Owen Mathias Photography

You can’t pose this.

You probably couldn’t recreate it.

And I’m not entirely convinced everyone involved could explain it afterwards.

But for about three seconds, this was the wedding.

And luckily, I was there. 🤣

IYKYK

A good wedding isn't one where everyone behaves perfectly.

It's one where everyone feels comfortable enough not to.

Nobody plans for this photograph, and that's why I love it.

No bride has ever said "Can you make sure you get one of my bridesmaids doing the worm?"

But years later...this might be the photo that makes everyone laugh the hardest.

You could focus on the bride here.

But I was more interested in her mum.

There’s something about that look from the doorway that says more than I probably could.

The w**e just makes it better.

Nobody remembers weddings because they were perfect.

They remember them because they were personal.

The little jokes, the daft ideas.

The things that only made sense to the people getting married.

Those are the details that become family stories.

Nobody asks for photographs like this.

And yet...They're often the ones people treasure the most.

Not because they're perfect, but because they capture someone exactly as everyone remembers them.

"That's so you!"

There’s relaxed around a camera. And then there’s this.

By this point in the night, nobody really cares about looking good for the photographs.

People are just being themselves, taking the p**s, spilling drinks, getting a bit too close to each other and generally behaving in a way they probably won’t remember quite as clearly in the morning.

Which, photographically, is ideal.

Lost and found.

Weddings have a funny way of creating very important jobs nobody knew they’d been assigned.

Today’s task: reunite one earring with its owner.

When you’re looking at wedding photographers, don’t just look at the photographs.

Look at the people in them.

Look at their eyes.

Look at whether they seem relaxed. Connected. Happy to have that photographer right there with them.

Because the way you feel about the person behind the camera will end up in the pictures too.

And this is the look I want from my couples.

Not “here comes the photographer again.”

More like:“There he is.”

That relationship matters.

One of my favourite things to photograph is the person who's forgotten I'm there.

Not because they've ignored me, but because they're completely caught up in the moment.

That's when photographs stop being about the camera, and start being about life.

People don't remember being photographed.

They remember how being photographed made them feel.

If, years from now, this photo makes them laugh as much as it did on the day...I've done my job.

Not because it's technically perfect, but because it brings the feeling back.