An article by Simon Dewey for English Wedding

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Why choose documentary wedding photography?

Ok. I may be a bit biased about this, being a documentary wedding photographer myself. There’s a lot you may disagree with & I think documentary wedding photography is either something you love or hate. But I love it so I think I should outline why I think it’s the perfect way to bottle the spirit of a wedding day. I am going to back it up with some words from my couples, too, though.

A documentary approach allows you to be fully present for your wedding day. This is a biggie, so I thought I’d put it up there front and foremost. Your wedding day flies by, it is a few hours surrounded by family and friends who want to celebrate YOU.

Most of these people you’d be happy to spend all day with just by themselves – getting round them all can seem quite the challenge. I have worked with photographers before (and I’m sure you’ve seen them too) where the day has felt more like a photoshoot. They produce beautiful work from this photoshoot. Some even made me consider working in a different way. But if you’ve been at these weddings, you’ll remember how little you saw of the couple. And how much it felt like a photoshoot.

The beauty of hiring a documentary photographer is that they integrate into the day rather than control it. They want you to be enjoying yourself with your guests – and that is where the true gold comes from.

“We had a chilled, no-fuss wedding – no posing, no fake grins, and absolutely no “look lovingly into each other’s eyes while walking through a meadow” nonsense.
Somehow, Simon managed to sneak around and capture all the best moments – including loads we missed while we were too busy drinking, laughing, or trying not to trip over someone’s kid.

The photos are perfect. Candid, full of personality, and totally us. We can’t stop looking at them.” ~ Colleen & Rob

“As plenty of people surely say, neither of us love having our photo taken, but Simon has a calming approach and doesn’t demand anything of you that you don’t want or aren’t comfortable with. We have beautiful, natural photos that captured the day just as it unfolded.” ~ Rebekah & Philip

Documentary wedding photography has a raw, authentic feeling

I don’t think all documentary wedding photography even looks or feels the same – the personality of the photographer comes across in every image. So photos by York Place Studios, Jeff Ascough or Cafa Liu are going to look totally different. But what they are going to do is reflect your personalities, your stories and your guests. You aren’t going to be posed and events aren’t going to be staged to follow current trends. So to that end, the photos are more real.

If you take away the cheesy, performative aspects of a wedding, what’s left is real moments, real stories and real emotions. And they are so much more fascinating than whatever hot pose is trending on social media. (I recently heard a bridesmaid describe what I thought to be a current trend as “that boomer pose”- so there’s no way I’m keeping up with it anyway)

“On the day Simon really took his time to understand the venue and where he would look for us to have photos throughout the day. We have no idea how he did it, but he managed to be in all the right places at the right time and (in the best way possible) we didn’t notice at all!
We have ended up with the most incredible wedding photos, they have captured all emotions of the day and when we look at them we are transported back to exactly how we felt.” – Emily & Luke

Documentary Wedding Photography is Timeless

Following on from the last point – because they’re authentic and real, the photos don’t go out of style. Trends and fashions in weddings may date the photos, but your wedding album will still look timeless in years to come. It’s because documentary wedding photographers aren’t constantly restyling to fit market trends (most of us really are ignorant of what’s in style at all). Our guiding light is telling your story as well as possible.

“You’ve honestly left us with the best gift ever. You capture moments, movements and most importantly, emotions.
And then, you wrap them all up into gorgeous photos which tell story after story at every turn. You truly captured the essence of our day.”
Claire & Adam

Documentary Wedding Photography is about your family stories

Documentary wedding photography is also known as photojournalism. And a huge part of any kind of journalism is getting to know people and their stories so we can tell them better. What do you get if you don’t gather and tell real stories? A sort of cookie cutter approach to wedding photography where every wedding looks the same, just with different actors playing the parts. I’ve trained for years in composing and telling stories – and a lot of my favourite photos (both of mine and other peoples) are multi-layered and full of detail.

“The pictures arrived and what can I say? The amount of happy tears I shed looking through each one. The more I looked the more I spotted. The attention to detail Simon has is absolutely out of this world.
They are beyond beautiful, real and so full of love and care.” – Caris and Josh

“Every time we look through our photos we notice little details that we hadn’t before,” – Rebekah & Philip

Documentary Wedding Photography allows for imperfection and the unexpected

I’ve always thought of documentary photography as a more lassez-faire approach. Some of my favourite (and award winning photos) are from when things are not going to plan. A wedding balloon pose goes wrong as the balloon disappears over the tops of neighbouring houses. The bride decides she cannot spend another minute in these shoes, and we take a detour to Clarks. These are moments you will always remember far more than a posed cake cut, or the groom fake-getting-dressed by a window.

“The photos Simon took of our wedding are just amazing. We had such a fun and happy day and the pictures capture that perfectly. He caught some wonderful moments and we’ll truly treasure these photos forever.” – Laura & Rich

Summary

It feels weird writing a summary – but this wasn’t written by Chat GPT, honest! Documentary wedding photography, wedding photojournalism, reportage, or whatever you want to call it isn’t really a style. It’s more an ethos. And that ethos is about photographing your wedding in an unposed, unobtrusive way and not treating it as a performance.  Weddings are inherently fascinating and joy-filled occasions, so photographing them is a bit like shooting fish in a barrel. All you really have to do is bring playfulness, curiosity and trust in serendipity and you’ll end up with photos that capture how it felt to be there on the day.