If candid moments are a top priority for you on your wedding day, here’s something important to understand: real candids can’t be staged. You can’t tell someone to “act natural” and expect magic. You can’t manufacture genuine laughter or tears with a pose or prompt. Candid photography is about presence, patience, and trust—elements that take time to build throughout the day.
As a luxury wedding photographer, I’ve seen firsthand how the most heartfelt images often unfold when no one is looking for a camera. Your guests haven’t spent months getting to know your photographer like you have. For many, this is their first interaction with me. That’s why time matters—because candids don’t just happen in the first hour.
When I’m with you from the start of the day until the dance floor fills and the end of the night sign off, I’m not just capturing the big moments. I’m watching everything—the quiet hug from your mum just before you walk down the aisle, to dad crying as you say your vows, the shared glances between your best friends, to your nan kissing you congratulations after the ceremony, the joyful chaos of cocktail hour where the guys relax and laugh, and the emotion that builds as the night unfolds amongst your immediate family as they watch you enter as husband wife, say their speech and watch you share your first dance together.
Remember as your wedding goes through the ebbs and flows so do your guests, so their emotions will dedicate how many candid moments are captured. Are drinks accessible after the ceremony for them to relax during cocktail hour? Is dinner running on time and everyones well fed? Do they feel the atmosphere of the room shift so they get on the dance floor and have a boogie? All these moments allow them room to be themselves, laugh, dance, act silly, be emotional, and for me to capture it all.
Your Family Will Feel It First
When I arrive in the morning for prep, I’m usually greeted by your closest people—your parents, your siblings, your bridal party. These are the ones who feel what you feel, who’ve walked the journey with you, and who already trust me through you.
Because of that, those early hours are where the first emotional moments often surface. A quiet tear from your dad seeing you in your dress. A long hug with your mum. Laughter with your siblings over breakfast or a shared glance with your best friend as the nerves kick in.
These moments happen early because your trust in me becomes their trust too. And that makes all the difference.
Guests Take Time
But your guests—your aunts, uncles, cousins, university friends, friends of friends—they haven’t met me before. I’m just another vendor to them in the beginning.
That’s why I don’t expect authentic, emotional candids from them right away. I observe. I blend in. I give them space. And with time, they begin to relax, to forget I’m there, to enjoy themselves fully. That’s when the real magic happens.
And it almost always happens after the ceremony, during cocktail hour and well into the reception. Once they’ve seen you get married, shared a drink, and settled into the rhythm of the evening, people soften. They let go. They become themselves.
These moments don’t operate on a schedule. They may happen in the quietest part of the morning or all at once during speeches and the dance floor. Sometimes they only truly begin once your guests have had a drink, watched you say your vows, and relax into the evening atmosphere.
That’s why I always recommend full-day coverage—10 to 12 hours—so I can not only be there for your vows, your portraits, and your first dance, but also for everything in between. The fleeting, blink-and-you-miss-it moments. The kind of images that make you feel something every time you look back at them. With time, I can observe. I can anticipate. I can be ready the moment something honest and beautiful unfolds—and I’ll be there to capture it forever.
Candids aren’t lucky accidents. They’re captured because I’m constantly scanning the room with a trained eye, moving quickly and quietly, always in the right place at the right time. Your job is to be fully present. Mine is to make sure you remember it all exactly as it felt—honest, emotional, and beautifully real.
If you have a guest list of 120+ and want lots of moments of your guests captured in a candid way then I recommend investing in me for a second shooter aswell. This allows me to focus on the main moments happening and my second can capture and focus on your guests reactions and moments.
If natural, documentary-style moments matter to you, let’s give them the time and space they deserve.
