Why Guest Portraits Are The Best Details

If your house was on fire, which pictures would you save? I’m betting that you’d save photos of family and loved ones — especially if they were your only prints of those photos.

So why on earth do we, as wedding photographers, focus so much on mason jars, boutonnieres, shoes, dresses, plates of food, flower arrangements, napkin rings, cakes, and custom fortune cookies?

We focus on those details because we are taught that those images are beautiful and essential. It’s how you get published. It’s how you get Instagram hearts and Facebook likes from fellow photographers.

As photographers, we’re not entirely to blame for this trend. The bride and groom are also indoctrinated into thinking detail photos are crucial by the wedding blogs and magazines they read. Our clients then demand that we capture these photos as well. It’s an endless circle that must be broken.

I’m not saying details should be ignored entirely, but that we are sitting on a treasure trove of far more critical photos both for us as business people and for our clients.

The best wedding detail is not a table arrangement. It’s the guests. And you’ve probably been ignoring wedding guests to some extent so that you have time to photograph rings, flowers, and cakes.

I did the same thing until I had a realization: the guests ARE the essential wedding detail. It’s half the reason we even have weddings: to gather friends and family around us for our big day. Guests also provide an opportunity to make more money per wedding and to stand out among our peers.

Your couple is going to treasure photos of loved ones today and 50 years from now. Time passes, people die, and people move away. A beautiful photo capturing the soul and happiness of a friend is a lifelong treasure.

Guest portraits can set you apart! I built my reputation around guest portraits. The human…

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