I've always been a little obsessed with stories.
Not just the kind you read in a book, either. The ones you hear through music. The ones you disappear into at the cinema. The ones you played out in your head as a kid while pretending the world was just a little more magical than it actually was.
For me, films, music and fairytales have never really been separate hobbies.
They're part of how I understand people.
A film can make you remember a place you've never been. A song can pull you straight back into a version of yourself you haven't thought about in years. A fairytale can take something ordinary and make it feel impossibly important.
That's the feeling I want to chase in documentary-style wedding photography.
Not staging a wedding so it looks like a film, but photographing it in a way that lets you feel like you're stepping back into one, because your wedding day is already a story. I'm just there to notice it as your storytelling, documentary-style wedding photographer based in Pennsylvania.
In this blog post, I’m going to tell you how films, music and fairytales shapes my storytelling wedding photography.
My Inspiration for my Storytelling Wedding Photography
I learned to see emotion through film
Music taught me that feeling doesn't always need words
Fairytales taught me to look for the magic in ordinary things
I don't want your wedding to look like a movie, I want it to feel like one
A wedding gallery should take you somewhere
I'm always looking for the scene within the scene
Your gallery should have a beginning, middle and a little bit of chaos
This is why I photograph connection before perfection
I learned to see emotion through film
Before I became a wedding photographer, I studied TV and film.
I loved the process of taking a collection of individual moments and turning them into something that felt cohesive. A scene rarely exists entirely on its own. It's the look before the conversation, the silence after the joke, the music underneath the dialogue, the little detail sitting in the corner of the frame.
Those things change how we understand the story.
I think storytelling wedding photography works in much the same way.
One photograph can be beautiful, but a gallery can become something much bigger when the images speak to one another!
The nervous anticipation before the ceremony leads into the moment you see each other. The relaxed portraits lead into the chaos of the reception. The grand celebration eventually becomes a quiet walk outside together.
Suddenly, you're not just looking at images, but remembering the sequence of events. That's what I love.
Music taught me that feeling doesn't always need words
I'm a huge music person.
I grew up as a band kid (alto saxophone), which probably explains more about me than I'd like to admit.
Music has always been one of those strange little ways I process the world. A song can completely change the atmosphere of a room. It can make a memory feel closer. It can make you nostalgic for something that happened ten years ago, or something that hasn't happened yet.
And I think that's influenced the way I photograph people.
I'm constantly paying attention to rhythm. The pace of a wedding day. The crescendo before something important happens. The legato as we fall in to the day.. The quiet moments between louder ones. There’s an unexplainable connection we feel to the songs we choose for our first dance, and our last dance.
Storytelling wedding photography doesn't have sound, but I still want a gallery to have a rhythm to it.
Some images should feel like a deep breath. Some should feel like the chorus just kicked in. Some should make you laugh. Some should sit quietly for a moment before you move on.
That emotional pacing is important to me because your wedding day isn't one single emotion. It's an entire soundtrack!
Fairytales taught me to look for the magic in ordinary things
Fairytales deserve attention beyond the films we tie them to
Not necessarily because I want every wedding to look like a Disney movie, although I'm certainly not going to complain about a little extra pixiedust.
I love them because they romanticize the world. A forest becomes enchanted. A castle becomes a bustling palace filled with mysteries. A simple act of kindness becomes the beginning of an entire adventure. There's something beautiful about that way of looking at life.
And honestly, I think weddings deserve a little of it.
The hand you're holding isn't just a hand. It's the person you've chosen to build a life with. The old building you're getting married in isn't just a building. It's the place where one chapter of your story becomes another. The dress isn't just a dress.
It's something you chose because, for one reason or another, it felt like you.
Storytelling wedding photography gives me the opportunity to notice those things and make them feel as meaningful as they actually are!
I don't want your wedding to look like a movie, I want it to feel like one
There is a big difference.
When I say I want your wedding gallery to feel like a film, I don't mean I want to recreate scenes. I don't want to tell you where to stand so we can manufacture some dramatic moment that never happened.
I want the opposite.
I want to find the drama that's already there. The way you look at each other when you think nobody is watching. The anticipation before walking into the ceremony. Your friends crying during the vows. The ridiculous dance move that somehow becomes the highlight of the night. The quiet five minutes when you finally get to be alone together.
Those moments already have everything they need. My job is to recognize them!
A wedding gallery should take you somewhere
I don't want you to scroll through your wedding gallery and think, Oh, that's a nice photo. I want you to stop.
I want you to remember what happened immediately before it. Who was standing next to you. What song was playing. What someone said that made you laugh. How nervous you were. How warm the room felt. How quickly the entire day seemed to disappear…
That's the difference between just documenting an event and telling a story through storytelling wedding photography.
The images become little doorways.
You open one, and suddenly you're back there.
Your gallery should have a beginning, middle and a little bit of chaos
I love when a wedding gallery feels like an adventure.
There should be anticipation, movement, quiet, celebration.
There should probably be at least one photo where everyone looks completely unhinged on the dance floor. That's real life!
And that's what makes the beautiful images feel even more beautiful.
I want your gallery to have enough variety that you can move through it and feel the day happening again. Not just the highlights, but the atmosphere surrounding them.
The little details, traditions, people, places.
The strange, wonderful things that could only have happened on your wedding day.
This is why I photograph connection before perfection
I've never been particularly interested in perfection.
Maybe that's the nostalgic art nerd in me, but I would rather have a photograph with a little movement, a little imperfection, a little humanity, than something technically flawless that doesn't make me feel anything.
Connection is far more interesting when it comes to storytelling wedding photography.
That's why I pay attention to the way people interact. How you naturally reach for each other. How your friends make you laugh. How your family looks at you when you're not paying attention. How the atmosphere changes when someone important walks into the room.
Those things can't really be staged.
And I don't want them to be. They have to be felt!
Let’s discuss your storytelling wedding photos in Pennsylvania or beyond
How do you know how films, music and fairytales shape my storytelling wedding photography? They have all taught me that the things we remember aren't always the biggest things. Sometimes it's a look. A sound. A feeling. A tiny detail that somehow becomes permanently attached to a moment in your life.
That's what I want your wedding photos to become.
So, get in touch with me and let’s discuss your wedding photography in Pennsylvania and beyond.
