Wedding trends are a delicate balance. For photos, couples want to be stylish, but timeless, too. Here, three photographers discuss exactly how to do just that. From high-fashion wedding photography to day-after shoots, achieving today’s most sophisticated trends in wedding photography is a snap.
High-Fashion Photography: Gone are the days of stuffy wedding photographs. Today, lines appear to be blurred between high-fashion and wedding shoots. Just take a peek at the portfolio of Nicole Davidge from Southern Shutter Photography, whose sleek style looks as if it could be torn from the pages of Vogue. Davidge says she studies different magazines
for inspiration.
“When I have my bride, I’ll play around with poses, so that she doesn’t realize she’s being photographed and it’s natural when she moves or she’s laughing and we really connect.”
The Return of the Wedding Album: When photographers first started taking to digital photography, the wedding album seemed to go the wayside. Combine that with social media, and it seems that there’s never a print to be found. But that’s changing. Lindsay Glatz of Wild Wonder Photography says that couples are now realizing that their wedding is the only time they’ll have this archived treasure to be part of their home and are once again asking for albums. Glatz recently sat down with her 89-year-old aunt to peruse photos from her parent’s wedding day and immediately understood the importance of an heirloom piece that an album provides.
“If there’s a fire, this is what you’re going to grab,” says Glatz.
Personally Curated Details: It’s not a secret that weddings have become more and more personalized — from adding a choreographed dance to a signature cocktail. Jasmine Star, a Los Angeles- and Orange County-based photographer, who was named one of the top 10 wedding photographers in the world, says that couples are now sourcing (or asking their coordinators to find) curated details for personalized and distinct wedding photos.
“Couples will bring in an old wooden crate and a ball of stamps for a vintage wedding, along with their invitation suite, or for a Mid-Century Modern wedding, they may bring in a geometric tray and their own hipster glasses for gin and tonics,” says Star. This not only distinguishes the photos, but also makes the snaps special and exclusive to the couple.
Outdoor Daytime Weddings: Davidge says there is a recent shift in weddings moving from the church to sunny outdoor venues. And while New Orleans certainly has its share of stunning steeples, Davidge now has couples whose central focus are the photos — exceptional photos — and for that you need perfect lighting.
“Couples want what they see in wedding magazines and blogs, and those are outdoor weddings with incredible lighting,” says Davidge. She adds that photography is such a big part of the budget, and that photos are one of the few things you can take home from that day.
Photos From Day One: Your wedding photographer is more than just the person who snaps a few photos on your Big Day. Glatz says it best when she describes that person as your storyteller. For her, she’s recently begun capturing the story from the proposal, where she’s hired to secretly shoot the moment where the question is popped on bended knee. From here, couples often want professional photos taken of the bachelorette party, wedding showers, the rehearsal dinner, the wedding day and even day-after shoots. These “wedding suites” allow couples to build a relationship with their photographer and have a complete story from the proposal to the wedding day.
Day-After Shoots: In addition to a full suite of photographs, day-after shoots are increasingly popular. Glatz explains that it’s often challenging to take all of the shots that couples want on the actual wedding day, and that the day-after shoot allows you to go anywhere for photos.
“If you get married in a church, or Uptown, you can hit up the Bywater for funky shots. Or you can do something different with your hair or dress,” says Glatz. In addition, she explains that if you love backlit, sunny photos, you may not have time for them on the wedding day, but that the options are endless for the day-after shoot.
Timeless Photography: Star says that as simple and as silly as it may sound, a renaissance of classic photography is back.
“While beautiful and timeless have always existed, photographers became like kids in a candy shop with digital [photography] a few years ago.” Star explains that while it’s fun to play with digital photos, now that it’s not as new, photographers are going back to classic work that stands the test of time.
This article was originally published in the Summer/Autumn 2015 issue of New Orleans Bride Magazine – on newsstands now.
