This is the absolute essence of documentary wedding photography. Its not a photo of a wedding dress, a pair of rings or even a bride and groom. If it weren't for the flowers in the photo, it might not even be from a wedding at all. Images like this though really serve to tell the story of a wedding day. Documentary wedding photography is all about capturing the moments like this that often get missed. Photos like this can never be staged, instead you need to be in the right place at the right time.
Here's the story of this image:
This adorable flower girl is the daughter of the bride and groom. The groom was already where the wedding ceremony was taking place, and the bride was being interviewed by the registrars. The two bridesmaids in the image were trying to get the little girl to start walking towards the ceremony location but faced with a new environment and feeling alone, she wasn't having any of it!
As soon as mum reappeared she cheered up again, and even got a lift to the ceremony!
This went on to be the hottest wedding I had ever photographed at a scorching 32 degrees centigrade! The ceremony was outside but everyone was lucky to be under the shade of trees.
Keywords: Documentary wedding photography (99).