My Favorite Photography Sessions: Weddings

How I Keep My Passion for Photography Alive

I would hope that everyone who does photography has at least a little passion for it. It's crucial in jobs like this to find parts that you love and make sure you get to do that portion often. Otherwise, you're just leading yourself to burnout by not keeping your passion alive.

So what part of photography helps keep my passion alive? Shooting my favorite sessions: Editorial and Weddings. These two are so wildly different in nature, so why in the world would I like both? Well, keep on reading and you might find out! This week: Weddings.

The Magic of Wedding Photography

Weddings are always so emotional and magical. You get to be a part of someone's major life events and experience genuine joy and love with your couple. I would be lying if I said that I had never shed a tear at a wedding. But to tag along with that, I also get to experience the stress and chaos of wedding days along with the couple. I get to be your professional third-wheel through the good and the bad!

On top of feeling the emotions that come with weddings, I get to help tell the story of the couple. From engagement, all the way to the day of, and occasionally years down the line as they begin to grow and have a family of their own. Every story is unique and has it's own details to capture.

While stressful at times, wedding photography is pretty standard, process-wise, for almost every wedding. A lot of the same events happen at each wedding, a ceremony, cake cutting, speeches, etc. So there is a comfort in the known. I've experienced each portion of a wedding in one way or another before, so I know how it needs to be approached, and what works best in each scenario ahead of time.

The Preparation

Preparation for weddings is very labor intensive. I like to meet with my couples before a session ever take place. This way we can feel each other out and see if we are good fits for each other. From there we can talk details like timeline and events.

Having details like a timeline outlined long before the session helps to make sure that I am on schedule with the couple's plans. Since weddings are usually more of a time commitment, it also helps to make sure I appropriately clear my schedule to accommodate the couple's needs. Where editorial sessions and other sessions like family or newborns are more likely to be last minute plans.

Unforgettable Experiences

Weddings are always recipes for experiences that are hard to find anywhere else. From heartfelt moments to dance-offs between guests, you never know what will happen in the throws of a wedding that will be perfect to document.

There was one LGBTQ wedding I had back in 2023, I promise that part is important, where the day started super sunny with big white fluffy clouds in the sky. As the day went it stayed pretty bright. After all of the major events like cake cutting, toasts, etc, it was time for dancing. After about 5 songs it started to drizzle a little bit. Nothing crazy, but definitely light rain. A couple of songs later it started full on down pouring, like soak you to the bone downpour. Then Mr. Brightside came on over the sound system so everyone went crazy with dancing in the rain and it was a BLAST!

I ended up getting a variety of gorgeous shots during this portion of the night. The rain ended up shorting out the sound system right at the end of the song and then abruptly stopped. Within 10 minutes of that happening there was a super bright rainbow that appeared. It really made for an unforgettable night for the lovely couple.

If you want to read more about this specific wedding check out this blog post!

Conclusion

Both editorial and wedding sessions are so fun. They also are stressful and bring their own special type of chaos into your life. Editorial will allow you way more flexibility, while weddings are way more structured thanks to timelines. Editorial usually requires you to be way more collaborative with your input, while weddings are usually easy to go with what the couple wants.

Both sessions teach you to be adaptable. Both require the photographer to be able to roll on the fly and know what they are doing. So they both provide a good amount of challenge in a great way. Both sessions also require you to have a basic understanding of storytelling through images. Weather it be through a series or a single photograph.

Being exposed to different ends of the same spectrum keeps me on my toes and allows for me to use all of my creative muscles. This in turn helps me grow and become a better photographer with a well rounded skillset.

Have a favorite session of your own? Or an unforgettable moment worth sharing? Leave it in a comment below! I would love to hear about it.

Thinking we would get along?

Thank you so much for hearing what I have to say about myself and Rachael Shine Photography! If you think we might get along and you want to work with me check out my pricing or just contact me!