The best wedding photographers will capture not only photographs of you and your fiancée looking amazing posing together in your wedding portraits, but a whole collection of candid and emotional moments that will be unique to you and your wedding day.  While it’s important to look at your wedding photographs and think ‘damn, we looked goooood’, your feelings about how great you looked will eventually fade.  Instead, you’ll find yourself falling in love with the photographs that captured a meaningful moment, that tell the true story of your wedding day, and that your photographer captured without you even knowing it.  Candid photographs will rarely be the most ‘perfect’ shots you have in your gallery, however with time they’ll become the most meaningful, and the ones you’ll look back on and love over the years together.

Scroll through for the top 10 emotional wedding photographs I love to capture on a wedding day!

1.     Fun Photos Getting Ready With Your Wedding Party

Getting ready with your wedding party and family is a fantastic time to capture wedding photographs that are natural, candid, fun, and real.  Nobody is fully dressed yet, so nobody even thinks about starting to pose for photographs, and I’m able to capture a whole set of natural interactions early in the day between you and the people you love the most!  We don’t plan ‘candid moments’ to photograph (who wants a fake posed cheers photograph anyways?).  Instead we plan real moments that will naturally unfold and create gorgeous candid moments.  A perfect example of this is planning time for your mom to help you into your dress, as it’s the perfect time for some natural expression together, a hug, and maybe some happy tears!

I love a good champagne pop series of candid wedding photographs, like this series I captured at a wedding at Windermere House and Muskoka.

2.     Your First Look

Having a first look with your bride or groom to be is a great way to capture some beautiful and emotional photographs on your wedding day.  Take it from a professional wedding photographer, don’t try to script or plan this moment. Simply let it unfold, enjoy a few quiet moments together, show off your outfits to one another, and maybe exchange a small gift or a letter.  Trust your photographer to get the shots you want, and commit to simply experiencing and enjoying your wedding day at this moment.

I almost cried myself at this emotional first look Kathleen and Erik shared at their wedding in Collingwood at Lora Bay.  I love being a wedding photographer just to capture moments like this!

3.     A First Look with your Parents

Don’t forget to share some important moments with your parents too!  Remember, your loved ones will be feeling just as full of emotion and anticipation about the wedding as you, so don’t forget to make some space in your wedding day schedule to enjoy a bit of quality time with them, share some meaningful words, and engage with them meaningfully.  Create space for emotional moments to naturally unfold with them, like inviting them to their own ‘first look’ with you, or inviting them to take a quiet moment for you to give them a gift or a letter.  You’ll never regret taking a few extra minutes out of your day to hug your parents and privately share your love and thanks with them.

Father daughter first looks hold a special place in my wedding photographer heart!  Courtney invited her dad over for a first look with his daughter before they got on the ferry together over to the Toronto Islands where I photographed their wedding.

4.     Once In A Lifetime Wedding Ceremony Photos

If candid wedding photographs are important to you, make sure you hire a photographer who is quick on their feet!  After working as a top Toronto wedding photographer for the past 5 years, I’ve learned to anticipate potential moments before they happen and make sure I’m in the right place at the right time to capture them.  Candid moments only truly happen once (you don’t want to be asked to fake them or re-create them all day!) so make sure you hire a photographer whose portfolio shows they’re great at capturing your friends and family candid laughing, smiling, hugging, and tearing up.  You’ll love these shots forever!

I’ll forever be in love with this photograph from Stacey and Mark’s intimate wedding I photographed at Terroni Restaurant in Toronto.  Mark had a habit of playfully winking and making fun faces at Stacey, so I made sure to spend time during their ceremony watching his face and hoping to capture some of his many expressions for her.  I wasn’t disappointed when he winked at her after his vows!

5.     A Joyful Ceremony Recessional

One of the best candid photographs I get to capture at every wedding is the moment when you’re declared married and get to walk back up the aisle together.  No matter what wedding I’m at, I know that this is a beautiful and 100% genuine moment to photographs!  Whether the couple fist pumps in celebration, beam at each other, wrap family in giant bear hugs, or sprint back up the aisle together in excitement, this is an important moment for everyone to have in their wedding photographs. Looking back on it you’ll always be transported back to that moment, and the incredible amount of joy you felt together at being married.

Kendra and Jeff absolutely beamed the whole way back up the aisle after being pronounced husband and wife.  Petals rained down around them, they threw their arms in the air, and practically ran back up the aisle towards me in their excitement.  I adore getting to capture the life and vibrancy that comes through in these moments!

6.     Candid Photographs of the Two of you together

Photographs of the two of you together will likely be what you’re most looking forward to seeing at first.  You’ll spend hours pouring over how your outfits looked, how beautiful the setting way, and how well your hair held up all day.  Then, after a few months, you’ll start to forget about these ‘perfect’ wedding photographs, and see the photo of the two of you standing together during cocktail hour, laughing at a story told by one of your university friends.  Your dress will be thrown over your arm, your lipstick won’t be completely fresh, and your shirt will likely have smudges of makeup on it from the many hugs you’ve been given, but you’ll see the joy and life radiating from the two of you in that moment and THIS will be the photograph you truly love.  Finding a wedding photographer who captures candid moments of the two of you together is key.  There are so many Toronto wedding photographers, take the time to search out one whose portfolio shows the real life and story behind a wedding day.

I always spend time focused on the couple when they’re interacting with guests and loved ones, especially in moments when they’re close together, like sitting at their head table, or standing arm in arm during cocktail hour.  At every wedding I try to seek out that magical unicorn moment where a couple is together, smiling, and actively engagement with someone other than myself.  People LOVE these moments, and are usually able to recall exactly what they were talking about when they see the photograph long after.  This important point shares the true value of a wedding photographer, someone who helps you slow down and remember specific moments during the blur of a wedding day.

7.     Quiet Moments with Your Grandparents

If you’re lucky enough to have grandparents with you at your wedding, be sure to recognize just how lucky you are and spend some quality time with them on your wedding day.  It’s easy to get caught up in the excitement and bustle of the wedding day, but don’t miss out on the moment of inviting your grandmother up to say hi so she can see you in your wedding dress, even if that means running a couple minutes behind schedule.  Similarly, have no shame in slowing down your family photographs a bit to take some great shots with your grandparents.  Hug them, kiss them, take a minute to whisper to them how much it means to you that they’re there with you.  Nobody will begrudge you the time, and the best photographers will have the wherewithal to slow down also and capture this small moment for you to remember.

This is one of my favourite wedding photographs of the season.  The bride was feeling rushed and overwhelmed, about to head down to her Wedding ceremony at Graydon Hall.  We reminded her not to worry about being a bit late, and created space in that moment for her grandmother to come in and say hi.  It only took her a second to fully sink into the moment, and we captured a beautiful series of photographs as the two of them held hands and shared a meaningful moment together.

8.     Dancing with your parents

Even if you’re not a huge fan of dancing, it’s worth asking your parents if they are looking forward to the moment of getting to dance with you on your wedding day.  Many mothers and fathers look forward to this moment together, and it creates some of the best natural photographs of the two of you together on your wedding day.  Make the time, don’t rush, tune out the audience, and dance an entire song together.  Whether you slow dance, swing dance, or silly dance; regardless of if you laugh, cry, or hug the entire time, these photographs will be incredibly meaningful to you down the road.  This can be the traditional father daughter and mother son dance, or, more often than not, both parents will finish the song on the dance floor together with you.  Creating one giant, teary, bear hug family dance that makes me tear up behind the camera every.single.time.

Jess and Dom both had emotional dances with their parents at their wedding at the burroughes.  By the time their father daughter and mother son dances were done there wasn’t a dry eye in the house.  This photograph of Jess and her father together to this day draws emotion out of every viewer.   

9.    The Bride and Groom First Dance

Just like parent dances, if you’re on the fence about a first dance together, I always recommend going for it!  Even if you’re nervous about having an audience, or worried about getting emotional, don’t deny yourself this moment together on your wedding day.  Whether you choreograph an entertaining piece together, or simply hug and sway on the dance floor, first dance photographs capture so much in just a few images that they always are an invaluable emotional addition to every wedding gallery.

Don’t feel like you have to be too serious either!  Emotion doesn’t mean all hugs and tears.  Loretta and Renato had the time of their lives during their first dance.  Laughing, hugging, prancing, and spinning one another in endless joyful circles.  Their first dance at their Lora Bay wedding was absolutely full of joy!

10.  Emotional speeches and Guest Candids

Let’s not forget the speech photographs!  If you’re tempted to send your photographer home before the speeches start, just look at the photograph below to understand why it’s SO important to have photographs of the speeches if you love candid and natural wedding photographs!  Above and beyond documenting you and your parents speaking at the podium, speech photographs really shine when you struggle through the tough stuff, or laugh your heads off sharing embarrassing stories.  Candid photographs of you and the audience are also a huge part of speech photographs, and you’ll be amazed by the emotion and memories that come back when you see the photographs of the two of you blowing kisses to your family from the head table as they raise their glasses and exit the podium.

Wenney and Andrew took a moment for their speeches directly after their ceremony, not wanting to interrupt the fun of the reception with them later in the evening.  Wenney took a moment to speak to her grandmother, no longer with her on her wedding day, but still holding a place in her heart as she got married.  She simultaneously teared up speaking about her grandmother, while throwing her head back and laughing as she shared a fond memory of the woman who meant so much to her.  This photograph speaks volumes to what can be captured from speech photographs.

xo
-C

If you’re looking for one of the best Toronto wedding photographers to capture your wedding day, and already know that you love and value candid photographs, I might be the photographer for you! Click the button below to send me an inquiry and arrange a time to meet, or, learn more about the experience I offer, read some testimonials about my work, or get an idea of my wedding photography pricing and packages through these links. Thanks so much, and I hope to see you in front of the lens one day!