Guest author Amy Cobb sent us this article on what NOT to shoot at wedding. See the bottom of the post for more about Amy!
As a wedding photographer, you know that no “dos and don’ts of wedding photography” list can replace clear and direct communication with the bride. Some brides want their wedding story to start once she’s wearing her dress; others would love a photographer to get a nude or two in before your get a shot of her getting into her dress, shoes, and makeup. The first don’t on my list? Don’t forget to get a “do not take” list from the bride, groom, or both. That will give you a more personal feel for what to avoid at each individual wedding.
Wardrobe Malfunctions
While some brides want you to capture the whole ordeal of wedging her ribs into the corset-top of her dress, most don’t want to remember their 5 year old niece’s nipple slip. Until Aunt Sally readjusts her dress, don’t shoot. Bridesmaids and sisters don’t have the luxury of providing you with their own “do not take” lists, so assume that they don’t want you to have a record of the panties they were wearing before they slipped on their standard-issue hotel bathrobes. Use your discretion. Unless the bride seems eager to have a record of it all as it really looked through your lens, avoid taking pictures of any accidental nudity.
The Ham
You may notice wedding guests who actively avoid you—and you ought to avoid them in turn—but it will also serve you well to stop getting shots of the child or drunken former next door neighbor who keeps waving in your face. Photographs of children dancing with relatives who aren’t quite old enough to have children of their own yet but are thinking about it are a staple of every wedding album, but the bride doesn’t want you to waste your time taking 100 photographs of her hyper nephew.
The rule is simple, as long as you remain professional and sober: if someone is too eager to stay away from the she called them “lemmings.” This was not her proudest moment, especially so early in the evening, and it begs the question: what were the bride and groom doing at that moment? I’m guessing this— or children dancing—or people enjoying conversation with their clothes on—would have been much more interesting for the bride to see than her best friend humiliating herself. Some things are better left unremembered, or come across more successfully in anecdote form. You can’t photograph the word “lemmings.”
The Bridesmaid/Groomsman Hook-up
This is perhaps tangential to the previous point: don’t shoot pictures of the couple—or not-couple—that decided it was wise to make-out at the corner table after a few too many free Tanqueray and tonics.
The wedding story is about how in love the bride and groom are, not how “in love” this made the bride’s college roommate and the groom’s fraternity brother feel. Avoid inappropriate amorous contact like you would avoid an ill-placed dress strap. It’s often better for the bride not to know what Aunt Sally did after she left for her honeymoon.
Nevertheless, some brides want to know, so remember that it’s your job to know what the bride wants to know. Make sure you get all the classic shots, and in the meantime, make sure the bride will be able to look back and see how her friends and family looked good while enjoying her special day.
Amy Cobb feels most at home behind a keyboard or a snapping shutter. She’s a Jill-of-All-Trades media refugee turned blogger who, since jumping ship from the Fourth Estate, blogs on all things media and media-education-related. Most recently she’s worked on pinning down the best photography career options. When not writing, Amy is doing her best not kill everything in her square foot garden plots, while always at the bidding of her Cavalier King Charles Spaniel, Snarls Barkley.