Before we launch into three things that will make your documentary style wedding photos something you’ll be absolutely swooning over for years (and years and years) to come, let’s start with three honest-to-goodness thoughts I had while shooting Olivia’s and Dylan’s May wedding in Brentwood, Tennessee. 

Here goes.

1. “Holy shit, did I actually just capture that?”
2. “These people really do the whole emotion thing right.”
3. “I’m OBSESSED!” (x1000)

If I’m being perfectly honest, these are often the thoughts that are running through my mind whenever I’m photographing a couple that is as earnestly dedicated to The Cause as Olivia and Dylan were. (The Cause being getting wedding photos that are truly, unmistakably, undeniably– how many more adjectives do I need to make my point?— documentary style.)

This is The Cause that I have dedicated my entire life to– ditching the scripted scenes for capturing the extraordinary, the ordinary, and everything in between. Authenticity is the new luxury, and I’m here to help you document how deeply and profoundly you love each other, on your ‘I do’ day. 

Here’s how you can help me make it happen.

1. Let Yourself Feel Absolutely Everything

This might sound a little, like, “No, duh,” but you’d be astonished how many people get so caught up in how their wedding looks that they forget to feel anything at all, outside of stress. This day only happens once, friend, and literally no one is going to remember that the centerpieces on the reception tables were sitting a little left of center or that the flower girl had a mental breakdown halfway up the aisle because it was about two hours past nap time when the ceremony began. 

What they will remember (and more importantly, what you will remember) are all of the emotions. Sooooo many of them. 

Vendors: Venue: Pleasant Hill Mansion, Governer’s Club in Brentwood, Tennessee | Flowers: Sara Bus | DJ: Jackson Smith | Wedding Dress: Jenny Yoo NYC | Wedding Planner: Your Day Taylor Made

The apprehension of your dad seeing you in your gown as you come down the stairwell, while he tries to keep it together between muffled sniffles below. The wonder at just how many people are a part of your love story as they all travel from far and wide to witness you declare your love for each other. The disbelief that you’ve finally arrived here, at the day you’ve always dreamed about but sometimes wondered if you’d ever see. The ‘pinch-me’ feeling as the sunset turns the most brilliant shade of every-color-imaginable. 

Olivia and Dylan now have a gallery of photos that exemplify everything they felt because they allowed themselves to feel it all in the first place. They surrendered control over the details so that they could immerse themselves in committing it all to memory, instead. And their photos are all the better for it.

2. Leave Your Documentary Style Wedding Photos Up to Fate

Of course we will create a custom timeline of your wedding day together, if that is what you want. Of course, we will ensure there is time for all of the photo opps you’ve always envisioned, whether that be first looks or cake cutting or golden hour portraits. 

BUT!

I firmly believe that when you allow your day to simply unfold, the universe rewards you with photos that are almost too good to be true.

I’ll give you two examples, straight from Olivia’s and Dylan’s day:

Like I mentioned before, Olivia wasn’t interested in planning out a whole lot of anything (which I LOVED!), but she did want to have a documentary style first look with her dad. As she was coming down the stairwell, glee and anticipation absolutely bursting out of her face, her dad came through the doorway below, nerves and memories of little ‘like it was only yesterday’ Olivia written all over his. 

I swear (cross my heart and hope to die!) that I had absolutely zero idea that Olivia’s dad was coming through the doorway at that exact moment. I literally had my camera trained entirely on Olivia. It wasn’t until I was looking back at photos later that evening that I realized I had caught her dad (and all of the emotions on his face) in the shot, too. Because of the “holy shit, did I actually just capture that” stairwell shot, the moments that followed between Olivia and her dad craft a wonderfully photojournalistic scene that doesn’t even need words to describe it. The photos say it all.

Similarly, Olivia’s and Dylan’s couple portraits at sunset could not have been more perfect if they tried. The entire day had been pretty overcast and humid, but as soon as we ventured out to get a few sunset photos, the humidity and clouds lifted, and the sky burst into a kaleidoscope of color so vibrant that I barely had to edit a single photo. 

Olivia and Dylan let the day happen as days do, and I was there to capture it all.

3. Ditch the timeline for the sake of your documentary style wedding photos.

While a timeline is certainly helpful to an extent, ensuring the ceremony doesn’t run too long and dinner doesn’t get cold during the first dances, the logistics are– in my humble but experienced opinion– a bit of a lost cause.

There are certain elements of a wedding day that you simply can’t control, and when you arrive at your wedding day ready to hand it all over to the powers-that-be, I truly believe that your experience and your documentary style wedding photos will be one hundred times better. 

You’ll be able to fully commit to being present in family photos instead of fretting that Grandma Betty is taking her sweet time getting over here from cocktail hour. You’ll remember everything exactly as it happened because you were actually there, instead of in your head, thinking about what is next on the itinerary. You’ll feel all of the feelings because there won’t be any stressing about the ring bearer’s refusal to smile with his teeth so that you can move onto the wedding party photos. 

I could go on and on about documentary style wedding photos (after all, they are my entire life’s work), but I’ll leave you with this: Let yourself live it. You have one go at this whole wedding day thing, and you don’t want your photos to reflect anything other the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth. 

You want documentary style wedding photos to bring all of those memories coursing back to the surface whenever you glance at them in the entryway of your home with your new spouse, or when you open your iPhone to see it as your background, or when you flip open that leather bound photo album sitting on your coffee table for guests to leaf through and fawn over as soon as they settle in with their glass of wine. 

And I’m committed to making sure that’s exactly what you get.