How Great Are These Wedding Photos?!
“Being a wedding photographer is like reading a really good book every weekend,” said photographer Jess Buckley, whose work is above. “I’m invited into a joyful little universe, and I get completely sucked in.” Below, Jess and four other photographers tell the stories behind some incredible shots…
“This couple hosted a big backyard reception at their home. I was standing inside with the bride and her best friend, when the bride looked out the window and said, ‘You’ve got to be kidding!’ Then she took off running out the back door. The bride’s uncle had just arrived with his great dane, Winslow. It was the sweetest, funniest moment as the bride laughingly scolded him for bringing a large slobbery dog to her wedding. Meanwhile, the dog drooled, happily unaware.” — Jess Buckley
“Natalie and David had been together for a long time, and there was a joyous feeling of ‘Finally!’ from the couple and everyone in attendance.” — Sarah Bode-Clark
“Everyone was cheering after the couple’s first kiss, and then a gust of cool November air made the veil flutter, as if it had been paid to be there. You can see their pure happiness of officially being married. That’s always one of my favorite moments at a wedding.” — Målin Hillemann
“While we were taking family photos, the groom asked to get one alone with his grandmother. I love this photo because I didn’t direct it; that’s just how they were interacting. I find that the in-between moments tend to hold the most meaning and beauty. Her cheek kiss and his laugh are just so warm. And I love that he is crouched down to his grandmother’s level and that they’re holding hands.” — Sarah Bode-Clark
“The bride’s father was very stoic and quiet and wore sunglasses for most of the day. But right after the ceremony, he took off his sunglasses and really let himself lean into his feelings.” — Målin Hillemann
“This photo was taken right outside the iconic doors at the Manhattan City Clerk’s office. Walking through these doors is the City Hall equivalent of heading back down the aisle at a large wedding. Many couples tell me that out of their whole wedding day, it’s the moment they’re most looking forward to.” — Sylvie Rosokoff (Ed. note: More City Hall weddings here.)
“As soon as they kissed after saying ‘I do,’ a child in the aisle started wailing. I think he was just startled by all the commotion!” — Diana Galay
If you’re married, did you have a particular funny/sweet/chaotic moment caught on camera? We’d love to hear.
P.S. More about weddings, including an elopement to the Alps (!!), a twist on a first look, a bakery proposal story, and how would you make your wedding feel true to you?
Comments
48 commentsI live in Oklahoma and my husband and I did an elopement at the Great Salt Plains in Jett. Around the salt plains, it was pretty and green all around. One of my favorite photos is one where you can see a bunch of random cows behind us. So Oklahoma! Haha
I was in my friend’s wedding party, and while we took photos in the park, a random guy dressed as Deadpool crashed the party! He was silent, silly, and then left.
We absolutely love the wedding photos from our photographer but we also got a vintage photobooth. HIGHLY recommend. It printed 2 strips – one for the people to keep and one for us – and it was modern enough that we got digital copies too. It’s really fun to see everyone being silly and unexpected combinations of people squished in together.
I just got married last month, and recently got our wedding pics back. My goofy uncle decided to stand at the very back row of chairs, to watch me coming down the aisle. He is in every single one of our pics of everyone coming down the aisle 😂 he reminds me so much of my grandfather, and I love my uncle dearly, so even though the pictures could be considered “ruined” all I could do was laugh and smile. Probably if it were anyone else I’d be really annoyed but I could only shrug my shoulders since it was him hahahaha.
The groom and his grandmother! ❤️
On of the most hilarious wedding memories I have (when I was attending as a guest): The bride was walking down the aisle with her father, live music playing, everybody standing, admiring the bride. Exactly in the split second when there was a tiny pause in the music, a (approx. 3 year old) kid asked their parent: „WHO’S THAT?!“ – luckily everybody (including the couple, minus the child’s parent) found it very endearing :)
I WISH someone had captured a photo of how my young cousin ended up in the lake at our reception, so we’d know whose story to believe! One of the bridesmaids also ended up in the water, but there’s no mystery about that one. Our niece just got married at the same spot (UW Madison Memorial Union) on Friday, and I don’t think anyone ended up in Lake Mendota this time!
Divorced now, but 30 years ago, we got married in downtown Chicago on a gorgeous fall day in October -11am ceremony, 12:30 reception. We walked down Michigan Avenue to take photos in our wedding clothes – so fun to be in my wedding dress and him in his tux walking down the Mag Mile! Guys were honking at my husband yelling “don’t do it!” and he yelled back “TOO LATE”! Little kids were pointing at “THE BRIDE!!!” It was so fun and god were we young haha! Even though we divorced 25 years later I can still smile at that memory – it was so fun and silly.
Decades ago, my grandma started a family wedding tradition in which the guests stand in a circle and sing Let Me Call You Sweetheart — badly and off key while swaying and kicking their legs — to the bride in groom. This was also our first dance, which is one of my favorite moments and pictures from our wedding day.
My husband was insistent that he wanted to dip me during our recessional walk back up the aisle. We practiced the dip several times beforehand, but in these practice runs, we failed to account for the fact that I would be wearing a veil in the ceremony. When the time came, the dip was smooth and successful just as we had practiced, until his arm unintentionally knocked the veil completely out of my hair. My favorite photo of the day is just after this moment: him holding my veil and me holding my flowers, all of our favorite people blurred behind us, with a mix of pure joy and uncontrollable laughter on both of our typically stoic faces.
When I got married, my dress was full-on princess with a million layers of tulle making the very full skirt. When it was time to head to the reception, we realized that my dress was not going willingly into any car. One of my favorite photos is just my feet, surrounded by a spray of tulle, coming out of the door of my brother’s car. He was on the other side pulling me backwards into the car. You can’t see it, but he and I are both laughing so hard. The best things are so often the ones you never could have planned for.
„It‘s like fitting a cupcake into a keyhole…“ ;-)
My favorite wedding photos were taken by a 6 year old who took his job (and his mom’s old digital camera) very seriously! He went up to everyone at the wedding and informed them that he was a wedding photographer. So we have all these pictures of people making “oh how adorable!” faces at the most unflattering angle possible. They’re wonderful.
hahahahahah omg LOVE this.
At my wedding in 1990 I gave a friend disposable cameras and asked him to just go round and use them up. They were lovely. My favourite is my husband holding the hand of our smallest bridesmaid, aged 3. They loved each other very much, all the way from babyhood to adulthood. At my daughter’s wedding, the best photos are of us all hugging and kissing when the ceremony was done. Nothing formal, nothing posed, just genuine delight.
“My favourite is my husband holding the hand of our smallest bridesmaid, aged 3. They loved each other very much, all the way from babyhood to adulthood.” = oh my gosh this is so sweet!
We hired a photojournalist and it was all black and white, full of motion and energy, very little was posed. My girlfriend’s daughter was then about 6 yrs old and my parents had a new puppy. It was in their backyard, catered, and there’s a great photo of the puppy running off with a piece of meat and the little girl chasing after. My favorite one.
We got married in our backyard in 2021. It was pretty informal, but I still walked down a makeshift “aisle” in between some tables. My uncle escorted me and both of our dogs, Aussies, followed so close next to us, hopping up every second of the way. It was totally unplanned and so incredible for them to be part of my escort! After the officiant pronounced us, one of the dogs let out a very loud and distinct monosyllabic “woof!!”. It was so moving! And funny!
that’s so lovely!!!
As the self-professed Neighborhood Aunt to every dog I meet, this makes my heart swell. I hope they feature heavily in the photos, too!
Hobby photographer here. I was just asked to snap photos at a day of wedding adventure. “Together We Walk”. This past Saturday, 40 of the 80 guests arrived at the gorgeous wedding venue, a Spanish colonial house in a history neighborhood in Durham, NC on the morning of the big day. We sipped coffee + ate donuts prior to departure. The bride shared a sweet story how she got to hang with a couple on their wedding day, before the nuptials + shared she felt like a VIP guest! She wanted all her guests to feel that way, so she planned a wedding morning outing. Everyone wore white. Each guest got a tote bag full of goodies. There would be 4 stops. With a 15 min exploration as each stop. Each stop would have a ‘leader’ + in the bag would be a correlating gift! I was hired to tag along for the two hour walk a bout + at stop 1, give a couple min briefing on how to take better photos on an iphone. Stop 1: Tobacco Road. Old Tobacco trading center turned public use space. Tips on how to snap a better iPhone picture. It was so cute to see folks (of all ages) practice the tips I had just given. In the bag: a QR code so folks could upload all images from the weekend to a shared album. Also a photo magnet to print a picture and remember the day. Stop 2: Rotary Park – There may have a been a secret wedding plaque placed in the garden to commemorate the wedding date! Here the crowd was told tips on the do and do nots of wedding speech. Several people were appalled once realizing they had used almost all of the do nots in their prewritten speeches for later that evening! In the bag: Custom note pads + pens to take notes for speeches or memories made throughout the weekend. Stop 3: Durham Farmers Market. People bought baked goods, flowers + fruit from the stands. Folks loved on market dogs and admired all the locally grown goods. In the bag: Well, nothing, use the bag to shop at the market! Stop 4: Parking Deck rooftop for a dance party. We arrived on a rooftop parking deck to find snacks, cooler of bevy’s + a hip-hop dance teacher, to ensure everyone had moves for the dance floor at that evening. A handful of ‘simple’ moves were taught, then they were all put together. It was hilarious, not even the rain stopped everyone from busting a move. People were literally dancing in the rain! In the bag: sweat bands, custom cups, mini bottle + mixer! Best part- Bride + Groom got to really hang with their people, show off their city, and not have to have their phone out at all. They could be fully present.
When my husband and I got married, 10 years ago now, digital Polaroid cameras had JUST come onto the scene. Instead of a photographer, we had many a Polaroid floating around the venue for guests to use…not only did the Polaroids print out a photo in real time, but they also kept a digital copy. Blame it on the toonie bar, but later when we got to review the pictures taken, we discovered some very steamy pics from multiple face-less guests that were certainly intended for their lovers. What a wedding gift!
Hahaha! “Blame it on the toonie bar” – my fellow Canadian?? – that’s a good-natured recollection of events. I’ve been to weddings where photo taking is encouraged, but I never assumed folks would get, um, so caught up in the moment!
We were together for almost a decade before getting engaged and finally setting a date for May of 2020… welp. After an agonizing year of re-planning and postponing and compromising, we ended up with a lovely outdoor microceremony on the banks of our favorite creek. A few minutes before we were supposed to walk down the aisle, our venue coordinator casually mentioned that our wedding arch (fully bedecked with florals and leaning against a stone wall) had *fallen in that creek* during another ceremony a week before and needed to physically be held up to keep from collapsing! We pivoted AGAIN and asked our maid of honor and best man to do the honors during our (thankfully short) ceremony. Ironically, one of my favorite moments of the whole day was looking over my now-husband’s shoulder and locking eyes with his BFF, who was grimacing and trying to hide the effort it was taking. The second he saw me watching him we both started laughing, and after that nothing else could’ve gone wrong. What else is a marriage if not the (literal) support of the people who love you enough to do a lateral hold for 18 minutes in a suit?
My absolute favorite photo from our wedding: our 9-month old son grabs my husband’s boutonniere with all his baby might and shoves it in his mouth mid-picture, tongue out and all. He’d been trying to eat different flowers all day. I’m laugh-crying in the photo and my husband looks shocked. Our baby is thrilled. It’s the best.
That is so so sweet Molly!
We eloped, and so have zero photos of the actual wedding (small life regret) BUT at the party we had a few months later, the photographer captured a candid picture of a bunch of us standing around, and one of my friends telling a story, with the rest of us staring at her with utter horror and disgust. It’s amazing and perfect and I love it. I crack up every time I see it.
Oh gosh, all of these photos make me so excited to marry my partner. We’re not engaged yet, but headed there soon! I love seeing and hearing about how folks involve their families (and chosen families!) in different ways. I have a less traditional family at 35 – both of my parents have already passed and not having my Dad there in particular will be very hard. I know my brother will be there to walk me down the aisle, but any suggestions for how to incorporate close relatives that have passed on are very much welcome <3
Hi Ellie! Sending you love as you anticipate your wedding without your father. My husband lost his wonderful mother at 19. When we married, we paused in the ceremony for a moment of “love and happiness” in recognition of his mother and all those we were missing, and asked everyone in attendance to express love through a hug to someone else. To this day it is the moment our friends and family mention most from our wedding day- it made the moment communal and full of love. When my brother in law married years later, they included a photo table of many loved ones not in attendance, and his future wife read a letter to his mom at the ceremony. Just some ideas, but the point is you can make it your own. All the best to you!
Hi Ellie, chiming in here to share a couple of things from my wedding. As also mentioned in Andrea’s comment, we had a little photo table for relatives who couldn’t be with us (apparently at my husband’s sister’s wedding his remaining grandma asked why her picture wasn’t there and they had to explain that was a good thing!) and I had a boutonnière matching the father of the groom’s one made to put with the photo of my dad. I also had one of those ‘projector bracelets’ (the tiny glass ones where you can hold it up to your eye to see or shine a light through it and it projects the image on the wall) made with my favourite photo of my dad and our florist fastened it around the stem of my bouquet so he could ‘walk with me’ down the aisle. I also had one made for my mum with her favourite picture of him too so we both have those to keep from the day. My feeling when it comes to weddings is to do what feels right for you and your partner. I think the CoJ comment section introduced me to the phrase ‘tradition is just peer pressure from dead people’ and I’m now very much in the camp of choose any traditions that are important to you both and beyond that make up your own! I hope you have the most amazing day when it comes and that being married after is even better!
Andrea and Lauren, both of your weddings sound like they were so special! I’ve never heard of the projector bracelets before – what a cool idea.100% agree on making it your own and doing what feels right to you as a couple. My partner never met my parents, but he’s gotten to know them through me, my siblings, and so so many stories we all tell about them. He helps me keep their spirits alive through his curiosity and always asks what I’d like to do to remember them on anniversaries, birthdays, holidays, etc. I’m sure our wedding will be no different. Thank you so much for sharing :)
My husband and I had a small elopement in my eldest brother’s backyard and a party a few months later. During the elopement, my family managed to get photos of my best friend’s corgi chasing our family dog throughout the whole ceremony! The humans were joyful and so were the dogs :-) Oh wow. I’ve just realized that my favorite photo at our party is also dog-related! We had a professional photographer at our party as well as disposable cameras because who doesn’t love playing with disposable cameras?! You never know what your guests will do with them! Well, a couple weeks later, my husband and I were on the couch flipping through the prints from the disposable cameras. Blurry pics, kid pics, great candids and then a photo of a complete stranger, gazing deeply into the camera while holding a PUG like a wee baby! What!!?! Absolutely delightful!!
My husband and I are very much introverts and my mom found an elopement ceremony option at a winery that allowed immediate family. It was lovely, and my sisters boyfriend caught my bouquet that I threw when I were having cake afterwards. They married a couple years later!
My favorite photos from our wedding are from the dance floor. There’s one of my dad twirling me out and the crowd circling us all with huge open mouth smiles – no one had any idea he could dance like that!! Then there is a killer photo of my former boss dancing with my mom – i mean he was really going for it, dropped to his knees right at her feet, pelvis up, mouth open belting out the song. Her head is thrown back in laughter. Our dance floor was lit!
We were taking photos in this great Portland, OR park between the wedding and the reception when a huge group of joyfully drunk runners in red dresses all rushed the park and photobombed us before leaving almost as quickly as they’d arrived. It was surreal and friendly and very Portland :)
Hash House Harriers! It’s an international drinking club with a running problem. I used to go to DC-area ones in my ealry 20’s.
I got remarried ten years ago, when my daughter was 11 and my son was 8. It was a very small, very quickly planned wedding, but we did hire a photographer for the ceremony. My absolute favorite picture of the event was a wide angle view where the photographer captured my husband and me kissing, and my son looking on, completely grossed out that his mom and stepdad were kissing! It is absolutely adorable.
The two photos I love most from my wedding are with my father and then my father-in-law. In the first, while walking to the venue we had to duck back off the street because we realised my husband and his friends were still outside, my Dad and I backed up against a wall and he’s looking down at me and we’re both laughing as I tuck into him to hide, it perfectly captures our relationship of fun and japes together. In the second I’m leaning down to kiss my father-in-law on the cheek from behind him as he’s seated at our dinner and the look of utter joy on his face makes me tearful every time. He got two amazing boys, but I’m thrilled to be the daughter he always wanted.
These both sound so lovely!
they are all so joyful – but I love the groom and grandmother the best, especially since it was a spontaneous capture. how sweet he must be!
My husband and I did a first look with our beloved dog, Archie. What I didn’t think about is how excited Archie would be to see me, too, and the resulting photos are hilarious: him lunging at me, my husband trying to hold onto the leash, me trying protect my dress from Archie’s dirty paws, both of us laughing so hard. Archie died unexpectedly a few months later, so these silly, imperfect photos are now some of my most treasured from our wedding day.
oh my gosh, that’s really beautiful, Caroline. xo
The photo of the groom with his grandmother made my teary ❤️
me too xoxoxo
At our wedding we didn’t do sequence of father/daughter, mother/son, couples dances, we just had one big combined family dance to “Lovely Day” by Bill Withers, and then as the night progressed and “Dancing in the Moonlight” came on, my dad asked me to dance with him, and I have one grainy video sent to me by my childhood best friend from across the room of us together. I treasure it.
oh I love that!
My husband and my’s first dance was to Lovely Day!
I can capture a still shot from that video if you’d like ♥️. [email protected]