I find other people’s emotions contagious. If someone’s upset, I’ll feel sad. If someone’s anxious, I’ll feel on edge too. And if someone’s happy, I’ll also feel the joy. So my favourite kind of wedding to photograph is one with really high energy; a noisy occasion where the couple and their guests are having the BEST time and laughing their heads off. That’s the kind of wedding that fills me with energy and has me running around trying to capture all those great expressions like characters in a game of Pokémon; gotta get them all, gotta get ’em! I’m buzzing and find it really hard to wind down after those! It’s better therapy than a night out with cocktails and dancing!

And this is one of the reasons why I think natural documentary wedding photography is the way to go.  It allows me to capture that unbridled joy and raw emotion so you can be back there in an instant, while you get to do nothing more than enjoy your wedding.

I spend a lot of time simply listening on a wedding day, especially during the drinks reception. I do this more than using my eyes. In a big crowd, it can be difficult to know where to start but using my ears to work out where the laughter is is a great starting point. I hear a lot of photographs before I see them.

There are lots of other emotions and moments to capture, of course, but the fun and laughter is a big part of what I look for. It makes me smile to know that the ‘throw your head back with laughter’ photos like these will remind my couples (and their guests) of whatever funny thing happened; stories that might be retold time and time again over Sunday lunches and Christmas dinners.

The best thing about capturing laughter? For me, because it’s kinetic and has me actually lol’ing back! These are the pictures that make me grin back wildly when I’m downloading the photos at the end of a wedding day. I rarely know what was said to cause the reaction but imagining what it was and making up captions is a lot of fun! I’m very grateful to my couples who provide the smiles! It makes my world a little a lot brighter!

I challenge you to look at these and not be smiling by the end!