Capture Genuine Emotion

Candid photography focuses on capturing authentic and spontaneous moments throughout the wedding day. These pictures aim to freeze genuine emotions, such as laughter, tears of joy, or heartfelt expressions, without any forced poses or staged scenes. By preserving these natural moments, couples can relive the genuine emotions and memories of their special day.

Storytelling and Narrative

Candid pictures help tell the story of the wedding day in a more organic and unscripted manner. They capture the small details, interactions, and fleeting moments that might go unnoticed during the busy and structured parts of the event. These candid shots provide a comprehensive narrative of your wedding, starting with family events like rehearsal dinners. Without a photographer, you miss key events in your weekend; with candids, you can create a more engaging and emotional visual representation of your journey.

Authenticity and Personality

Candid photos showcase the couple and their guests in their most authentic selves. Unlike posed pictures, which can feel artificial, candid shots reveal the true personalities, relationships, and connections between individuals. These photos reflect the genuine atmosphere of the wedding, the joy of the guests, and the couple's interactions, resulting in a collection of images that feel real and heartfelt.

Non-Intrusive

Guests will be taking their phones out for selfies and profile photos. This allows the photographer to blend into the background, capturing moments discreetly without interrupting the flow of events. This unobtrusive approach ensures that the couple and their guests can enjoy the wedding day without feeling constantly aware of the camera's presence. By capturing candid shots, the photographer can document genuine interactions and emotions without interfering with the natural flow of the celebration.

Unexpected and memorable moments

Candid pictures often capture unexpected and spontaneous moments that add an element of surprise and delight to the wedding album. These shots may include a stolen glance between the couple, a candid dance move, or a heartfelt conversation between loved ones. These unique moments become treasured memories that might otherwise have been missed or forgotten.

Tips for the Best Candids

Candids are taken by guests, who are not professional photographers. However, with a few simple tips, everyone can take stunning photos to vividly record the memories of your special day. The photographers' goal should be to allow couples to fully immerse themselves in the job and emotions of their wedding, even when guests are not with the professional photographers.

Always have your camera ready: Constant preparedness ensures that no spontaneous or unexpected moment goes uncaptured.

Use the right equipment: Smaller cameras and zoom lenses can help capture intimate moments without intruding on or disturbing the subjects.

Avoid using flash: Flash can be distracting and may alert people to the presence of a camera, resulting in less natural shots.

Plan ahead and scope out good locations: Anticipating where good shots might occur can result in better-composed pictures.

Take lots of photos: Using continuous shooting mode allows you to capture a sequence of actions, increasing the chances of getting a perfect shot.

Photograph people in groups: Group shots often yield natural interactions and reactions.

Use framing techniques: Proper framing can enhance the quality of your shots and highlight important elements or subjects.

Follow the laughter for natural shots: Laughter often results in genuine expressions and moments worth capturing.

Pay attention and anticipate moments: This ties into being always ready with your camera.

Centralize and Collect: Ask your guests to send their photos to a central location. If you want to make it super easy for guests to send in photos, try out ImageShout - no app download, guests just send you a text with their pictures. You get a single gallery and can download and share, private and under your control.

How It Works

Easy and Free to Use.

1. Get your unique phone number
2. Share with guests
3. Guests text in photos

Everything is done via text. Guests don't need to sign up for an account. Nobody needs to download an app.

Try ImageShout Free

Encourage Guests to Take and Share Photos

Candid wedding photographs are cherished reminders of your special day's energy and emotions -- loving moments between you and your partner, the merging of two families, and those mini moments between guests that might otherwise go unnoticed.

Social

Wedding hashtags are helpful for gathering guest photos, but not all guests will use them or post publicly. It's crucial to include reminders in invitations, on wedding websites, or at the reception to encourage guests to take and share photos.

Apps Can Help

Several apps can help collect guests' photos. We are partial to ImageShout, because it requires no app download or setup, but other options exist. Make sure to understand the T&C - many of these apps are designed to share to social, so make sure you don't allow auto-sharing or other privacy violating features. "The Guest" allows real-time auto-sharing of photos and videos, which can be turned off or paused if necessary (as of 2022, The Guest has been shut down). "Burner" is an app creates a temporary phone number to collect all guest photos in one easy-to-access Dropbox folder. Eversnap is a full-service app that includes instruction cards for guests, live moderated slideshow, and automatic collection of photos from social media channels with the wedding hashtag.

Addressing Frequently Asked Questions

A wedding website FAQ can answer commonly asked questions in one place. Be clear and informative. Couples can set clear guidelines regarding social media and photo-taking during the wedding. Communicate preferences through the wedding website, ceremony program, and public announcements.

Create Opportunities

Get creative with budget-friendly and easy-to-organize send-off ideas like confetti, glow sticks, bubbles, releasing butterflies or doves, tossing flower petals, or using flameless alternatives such as lighted branches or LED balloons. Consider the safety and environmental impact of your chosen send-off items. Collaborating with Your Photographer

Create a shot list and share it with your photographer in advance to ensure you get the specific pictures you've envisioned. Listen to their advice on lighting and background, and be open to different shots as each wedding day unfolds uniquely.