is important as it all adds up to create…i was going to write ‘an unforgettable experience’, but that undermines what I’ve just written and proves how difficult it can be not to be cliched. I should surmise with this – parts of your wedding can absolutely be forgotten because you can become overwhelmed with emotion, so get pictures of everything.
All the little bits and pieces come together to tell the whole story of the day, not all details are flowers…
Still on the search for a wedding photographer? Have a read of my guide on how to choose the right wedding photographer for you.