What you really want captured on your wedding day
The first in an ongoing series of guest posts, today’s blog is from the brilliant Ami Robertson, who is a London-based documentary photographer. I am a massive fan of Ami’s warm and emotive wedding photography, and she is also responsible for a lot of the photography elsewhere on this site.
In this blog post, she discusses that while details and elegantly posed shots are wonderful, it’s often those spontaneous moments of love and pure emotion that hold the most meaning in years to come.
Over to you, Ami!
When Grania approached me about writing a guest post for her blog I wasn't really sure how to approach it. You see I am a documentary wedding photographer, my work is all about the people and not always the details which is obviously what Grania specialises in being the wonderfully talented creator of stationery that she is.
I then also remembered that Grania creates things of sentimental beauty in the work she does for her couples, so while I felt what I wanted to write for her could be out of place it's actually perfectly placed.
You see after your wedding you will have the keepsakes such as your stationery to treasure so while of course it's wonderful to have those details photographed (and even as a documentary wedding photographer we always aim to do that) after your wedding I can promise you that the photographs that will matter the most to you won't be the ones of your details or even your couple photos.
Details will never be my priority on a wedding day. It will always be the people. After 10yrs of photographing weddings and hearing feedback from my couples the photos that matter the most are not the Instagram hero sunset photos or the epic confetti moments no matter how amazing they are.
It's your mum giving you a big kiss when you sit down for the reception, it's the hugs from your friends and family when you have just got married, it's the silly dance moves and your Dad's hilarious speech!
As a wedding photographer it's all of the above and more that I live for. It's magical moments of happiness that I have the privilege of turning into beautiful keepsakes for my couples and time and time again they are the images my couples love the most.
Yes your couple photos are important as are the details and group photos. I believe it's my job to always tell the whole wonderful story of a wedding BUT I also believe that your wedding photography should never take away from your day. You should never be wasting that precious time of fun with your family friends standing around waiting for your photo to be taken.
I always ask my couples this question: What is more important... remembering your day for how much fun you had or remembering it for standing around waiting for a photographer to get the 'perfect' photo?
So much is missed when you get worked up over the details and I can promise you now hand on heart it's the less than perfect moments captured that you will treasure the most.
Ami Robertson is a documentary wedding photographer in London and the South East
@amirobertsonphotographer