Pinterest is great in a lot of ways. It’s really fabulous for collating ideas, pulling together mood boards and looking for inspiration. I pin a lot of my images there to help couples to find me and I also have used Pinterest to research branding ideas and even ideas for a new tattoo.
I used to get pretty excited when a couple sent me their wedding Pinterest board full of beautifully curated wedding inspiration, but as time has gone on, I find being given a Pinterest board can be really counter intuitive to photographing a wedding in the most creative way I can.
I’d say my couples fall into two very different groups with their wedding styling. For some details are really important and their weddings are quite styled and others don’t place much importance on it at all. I love working with both types of couple and I love photographing both type of day.
Beautifully styled weddings are fun to photograph and I place a high degree of importance on photographing all of the little details that you’ve spent so long planning. The details are always secondary to the people and the story, but I do make sure I get really good detail coverage for you, especially if it’s obviously an important element of your day.
What I don’t like to do, though, is recreate a photography idea that you’ve found on Pinterest. I mean we can but why would you want to? Why would you want wedding pictures that are someone else’s wedding pictures? Why wouldn’t you want pictures that are authentically yours and no one else’s?
Luckily I don’t get many requests like this any more. My couples book me because they love my laid back, documentary approach and in honesty I don’t even like recreating my own shots, let alone someone else’s. Even on the rare occasions I shoot at a venue I’ve worked at before I try really hard to create a unique set of images, using different angles and backdrops, so your pictures are different from others I’ve created at that venue. 
One of the things I love about working in a documentary wedding photography style is the authenticity of capturing real moments as they happen. Even when photographing portraits I try to create the space for you to interact naturally, so what ever backdrop we’re shooting against is secondary to the fact that you are the subject of the picture and the picture is all about you being yourself.
If we recreate poses and pictures you’ve seen on Pinterest then you lose all authenticity instantly, especially if we try to recreate documentary images that someone else has taken of another couple’s wedding day.
Your wedding is 100% your day and I would never dictate to any of my couples what they can and can’t have when it comes to photography. If you want to recreate every pose you’ve ever seen on Pinterest we can but I can guarantee you won’t love the pictures as much as you’ll love relaxed, authentic pictures of you being yourself and enjoying your wedding day.
I guess this isn’t a No Pinterest policy as such, it’s more of a No Pinterest Request (and that rhymes, so it’s even better). My request is that you get on with enjoying your wedding day while I’ll get on with capturing it candidly. I’ll capture loads of documentary images of your guests experiencing your day, I’ll capture loads of candid shots of the two of you, I’ll take lots of pretty shots of your details and venue. All you need to do is trust me and have a brilliant time.
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