First comes love, then comes marriage, then comes the baby—wait, no—then comes the giant photo dump. If you’ve been looking through wedding photos of acquaintances in recent years, you may have rubbed your eyes a time or two, wondering why everything was so blurry. Blurry wedding photos have taken the wedding industry by storm, something many photographers didn’t expect.
Blurred wedding photos have become all the rage, taking ‘candid’ style photography to the next level. Photographers say it’s being asked for more and more, a trend that has some of them warning couples against using too much blur, suggesting it’s a quick way to regret your wedding photos down the road. Others defend the trend, especially when applied stylistically, saying it’s just another tool in a photographer’s arsenal to help make memorable moments pop. While blurred photos are a super way to Instagram that can look girly effortlessly and candidly, will people regret not having clear photos?
Trends in wedding photography over the years
When we think of wedding trends, we tend to think of hideous bridesmaid dresses or really dated hairstyles. What’s less obvious, however, is that it’s not just fashion and beauty trends that come in and out of fashion – styles in photography do, too. Wedding photography has become significantly less timeless over the years, especially since digital photography has allowed photographers to be more creative and experiment with their photos. Non-wedding trends have also affected styles, as brides are increasingly concerned with how their social media posts will look after the big day.
Several trends have already come and gone in the relatively short era of all-digital photography. Color isolation made photographers suffocate when Photoshop was first popularized, and to this day, when you see a pop of color in, say, a bride’s blue eyes or a bright pink bouquet against a black and white background, it’s a dead giveaway that that photo is from the early 2000s. Soon after came an extreme craze for texture, and photographers began giving photos extra grain by sharpening in post, making things like raindrops and concrete pop in the most 2010 way possible (of course, we’ve all been through similar photo editing phase with our high school digital cameras, let’s be honest). Then came the millennial-favorite “light and airy” trend, which is still quite popular, which emphasizes full-exposure photos. While they can make photos extremely clear, they run the risk of washing out all your colors, and photographers who don’t know what they’re doing can sometimes leave you looking overexposed. Overexposed photos are partly a problem because, while they may look good online, they result in areas that are too “blown out” or pure white, meaning there is no ink printed on the canvas, making it completely blank. This is especially a problem for already white items such as wedding dresses.
Now, the blurry photos have divided even wedding vendors, with some saying, “I feel like this is going to be something we look back on in 10 years, just like we look back on selective color and say “What the hell were we doing?“” even going so far as to question whether it’s the worst wedding trend.
Everything is blurred
In a way, blur tones are Gen Z’s (or at least the mid-2020s) attempt to correct the light and airy trend. Instead of being bright and clear, it is dark and fuzzy, playing with shadows without caring about details. It also takes candida to a new level. Candids have grown in popularity over the years as people rebelled against what they felt were overly curated social media feeds during the influencers’ rise to power. Candids have become especially useful in the context of weddings as wedding photos have become all-day affairs rather than quick post-ceremony portraits; “Documentary style” photography allows for photos of every part of the wedding without forcing the newlyweds to do a 12-hour photo shoot.
However, blurry photos are not always better. Although they may look candid, many of the shots you see in blur photography are anything but. In fact, getting perfect-looking effortless photos can often take longer than static poses, as it tends to involve choreographed movement that can be difficult to get just right. This can cause your wedding party to run back and forth after the ceremony instead of quickly lining up tall people in the back, shorts in the front.
Then comes the question of timelessness. Just like spouses, blurry photos are a commitment. Thanks in part to the way blurry photos are taken, it can be difficult to enlarge or re-edit them. It’s not just removing a filter or overlay. Photos are blurred from the start, so there’s really no going back once your wedding day is captured in this style. While this can be super fun for the initial Instagram post, not everyone finds it so helpful when trying to show their grandkids what grandpa looked like at their age.
Is this a trend you want to participate in?
If you like the look of blurry photos but aren’t ready to marry them, you have a few options. Many photographers recommend shooting for a mix of shots to avoid disappointment, but you should check with whoever is photographing your day before booking to make sure they agree to shoot different styles as not everyone is so flexible. There’s also an option to save the blurry photos for the engagement photo shoot and save the clearer photos for the day you actually get married, as you might want more artistic ones for things like save the dates, wedding invitations, and a wedding website. Doing this can also give you a less-committal opportunity to try out the trend and see if you like it, especially if you print a few and hang them up for a while.
If you decide to have both styles at your wedding, consider asking the photographer to use blur strategically. Blurring makes sense for motion capture, so it will look more natural in scenes where people are actually moving. The two of you running out of the chapel hand in hand? A perfect excuse for a long exposure. Stand still at the altar while the photographer rolls the camera? Maybe not so much. You should also try to make sure you still get good detailed shots of things like your flowers, decoration and dress if these are things you’re keen to document, as blurring is likely to lose detail in all the fuss.
Final thoughts
Although the blurred wedding photo trend is totally controversial these days, there are still plenty of ways to achieve it without regrets. If you’re making sure you have the important photos when you want to look back and remember your day, then getting a few artsy photos for your Instagram feed won’t hurt anyone. As long as you keep that in mind, yes, we’ll probably look back on these photos and laugh a little, go ahead and embrace the blur.
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