If you love wedding photos that feel polished, intentional, and a little editorial, you might assume getting them requires spending a huge chunk of your wedding day in front of the camera. Thankfully, it doesn’t. Some of my favorite wedding galleries have a mix of beautifully composed portraits, detail photos, and completely candid moments that happened without any direction from me at all. You can have the editorial wedding photos that look like they belong in a magazine without turning your wedding into an eight-hour photoshoot. In fact, a lot of what creates that editorial feel happens before I ever ask you to stand in front of my camera.
Start With a Wedding Day That Feels Like You
If you want beautiful editorial wedding photos, one of the best places to start is by planning a wedding you genuinely love. That doesn’t mean you need an elaborate venue, thousands of dollars worth of florals, or a wedding designed specifically for photographs. It means choosing the details, setting, clothing, and overall feel that you’re naturally drawn to. Your photographer can work with what’s already there to find interesting compositions, photograph the details you’ve chosen, and create images that feel elevated without needing to manufacture an entirely different version of your day for the camera.
Give Your Timeline a Little Breathing Room
You don’t need hours dedicated to portraits, but having enough time to photograph without rushing makes a huge difference. When every part of the timeline is packed back-to-back, we’re much more limited in what we can create. Even an extra 15 or 20 minutes can give us time to walk somewhere with beautiful light, try a different backdrop, or let you settle into being photographed instead of immediately racing to the next thing. This is one of the reasons I like being involved in timeline planning with my couples. We can figure out where photography naturally fits into the day without making photography the entire day.
Trust Your Photographer to Find the Good Light
You shouldn’t have to spend your wedding day scouting locations or wondering where you’ll get the best photographs. That’s my job as a Philadelphia and New Jersey wedding photographer. Sometimes the spot that photographs beautifully isn’t the grand staircase or the obvious portrait location. Light plays such a huge role in creating polished, editorial wedding photos, and knowing how to find and use it means we can often create something incredible in a relatively short amount of time.
Plan Time for Editorial Wedding Photos Without Taking Over the Day
There is a happy medium between having no time for portraits and disappearing from your wedding for two hours. We can be intentional about getting a mix of photographs while still keeping things moving. I’ll give you direction when you need it, adjust the little things that make a photograph stronger, and make sure we get some of those more composed images you’re excited about. But you don’t need dozens of setups or a never-ending shot list. Once we have what we need, you get to go back to your wedding.
Remember That “Editorial” Doesn’t Have to Mean Posed
This is probably the biggest misconception about editorial wedding photos. Some of the images that give a gallery that elevated feeling aren’t portraits at all. They’re the way your dress is photographed hanging in beautiful light, champagne being poured at cocktail hour, or a candid photograph framed in a way that makes an ordinary moment look incredible. That’s where composition, light, movement, and perspective come in. My job isn’t just to pose you in beautiful places. It’s to notice what’s already happening throughout your wedding and photograph it in a way that makes the entire gallery feel intentional.
You Can Have Editorial Wedding Photos and Still Enjoy Your Wedding Day
Getting the wedding gallery you want shouldn’t require building your entire day around photography. With a thoughtful timeline, a little time set aside for portraits, and a photographer you trust to know when to give direction and when to simply document what’s happening, you can have editorial wedding photos and still spend the majority of your wedding actually enjoying it. If you’re looking for a wedding photographer who can give you that balance, I’d love to hear what you’re planning. Get in touch to learn more about working together for your wedding day.
