We recently assisted Anel, a good friend and fellow photographer, with shooting a wedding here in the beautiful Cape. At the pre-wedding consultation with the couple they indicated that they would like a vintage twist to their photographs. We were happy to oblige and soon afterwards got down to planning on how to do it.
Adding a theme or special twist to a wedding does make the photography even more interesting and challenging (as if shooting a wedding is not challenging enough!) but also brings about the need for special care and consideration. First of all it can add additional cost to a wedding and the photography since it places restrictions on venue suitability, may require additional props, etc. Another consideration is that what might sound like a good idea today might not sound like a good idea in a few years time, meaning that photographs shot in a single specific style might soon look outdated – more on this later.
Since the venue was already arranged and booked by the time we had the pre-wedding consultation, and the available budget for the photography was limited, we had to be creative and innovative. Here’s how we approached our brief:
First of all we had a good look at the venue and were relieved to see that it does offer some opportunity of getting the images we visualised.
Secondly we decided on using the minimum of props to create the images we want, thereby not hijacking the wedding and turning it into a theme park – photographers should add value to a wedding, not interfere with the character of it. In our case we limited the props to a single gentleman’s hat and a lady’s umbrella that we already had.
Thirdly, not all images will be shot and processed in vintage style, just enough images to satisfy the request, thereby leaving enough images that are not tied into a specific style. Fortunately with digital photography one can add some specific touches in post-processing while leaving the original image intact. It then becomes very easy in future to apply a different look to the image if that should be required.
Following are some of the images that we shot. It is not intended to document the wedding as such, it is aimed at illustrating the approach we followed in covering this event, and therefore contains images shot vintage style, as well as some of the images shot outside of this style.
The bride getting ready.
The groom getting ready.
The groom with parents and best-man. Notice no props are used here, only a change to “vintage look” in post-processing.
The start of the ceremony.
While shooting the previous image, Jaunine spotted this shy little girl watching her, and was quick enough to capture the moment.
A different view of the ceremony.
A side view at the altar.
The rings.
End of ceremony.
The happy bride and groom.
Bride’s maid, bride, groom, and best man.
At the couple’s shoot. Notice that we started using the props here – the hat suited the groom pretty well ! Also note the old wagon in the background which fortunately for us was at the venue and added beautifully to the vintage look.
Here we had both hat and umbrella in service.
An old scale nearby was put to use as well.
There was this beautiful old chair at the venue that we just had to use !
A formal, staunch-looking portrait is part of the vintage look. Our couple played along with enthusiasm 🙂
Even some of the table trimmings at the reception played to the vintage look.
The reception hall. This part was best kept in colour.
The detail and trimmings at the reception were awesome, no vintage look will work as well as the natural colour, so we kept it as shot.
The seating arrangements.
Wedding cake.
Flower arrangements.
A festive atmosphere.
We had tremendous fun shooting this wedding and enjoyed the challenge of adding a vintage twist to it. Judging from the feedback we received it appears that we have been successful.
As always, feel free to post you comments below !
