Digital Wedding Photography: Capturing Beautiful Memories

Preface

I

was shooting a wedding in the Bahamas where the bride and groom purchased a “package” wedding

from a large resort. The package came with a minister, a videographer, and all the other essentials

except the photographer (me), which the couple arranged separately because they wanted more than what

the typical hotel photographer provides. On the day of the wedding, I did my normal photojournalistic

thing until just before the ceremony when the videographer arrived. This man stepped up with a loud voice

and just took over the reins of that whole wedding. From then on, he and the minister ran the show com-

pletely, telling the bride and groom where to stand, when to move, where to put each hand, how to hold the

pen, and even when to smile at the camera. They were arranging shots for me (which I didn’t ask for) and

then saying, “There you go Mr. Photographer! That’s how we do it here in the Bahamas!”

When the first dance started, the videographer was at the bar but he came charging back with a drink in

his hand and a napkin flying in the air behind him. He was waving his hands and motioning across his

throat at the DJ to cut the music. The DJ was ignoring him so he finally just yelled, “Stop!” which of

course everyone did. Then he walked out on the dance floor and carefully placed the groom on one side,

and the bride on the other, and then he grabbed his camera and motioned for the DJ to ...