Wedding Blogs, Photography and the Importance of Details

Rel­a­tively speak­ing, the lit­tle details shouldn’t really mat­ter… the sta­tionery, wed­ding signs, acces­sories, ush­ers’ colour-coordinated socks and cuf­flinks. Or should they?

Lit­tle things hold their own spe­cial memories

Wed­ding blogs and mag­a­zines have been crit­i­cised for focus­ing on the minu­tiae of wed­ding decor. Our “real wed­dings” share too many images of DIY details — or so some have said. I’m refer­ring of course to the infa­mous ‘Dear Wed­ding Blog­gers, You Suck’ on Moun­tain­side Bride blog.

But for some rea­son, a year later this let­ter is still mak­ing me think. Why should we dis­miss the lit­tle details which have taken cou­ples so long to cre­ate or source from cre­ative wed­ding suppliers?

I saw a beau­ti­ful wed­ding on Brides Up North recently, with cal­lig­ra­phy by my lovely friends at Urbis Scrip­tores. It made me happy to see the work of a mas­ter crafts­man like Brian at the top of a UK wed­ding blog. It also made me realize it’s a rare event!

Pho­tog­ra­phy vs Details?

Wed­ding blogs have grown thanks to the gen­eros­ity of wed­ding pho­tog­ra­phers sub­mit­ting real wed­dings for us to share with you.

Pho­tog­ra­phers pride them­selves on cap­tur­ing key moments, spon­ta­neous emo­tion and beau­ti­fully lit images — of people.

To a pho­tog­ra­pher — and from a tra­di­tional per­spec­tive — details can be of minor impor­tance. The mem­o­ries of your wed­ding in ten or twenty years time won’t be about the details, right? Or is that just because you won’t have pho­tos of your place names and favours to remem­ber them by? Choose the right wed­ding pho­tog­ra­pher, and you’ll pre­serve the mem­o­ries of those lit­tle details which mean a lot to you.

Wed­dings are chang­ing. DIY is a huge trend and mod­ern brides and grooms spend a huge amount of time craft­ing mem­o­ries through details. Wed­ding blogs and mag­a­zines fea­ture detail ideas, yes. Our pub­li­ca­tions have influ­enced trends in wed­ding styling and even in pho­tog­ra­phy styles. But the real focus on details is inspired by you — and should be reflected in your wed­ding photography.

Katie and Chris’s win­ter wed­ding had some beau­ti­ful details, cap­tured on cam­era by Chris Han­ley Pho­tog­ra­phy. Click to see the full wedding!

Love your details — and get those photos!

If you’ve spent hours mak­ing bits and pieces for your big day, or spent time choos­ing and buy­ing gor­geous details, you should make sure they live on in your wed­ding pho­tos. A great wed­ding pho­tog­ra­pher will have asked about your wed­ding plans early on, before the wed­ding. They’ll recog­nise that the lit­tle touches mean a lot to you, and they’ll watch out for those spe­cial details to photograph.

There’s an older gen­er­a­tion of wed­ding pho­tog­ra­phers, often those who don’t read blogs, who won’t realize how impor­tant your cre­ative touches are. So if you’ve poured your heart and soul into craft­ing beau­ti­ful acces­sories and sta­tionery for your big day, make sure you check that your pho­tog­ra­pher won’t dis­miss them. Ten or twenty years into your mar­ried life, you’ll smile fondly to remem­ber the after­noons spent with your part­ner and fam­ily mak­ing pom-poms, orders of ser­vice and bunting — but only if you have gor­geous pic­tures to remem­ber them by.