Documentary wedding photography allows couples to enjoy the day in its entirety and live in the moment. Rather than your photographer being in the middle of things, directing or coercing, he/she blends into the scene and photographs what happens naturally, the unfolding moments of the day. The final collection of images tells the complete story with all its beauty, emotion, and excitement, including moments that you were unaware of. 

Most wedding photographers today photograph candid-style photographs, but most candid-style photographs do not qualify as documentary-style. The difference between candid-style versus documentary-style wedding photography is in the essence of what is being photographed. Candid-style photographs are the result of the photographer reacting to a passing moment, focusing on the action of the subject with little thought to the background. The goal of the documentary-style photographer is to capture the peak or decisive moment of his subject.  In doing so, the photographer practices and learns to anticipate moments happening before they do. By anticipating, they not only prepare themselves to capture the peak moment, but they give themselves time to consider how to compose the image, using foreground and background elements within the scene purposely to enhance the impact of the final image. 

Couples who decide to go with a documentary wedding photographer often do so because they don’t want to miss anything on their wedding day. They want to celebrate in the moment without interruption. Having documentary wedding photographers photograph their wedding allows the couple to completely relax and enjoy their full wedding day. When they look at their wedding photos long after the wedding is past, they will be able to watch and be reminded of how the day actually unfolded, naturally, authentically, and uniquely, the real story of their wedding day. 

We do photograph portraits on the wedding day. We understand that a wedding day is like a family reunion, bringing family members and friends together from across the globe. We understand that a day like this should document who is there.  Although we will photograph many of your guests in a candid or documentary style, we will also work with you to set aside a specific time during the day to photograph your required list of group portraits.

As documentary wedding photographers, we become your eyes, and will photograph moments that you won’t remember ever happening.  If you give us a “shot” list of what you want photographed, it prohibits us from doing what we do best: to anticipate and photograph unique, authentic, true-to-the-moment photographs. We will be more concerned with reviewing and checking off the items on your list rather than watching, observing and capturing great documentary moments that you will cherish for a lifetime. If you require us to duplicate the work of another photographer by insisting that we duplicate images you find on Pinterest, you are asking us to make photographs based on someone else’s creativity instead of our own.  No other wedding day will be like yours. The people who attend, the locations of your ceremony and reception, the unfolding story of how the day happened from the time you wake up that morning until the very last dance of your wedding celebration will never be duplicated. We don’t want to miss anything.

With Ray Anthony commissioned as your lead wedding photographer, his packages do include one additional associate photographer.  Having a second photographer (or more) allows the lead photographer to concentrate on photographing unique, behind-the-scenes moments that we’ve become known for, while the additional photographers focus on the details of the day and expected, must-have moments. We do offer starting packages commissioning one of our lead associates to photograph the wedding alone, but we highly recommend that you add another associate to the package for at least four hours of the day. 

Because we are sought after to photograph the true, unfolding story of the wedding day, we don’t want to miss anything.  True to our documentary approach, we believe that your wedding day is to be photographed in its entirety just as if we were commissioned to photograph “a day in the life” story for Time or Life Magazine.  There are stories within the story of the day, starting with the bride and her bridesmaids getting ready, to the groom hanging out with his groomsmen, to seeing your family and friends for the first time in your wedding dress or tuxedo, to those unique moments that happen at split second that capture the spirit and celebration of the day. By staying to the very end of the night, we photograph everything from the most touching, heart-felt moments that will make you feel how much you are loved and bring tears to your eyes, to the most fun, outrageous and spontaneous moments that will make you laugh and relive the joy of your wedding.