By Kelly Loss

How can we get to cocktail hour as quickly as possible? Do we have to do a cake cutting and all of those toasts? Can we forgo all the getting-ready photos and capture the unexpected moments with friends and family?

I’ve heard these questions and others like them. Couples want to be more intentional about their wedding day, and that means prioritizing less scheduled time for photos and more time with friends and family.

And that’s a good thing!

The day goes by quickly, so they want to maximize the moments and celebration instead of spending hours capturing family, wedding party and couple photos. They want to see organic photos that capture moments, making documentary wedding photography a sought-after style.

Documentary photography emphasizes a photojournalist perspective, just as a news photographer would capture an event. They are observing what is happening, and they anticipate the moments and position themselves to get the best photo without interrupting what is happening.

The wedding photographer defines the emotions and feelings of the day through images without being staged or produced by the photographer. This means couples are able to move throughout their wedding day without having to stop and take photos or dedicate large blocks of time for staged photos away from their guests.

This style resonates with younger couples wanting a less curated version of their wedding with an emphasis on capturing the moments and emotions of the day instead of a long list of photos on how the event looked. They want interesting viewpoints and unexpected images to remind them what being at their wedding day felt like.

Another aspect of this style is that wedding guests are free to move about the event without feeling as if they have to stop their conversations to smile for the photographer when they walk around. A skilled documentary photographer will capture guests in the moment of a laugh or smile, rather than the photographer having to ask groups to stop and smile.

With guests carrying cameras everywhere they go, it is not as important for the photographer to focus on those group shots because many people will automatically take those photos, and they often like the immediacy of having them. Wedding photographers, specifically documentary photographers, are moving away from those staged groups of people because they want to create something different for their couples that can’t be replicated by guests at the wedding.

For couples looking to find this kind of photography, it’s important to make sure the photographer and the couple are on the same page. True documentary wedding photography does not involve recreating moments or staging things to “look” documentary. It’s a vibe, a feeling where the couple moves through their wedding day with a photographer by their side, instead of the photographer meddling or interfering in moments to get the perfect shot.

I tell my couples the only time I give direction or talk about photography is the very brief time period of capturing family and couple portraits. The rest of the day, I’m working to create photos that show what it felt like to be a part of your wedding day, so that people can look at the photos and know what it felt like to be there, not just how your dress looked before you put it on!

The writer is an Alexandria-based wedding photographer for nearly 10 years and applauds the changing perspectives of millennial and Generation Z couples. To see more of her work, visit kellylossphoto.com.