Wedding Details… thoughts on why they matter

Are you planning a wedding?  If you are, I am sure you have seen them all over blogs, publications, and posts.  They are the wedding details.  I’m not going to reinvent the wheel; wedding details are all over publications and many other photographers and vendors have written about them.  I am sure you can find other posts written on why details are so wonderful and relevant, but in my small corner of the internet, I will try to give you my take on details and why they matter so much.

In the past years of photographing weddings I have seen details as a growing trend at weddings.  Where once, really not that long ago, photography was based solely on the alter photos and the groupings around them.  With the influx and slant toward documentary photography there came the challenge to photographers to not only capture the groupings and candid moments of the wedding day, but also tell the entire story of the day… thus the idea of storytelling of a wedding in photos was born.  

Not only will the photographer capture the people of the day, he or she will also be capturing the elements that make the wedding day unique to the couple.  Gone are the group shots on the alter, now couples are in fields with flower crowns and at barns with livestock roaming about.  Hay bales are used as seating and outdoor furniture under tents are widely accepted.  Food trucks and patio seating are considered just fine and as unique and interesting as the couples hosting them. The details of the day not only tell your story as a couple in what you love doing together, but they make the day completely your own.  They are also shots that editors want to see (and if you want your wedding to be published somewhere) things you need to inform your photographer to shoot, but most likely if you have them, they will be shot.  

One of the things I have made the change in doing in the past few years, is showing up early to a wedding and documenting the small details before my contract begins.  I have found it super helpful because I have the time to shoot these beautiful details without feeling rushed, and also because my brides love them and they are ordering these shots to go in their albums.  It also gives me more of a portfolio to give to editors and also just gets my creative juices flowing.  So there you have a few thoughts on detail shots, any other ideas/ thought feel free to comment below!