Authenticity is everything.

You want to remember your wedding as it is — with all the beauty, intimacy and nuance that make it yours.

As a Denver wedding photojournalist who actually works in photojournalism and documentary photography, I think a manufactured moment, though Instagram-ready, is still just that – manufactured. A memory of things done for the sake of being photographed. It may be popular or esthetically pleasing, but it’s not an actual memory. It’s a performance, roleplay, not an authentic reflection of you or your partner, your family, your friends. Because you are more complicated, intricate.

You are specific.

Specific people, relationships, dynamics, stories, don’t show up in generic photos. There is no space for them. They are the rough edges, sanded off, literature sacrificed at the altar of expedient predictable products. Or likes. But your chemistry, your idiosyncrasies, both individually and as a couple, are what make you compelling.

So let’s focus on that. Accept it, embrace it, explore it, record it.

As it occurs, naturally,  without interference or staging.

Keep it real.