Editorial. It’s a word that’s been buzzing around the wedding community for quite some time now and it doesn’t look like it’s leaving any time soon. Editorial weddings, editorial styling, editorial photography. But what does that mean? As an editorial wedding photographer, here’s your helpful guide.
Editorial photography focuses on documenting your wedding day through a polished ‘filter’, if you will. As an editorial photographer with a love for romantic storytelling, I document all of the real, raw moments and deliver them as though in the pages of a magazine.
Documentary vs Editorial – what’s the difference?
These are two styles of wedding photography that are most popular right now. I’ve mentioned ‘document’ a couple of times already, and that’s because the two styles can go beautifully hand in hand.
Documentary photography is led by the couple and the wedding day. A documentary photographer will document each moment as it naturally happens without necessarily intervening.
Editorial photography is all about curating authentic moments within the style and vibe of the wedding day to create an elevated and polished collection of images. I always describe it as ‘authentic, but better’. Think of the classic messy bun – it takes you twenty minutes and multiple attempts to make it look like you tied it up in two seconds. The art is in curating something to look effortless.
Editorial adjective
relating to the commissioning or preparing of material for publication.
"the editorial team"
Documentary adjective
1. presenting factual material with little or no fictional additions.
“a documentary account of the wedding”
A documentary approach will include honest, discreet coverage of a wedding day. There will be very little input from the photographer, who will be an expert in photographing the day exactly as it unfolds.
Editorial photography still involves documentary coverage of all of the authentic moments, but with a little more artistic flare from the photographer. This results in a immersive gallery filled with all those real moments you remember from your day, but perfected, and elevated as though stills from a romantic film.
What does an editorial approach look like on a wedding day?
As a wedding photographer with a romantic, editorial approach, I love to curate authentic moments to tease out the romance and tell more of your story.
I prompt couples in ways such as,
Gently run through the garden as if you’re in a romance film
Get cosy and stay close, as though you’ve been apart for weeks
Wander the gardens and touch the flowers, take in the setting of your love story
Without set poses, I prompt you to connect with one another or your surroundings to create photographs that are natural and effortlessly beautiful. I encourage couples to be the main characters and pretend they’re in a rom-com or a Shakespeare play. The perfect balance between a natural documentary style and a curated style, an editorial approach maintains authenticity while turning your love story into a cinematic piece of art.
Do editorial photographers capture candid moments too?
Absolutely. The beauty of editorial wedding photography is you get the best of both worlds. You get those beautiful, magazine worthy images to put up around your home and post on socials, but you also get the happy tears, the genuine laughter and all the special moments in-between. As an editorial wedding photographer, I cover all angles and edit every image with my signature style telling an honest story of your wedding day through your eyes. Galleries are cohesive and refined, and include a range of close, medium and wide images, telling your story through a beautiful collection of movie-still worthy images.
What does editorial photography look like?
Editorial wedding photography is very detail-led. Anyone can tell a story, but it’s another thing to make the reader feel the story. An editorial wedding photographer will tell the whole story through close ups of details, textures, florals, and styling to create an immersive gallery you can really feel.
To maintain my storytelling approach, I also use film-making techniques when photographing weddings to capture wide, medium, and close compositions, truly setting the scene and allowing couples to become immersed in their day again. My love for Shakespeare-worthy romance means close ups of intimate details too, such as hands touching, a strand of loose hair in the breeze, and moments of connection.
As well as documenting the love story, galleries with an editorial style will also feature a lot of direct flash. Direct flash photographs are a nod to fashion editorials and tell your love story as though in a magazine. Combining artistic, cinematic storytelling styles with direct flash elevates a gallery and creates a diverse, immersive collection of images.
Motion blur is another way editorial photographers tell a story and create a gallery you can become immersed in. Using a slow shutter speed when couples are playing or dancing creates movement in a still image and helps you feel that moment again as though a dream or a memory. It’s all in the details with editorial wedding photography and sometimes the emotion comes through when those details are perfectly imperfect.
How can I tell if a photographer has an editorial style?
The photographs will look natural and effortless, but almost just a little too good to be true. Think of the hotel wedding photos where a couple are sitting on the floor of a lift eating their wedding cake or a pizza – have you ever seen someone do that for real at their wedding?! Or think of the romantic spin and kiss in the rain, or a couple in their wedding attire lounging across a chaise long. It’s creative, it’s fashion-forward, it’s effortless, but did the photographer just happen to catch that natural moment?
If you find yourself drawn to photographs like this, you might just be looking for an editorial photographer.
I don’t think I like posing, is an editorial photographer for me?
Yes! Think of the photographs mentioned above. To get those cool, magazine worthy photographs eating your wedding cake in a hotel lift, the photographer will not be positioning your hand, or moving your leg to manufacture a certain image. The art of editorial photography is in the prompting as opposed to the posing. As an editorial photographer, I might prompt you by suggesting you lean against your spouse and share the cake, eating it, feeding it to the other and having a laugh together. Then, I love to see my couples just run with that. Combining the editorial style with a storytelling approach allows me to document all of those cinematic moments while still being fun and effortless for the couple.
If you love the idea of telling the most romantic, cinematic story of your wedding day through a chic, immersive, detail-led collection of images, an editorial wedding photographer is the way to go!
Enquire now for my brochure and book a wedding photographer who is every bit as obsessed with the details and your love story as you are.
Heather xo
Editorial, Romantic Wedding Photographer based in Scotland and the UK | Photos 1, 7, 13, 14, and 17 from the Hedsor House workshop by Faye Wilde Photography, supplier details as follows - photography @heathermckayphotography, host @fayewildephotography #fayewildeworkshops, venue @hedsor, styling + design @thefiorcollective, floristry @katyrosemayfloral, fabric installation + table linens @miasylviaa, linens, candle holders, napkins + candles @alba.tableware, letterpress stationery @_ellastrations, fine jewellery @tillythomaslux, earrings + hair accessories @miss_clemmie_accessories, vintage car @adrianblythspecialistcars, bespoke bridal @susannagreeningdesigns, bespoke bridal tailoring @darafordbridal, hair @leahbaileyhair, mua @patisanchez.bridal, fabric banner signage @bewilderly, boudoir slip @maria_callisto
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