There are some wedding photographs I love because everything came together perfectly. And then there are photographs I love because almost nothing went according to plan.
This is one of those photographs.
It was taken at Colby and Nat’s wedding, and it later went on to win the Bridal Party category at the WPE Awards. Of course, I’m proud of the award. After more than 30 years behind a camera, it’s still a pretty good feeling when other photographers recognise something you’ve created. But the award isn’t really why this photograph is one of my favourites.
The story behind it is.
I met the bride and groom on their wedding day
This wedding was a little different from the way I normally work. I had been contracted to photograph it on behalf of a budget wedding company. At the time, I hadn’t realised that was the type of service they were offering.
Normally, I like to get to know my couples before their wedding. We talk. I find out what they have planned, what matters to them, what they’re excited about and anything they might be worried about. More importantly, they get to know me. I think that matters.
Your wedding photographer is going to be around for some incredibly personal moments. It helps enormously when the person holding the camera isn't a complete stranger. With Colby and Nat, I didn't have that opportunity. I had been trying to get the details I needed for the wedding and eventually managed to speak with Nat at about 12:30pm, the day before she was getting married.
Her reaction when I rang was completely understandable.
“Who are you?”
Not exactly the introduction you want between a bride and her wedding photographer. She hadn't met me. She hadn't spoken to me. And she hadn't seen my work. So I sent her links to my Instagram and website so she could at least see who this random photographer was and the sort of work I produced.We then started sorting out the details for the following day.
Things weren't getting any easier
I already had another photography job booked for the morning, so the plan was for my assistant, Ryan, to photograph the getting-ready part of the day before I took over later. There was then some confusion over when the photography was supposed to begin. I won't go into all the back and forth because that's not really the point of this story. What mattered to me was that Nat was becoming frustrated. It was her wedding. She quite reasonably felt she should have some say in when her photography started and finished.
By the time the wedding came around, I had the feeling that she wasn't getting quite the experience she had expected. And I didn't like that.I couldn't change what had happened before I became involved.I could decide what happened once I was there.
So I brought two bottles of sparkling wine
I first met Colby and Nat at around 3pm on their wedding day. No months of planning together. No coffee beforehand. No engagement session. We basically went from, “G'day, I'm Wade” to photographing their wedding. Fortunately, we got on. And because I felt they'd already been let down a little, I wanted to do something extra for them. Nothing elaborate.
On my way to the wedding, I picked up two bottles of sparkling wine. I had an idea. Get Colby and Nat together with their bridal party, give them a bottle each and create a champagne shower. It was their plan to take some photos on top of a hill in Cooma, I added the bubbly!
And this happened.
I love it.
Not because everyone is perfectly posed. Quite the opposite. Look at all the different reactions.People are laughing. Some are trying to avoid getting soaked. Bouquets are in the air. Colby and Nat are right in the middle of the chaos. The sparkling wine is flying everywhere and that big dark sky behind them makes the whole thing feel even more dramatic. It's organised chaos.
And somewhere in there, the posing disappears and it becomes a moment. That's the sort of wedding photograph I love.
Then something unexpected happened
I later entered the photograph into the WPE Awards. It won the Bridal Party category. That's pretty special. But there's an irony to this photograph that has stayed with me.
One of my favourite wedding photographs, and an award-winning one at that, came from a wedding where I hadn't even met the couple until their wedding day. You could look at that and conclude that meeting your photographer beforehand doesn't really matter. After all, we made it work. I came away thinking almost exactly the opposite.
A good photograph isn't only about the camera
I've been photographing people for more than 30 years, and experience certainly helped me that day. You learn to read people. You learn when someone needs direction and when you should leave them alone. You learn how to take an idea and adjust it to the people, the location and whatever the weather decides to throw at you. Technical ability matters too. Of course it does.
But wedding photography has taught me that the camera is only part of the equation.
People matter more.
For that photograph to happen, Colby and Nat had to trust me. Think about that for a moment. They barely knew me. Yet when I said, essentially, “I've got an idea. Grab these bottles, get everyone together and trust me,” they went with it. That's the bit you can't see in the finished photograph.
And it's one of the reasons I believe so strongly that your relationship with your wedding photographer matters.
There's another part of the story
The Sunday after the wedding, Nat messaged me. She'd been promised a sneak peek of her photographs. The problem was, I hadn't been given the facility I needed to upload them.
Once again, she was disappointed. And I understood why. From her point of view, it didn't matter which business was responsible for which part of the process. These were her wedding photographs.
That experience has stuck with me. When someone trusts you with their wedding photography, they're not just trusting you to press the shutter at the right moment. They're trusting the whole experience.
- The communication beforehand.
- How you treat them on the day.
- Whether you help them when they're nervous.
- Whether you listen.
- Whether you keep your promises.
- And what happens after the wedding.
That's a responsibility I take seriously. It's also the reason I decided to process all her images for her and supply them at no extra cost.
Why this photograph is still one of my favourites
Yes, it won an award. I'm not going to pretend that doesn't mean something to me. It does. But when I look at this photograph now, the award isn't the first thing I think about. I remember turning up to photograph two people I'd never met.
I remember wanting to make their experience a little better.
I remember two bottles of sparkling wine.
And I remember a couple who decided to trust the bloke with the camera, even though they'd only just met him.
The result was one of my favourite wedding photographs.
It also reinforced something I've come to believe more and more as the years have gone by: Choosing your wedding photographer isn't only about whether you like their photographs. You should like their work, obviously. But talk to them. Meet them if you can. See whether conversation comes easily. See whether they listen to you. See whether you feel comfortable around them. Because that person is going to share some pretty important moments with you.
And when you feel comfortable with the person behind the camera, you stop thinking quite so much about the camera itself. That's when the good stuff happens.