Taking Photos at the Wedding – When You’re The Guest

These days you don’t even need to have your camera with you, as the average cell phone takes really good pics. But is it ‘gracious’ to allow one’s creative urge to take over just to get the shot, when there is a professional photographer at hand? Is this the behaviour of a well behaved guest?

How do you resist the urge to whip out your cell phone and charge down the aisle to take a picture from the perfect angle you’re convinced the photographer has missed? Let’s go one further. What if you’re a photographer too. And taking photos is what you do. How do you go about being a gracious guest, and yet still get the perfect photos that you want to take?

Firstly, you’re probably on the guest list because you’re a good friend of the bride or groom; maybe both, which means that they know you hang around most places with a camera around your neck, and they’re possibly secretly hoping that you’ll take a couple of magic pics anyway, just in case their photographer doesn’t wing it
Stay away from the professional – stay in your seat when it is required of you (so pack the zoom lens), but lurk around the wedding couple when it isn’t (just not during the formal pictures), and catch those pics nobody expected to see (you know the one where she leans across to whisper in his ear during the speeches) i.e. get creative but stay out of the photographer’s way
Take pics from the perspective of a guest – your friends will thank you for the unusual perspective of their friends and family, and your pics will complement the official ones
Turn off the flash – it attracts attention and people are more likely to notice your diving all over the place in a bid to get that great shot; it can also ruin the professional’s attempt to take the ‘real’ photos
Be creative about the pics you manage to snap – try different angles and perspectives – and enjoy the wedding – you’re the guest, remember