Let’s welcome the New Year with fresh wedding photoshoot ideas for 2024.
With over a decade of experience, I understand that the essence of a great wedding season lies in staying continually inspired and excited.
Today, I’m here to ignite your creativity with a variety of suggestions for epic, romantic, challenging, or just plain fun wedding photoshoots.
These ideas are designed to enthuse photographers, brides, and grooms alike as they prepare for the aisle.
Whether you like these particular ideas or they act as a starting point to spark some new ideas of your own, it’s time to get creative!
40 Wedding Photoshoot Ideas to Try in 2024
Get Inspired by Your Surroundings
1. Nature-Inspired Shots
Weddings can happen in all sorts of places, and you can use that to your advantage.
Try capturing intimate moments amidst scenic landscapes like forests, mountains, or beaches.
By incorporating the setting, you can find ways to use nature to help tell a bigger story.
One great way to do this is to get out your wide-angle lens and step further away from your subjects to capture more of the scene.
Use composition techniques like foreground, leading lines, and negative space to tell a story or just make an impactful landscape portrait.
If you typically shoot wide, then mix it up with tighter shots and use the details of nature to frame your subjects. Try shooting through flowers or trees with a bokeh effect.
You can even think of creative ways to use elements of nature symbolically: a path leading you couple into the future, or the flow of a river representing the flow of life.
2. Cityscape Romance
Much like you can use nature to expand the story, urban environments have much to offer.
Utilize urban environments for a modern and chic look.
Use the backdrop to tell a deeper story or to add more interest to your composition. Think of how buildings create shadows, leading lines, or patterns and incorporate them into your images.
Search for ways to use street art or even street lights to add color.
For example, a gritty, urban background can create a striking juxtaposition against the softness of a wedding gown, highlighting its beauty.
3. Cozy Candlelights, Twinkle Lights
Incorporate candles and soft lighting for a romantic and cozy atmosphere.
Nothing says romance more than warm candlelight shining on the faces of your couples.
You’ll want to schedule your session later in the day so that the impact of the lights is greater.
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Consider shooting during the blue hour when ambient golden light will contrast nicely with the blue sky.
Ambient light can have a neat bokeh effect, too, if you shoot through twinkle lights or have them behind your couple.
You might even try a fireside shoot using a natural yet unique light source.
4. Framing Elements
Using framing elements can help to draw attention to your subject and add depth to your image.
Look around for interesting things you can utilize as framing elements – for example, doors, archways, windows, tree branches, or mirrors.
Use the surroundings to explore various composition techniques, such as using leading lines, incorporating patterns, or playing with scale.
It would be a good challenge to make a list of framing elements and determine which ones you naturally use, then pick out some to try specifically.
It’s one thing to fill the frame because you naturally had the impulse to and another to do so intentionally.
5. Go Wide with Panoramas
Create immersive panoramas that allow viewers to experience the entire wedding scene.
There’s no reason to be limited by the viewfinder; tell a bigger story with a panoramic perspective.
Most post-production programs have easy ways to stitch a panorama together, so play with a wider perspective, even if you don’t want to use a wide lens.
Panoramas are a great choice for engagement shoots because your couple can choose to use them as a website header for their wedding website.
Challenge Your Photography Skills
6. Mirror Reflections
Use mirrors to create unique reflections and add a touch of creativity.
Getting ready rooms are a great opportunity to play with reflections.
You can photograph a bride or groom looking into the mirror or use the mirror to show something else in the room, such as a wedding dress, to add context.
Sometimes windows make great mirrors as they reflect the scenery beyond, and with a little extra lighting, you can capture both what’s inside and outside the room.
7. Silhouette Moments
Use backlighting to create beautiful silhouette shots during the golden hour.
Or try exposing for what you see through a window and silhouetting your subject in a way that tells a story.
A great silhouette will have an interesting shape, so make sure you’re shooting your subject at a flattering angle.
Face profiles, for example, are more interesting than two oval blobs.
Or have your couple stand apart rather than together so that you get two distinct shapes.
Add in some action for extra interest.
8. Dramatic Black and White
Opt for classic black-and-white photography for a timeless and dramatic effect.
You can add more black-and-white images to your photo gallery during your post-production process or better yet, you can plan ahead by thinking about what makes a great black-and-white image.
Look for more contrast when planning your composition and let the dramatic lights and shadows tell the story without distracting elements.
Black and white images are great for cluttered scenes as you can instantly simplify the image so that it reads more easily.
9. Water Droplet Reflections
Want to challenge yourself more with reflections?
Find a reflection in a water droplet or a wedding ring.
Water droplet reflections are extra challenging and can be time-consuming, so it’s a good one to practice ahead of time so that you’re not wasting time on a wedding day.
You might combine this challenge with other macro shots of details such as the rings, since it requires a lens you might otherwise not be able to justify.
You’ll likely want to play with lighting as well since it can make water droplet reflections easier.
10. Play with Foreground
Experiment with shooting through different textures to create foreground and depth.
You can shoot through foliage, glass, or textured materials.
Experiment with different framing while shooting through textures to see what has the best impact.
It’s easy to only think about the subject but more impactful to think about the layers in your images.
Foreground is one of the easiest adjustments to make that will have some of the biggest impact on your images.
Get a New Perspective
11. Drone Photography
Capture breathtaking aerial shots to add a unique perspective.
Drone wedding photography is a great way to tell a bigger story with your images.
Drones allow you to get perspectives and angles that are hard or impossible to get otherwise.
You might get a birds-eye view or access views requiring a higher perspective than you can achieve on foot.
For example, I’ve often found it helpful when trying to incorporate mountain views that are blocked by a building.
You’ll need to become or hire a licensed drone pilot and ensure you can shoot at the location.
12. Underwater Wedding Photography
Consider a photoshoot in or near water for a dreamy and ethereal atmosphere.
Maybe your couple gets wet, or maybe only you do, capturing their beach wedding from offshore.
Use water as foreground, background, reflection source, and more.
If underwater wedding photography is appealing to you, you might buy or rent specialty gear such as a water housing.
However, if you’re willing to get your feet wet, you can also just wade out into the beach or lake so that you can use water as your foreground.
Play with your shutter speed and how it impacts the water’s appearance (e.g., do you want crisp splashes or milky movement?).
13. Elevated Views
There are multiple ways to capture shots from an elevated position.
This could be from a balcony, staircase, or drone for a combination of perspectives.
If accessible, consider a rooftop photoshoot with panoramic views.
When looking for a more interesting composition, it’s often about not only planning where your couple should be but where you can be, too.
Try to get high, get low, get near, and get far to see what you have to work with.
Elevated views are great for accessing partially covered scenery, whereas a lower perspective might help you eliminate a distracting foreground and obtain a cleaner backdrop.
14. Abstract Close-Ups
Get even closer than usual with your detail shots and try different framing and composition techniques to turn wedding details into abstract art.
Instead of photographing the entire bouquet, focus on one flower or use the flowers as a blurred backdrop for photographing something else, such as the shoes.
Or what if, instead of seeing the entire shoe, we just see the logo or the heel on the cobblestone?
Food would make great abstract art, too, and we’ve often seen couples frame their wedding meal art in the kitchen of their new house.
Abstract close-ups are also interesting in a wedding album where you can create a mood.
15. Multiple Camera Angles Simultaneously
Tell a story from multiple angles and plan a photo series for an album or wall art.
Thinking of more than one photo at a time is a great way to expand your storytelling skills.
This is easier to do with two photographers, but you can also get creative or plan to move at just the right moment.
Maybe you shoot two cameras with different lenses or a zoom lens at different focal lengths.
Think of how impactful showing both a close-up and a wide-angle shot of the first look or first kiss could be.
Capture the Motion
16. Dance Floor Long Exposures
During the reception, use long exposure techniques to capture the movement and energy on the dance floor.
The longer exposure will create a sense of motion, with streaks of light as people dance and move around.
This can result in vibrant and lively images.
Using flash appropriately will help you freeze your subjects while showing the motion around them.
Personally, I like to make sure I use a mixture of techniques so that all the dance floor pictures aren’t one style.
17. Action Portraits
Instead of traditional posed portraits, encourage the couple to engage in playful activities.
This could include running along the beach, jumping, or spinning.
Capture these candid moments to showcase their dynamic and joyful connection.
Maybe incorporate a longer exposure from the previous tip to capture the movement of the dress.
Or, better yet, combine this with any of the previously mentioned techniques for a more complex image.
For example, use the leading lines of a pathway to show where your couple is going and step back for a wider perspective of the overall story.
18. A Dynamic Getaway
If the couple has a special mode of transportation, like a bicycle or a classic car, capture them in motion.
Whether they’re riding away or just arriving, these shots can be dynamic and full of character.
They also make great additions to a wedding album or slideshow because transitions help tell the in-between moments that sandwich the main events.
Level up your getaway image by capturing the speed of the moving surroundings with a slow shutter.
As you can see, combining some of these ideas is a great way to get something unique.
What two ideas can you combine?
19. Light Trails
Incorporate light trails from sparklers, glowsticks, or other moving sources like cars or stars.
In a similar way to how you used a slow shutter on the dance floor to show bouncing light, you can level up to do so more intentionally and with more control.
Using long-exposure photography creates something more unique than what can be told in a snapshot.
For example, if we think about the getaway car above, what if we show light trails of the headlights leaving the scene?
Again, you can use flash to help freeze your subjects while you create light trails around them.
And that brings us to our next tip.
20. Freeze Motion or Show it
Decide how you want to tell the story of the motion and action that is happening.
You can freeze the motion completely or you can add a little blur.
Look for opportunities to show motion such as the couple standing still while everyone around them moves.
Or wait for the peak of a dance move and freeze it at just the right time.
The key here again is to be intentional when creating an image rather than just going with your default.
Decide you want to freeze motion or decide you want to show it, or play with everything in between to see what feels like it has the most impact on the photo.
Play with Depth
21. Compress the Background
Use a long lens and compress the background, bringing it closer to your subject. For example, make the mountains look bigger by bringing them closer.
You’ll need a telephoto lens for this and to get far enough away from your couple.
You can create a nice landscape portrait or panorama like we talked about in the first section. But instead of your couple being small in the landscape you can bring the background closer.
Shooting with a variety of focal lengths is a great way to add interest to your overall image collection.
I love delivering both a 35mm image and a 200mm image of the same location.
Both focal lengths tell an interesting story, but together, you can show even more skill as a photographer.
22. Choose Your Aperture
As I’ve been talking about in a lot of these tips, sometimes the difference in executing a stunning wedding photoshoot is in being intentional about decisions you normally make automatically.
With aperture, you might generally just shoot on a low aperture so that you don’t have to worry about your shutter speed.
But what if instead of just stressing about the exposure triangle, you chose aperture for the creative impact it has?
Use a wide aperture (e.g., f/1.4 or f/2.8) to create a beautiful bokeh effect in the background.
This works particularly well for close-up shots of the couple, where the background elements become soft and dreamy.
Or opt for a narrower aperture (e.g., f/5.6 to f/8) to capture environmental portraits.
This allows you to showcase both the couple and the surroundings in sharp focus, ideal for outdoor or scenic locations.
23. Group Photos with Varied Aperture
When it comes to group photos, I often choose my aperture solely based on wanting everyone to be sharp, but it’s not a bad idea to get creative.
Just like in the item above, it can be fun to play with the impact that aperture can have.
Experiment with different apertures for group photos. Use a wider aperture to focus on the couple in the foreground and create a gradual blur for people in the background.
This adds depth and variety to the group shots.
If it makes you feel better, get some safe shots where everyone is sharp first, and then play with the aperture afterward.
24. Aperture Changes for Narrative
In addition to playing with the aperture for things like group photos, you can try adjusting the aperture settings based on the narrative of the day.
Use wider apertures for romantic and intimate moments and narrower apertures for formal group shots or scenes with a lot of details.
If you incorporate foreground elements like flowers, branches, or architectural details, this will increase the impact of the selected aperture.
Use a wider aperture to blur these elements while keeping the main focus on the couple or use a narrow aperture to ensure everything is in focus.
25. Blurry Foreground
We always think of bokeh as it pertains to the background, but what about a bokeh-filled foreground?
Shoot through foliage, fairy lights, candles, or other details to add depth to your photos in a different way.
It’s fun to play with using a technique in an opposite way that you would usually expect to.
You could even try a blurry subject and a sharp background for a silhouette-type effect.
Light It Up
26. Creative Lens Flare
In this section, we’ll talk about ways to use light in your photos.
Intentionally include lens flare by shooting towards a light source, such as the sun.
This can add a touch of warmth and artistry to your photos.
Play with your different lenses and see which ones create more interesting lens flares.
For example, my 70-200mm lens creates a very desirable golden hour lens flare, so you’ll almost always find me shooting that lens at that time of the day.
27. Natural Spotlights
Look for natural spotlights and how to use them to tell a story that you’re interested in.
If shooting in a wooded area, take advantage of dappled sunlight streaming through the trees.
This technique can create a whimsical and enchanting atmosphere depending on how you choose to expose your image.
Or utilize natural window light for soft and flattering portraits by positioning the couple near a window to capture beautiful, diffused light.
Always be on the lookout for natural spotlights that you can use to add more interest to your images.
28. Dramatic Shadows
In the same way that we looked for natural spotlights in the previous item, we can look for dramatic shadows to create high-contrast images.
Using contrast created by shadows can help draw the viewer’s eye to your subject.
One of my favorite techniques for wedding photoshoots is to place a lit subject on a dark background using shadows as a framing element.
A light subject on a dark backdrop creates a dramatic and easy-to-read image.
The viewer’s eye knows exactly where to go.
29. Add Light
In the previous two ideas, we relied on natural light and shadows.
Sometimes, it’s necessary or simply fun to create your own so that you can control more of the story.
Use a spotlight or a focused light source to highlight the couple in a dark environment and create a cinematic and enchanting look.
Use reflective surfaces, such as mirrors or water, to bounce and diffuse light to add a unique and elegant touch to your photos.
Experiment with light sources to cast interesting shadows on walls, floors, or other surfaces.
Take advantage of the warm and intimate atmosphere created by candlelight by capturing portraits of the couple during candlelit moments, whether during the ceremony, reception, or a quiet moment alone.
30. Incorporate Fire and Flames
Somewhere between natural light and artificial light is ambient light such as fire and flames.
Many weddings have fireplaces, candles, or firepits to add ambiance.
Whenever you see something that’s there for the ambiance, ask yourself how you can use it to get that same ambiance impact in your photos.
Find creative ways to incorporate the fireplace or sparklers to tell a dramatic story.
Some ideas include using fire as a framing element, a light source, or to contrast golden fire with the sky during blue hour.
Draw Inspiration from Your Couple
31. First Date, Proposal, or Parents’ Wedding Recreation
Sometimes, what makes a great photo is the meaning behind it, which is why knowing more about your couple and using it for inspiration is a great idea.
You can try recreating moments from the couple’s first date or their proposal to remind them of the journey of their wedding.
Even more challenging, try to recreate an image from their parents’ wedding or even their grandparents to show generational meaning.
I’ve had brides that have some element of their wedding dress that was from their mom’s or grandma’s dress, and in those cases, it’s a great idea to try to tell that story.
If the mother of the bride is talking about her dress or a certain picture from her wedding, ask to see it, and then if you can recreate it, you’ll be giving them something to treasure.
32. Hobbies and Interests
Themed wedding photoshoots aren’t a new idea, but instead of just going with the current trends, try to tailor them to a specific couple.
Using a couple’s hobbies and interests, plan a photoshoot that will be meaningful to them.
Find out if they are outdoorsy or trendy, artsy or nerdy, and plan a photoshoot that fits their vibe.
This takes some pre-planning and participation from your couple, but many couples are excited to be themselves so that their photos are more meaningful and unique.
33. Capture What Makes Them Unique
Put extra focus on capturing what makes a couple unique.
Instead of using a generic list of poses, first get to know the couple and then decide what posing, framing, or style of photography would most likely fit the couple.
If there are certain parts of the wedding day that are important to them, spend more time storyboarding how to capture that.
I always ask my couples what their priorities are for their photography and what they’re most excited about when it comes to the wedding in general.
Then, once I know what they value, I can create pictures they’ll connect with and treasure because I can focus more on those aspects of the wedding.
34. Style in Their Style
Wedding photographers have a style, but so do our subjects.
If a couple are minimalists, then try to capture clean crisp photos with white space.
If they’re into fashion, then draw some extra inspiration from fashion photography.
Most of the time, our couples choose us for our specific photography style and how it compliments what they’re looking for.
However, we can find ways to merge our photography style with each couple we work with.
The more you expand your style to incorporate the style of the clients, the more you’ll create art that they’ll hang on their walls.
35. Include Important Aspects of a Relationship
Ask questions about a relationship to find out the story behind a couple’s love.
Maybe there are meaningful cultural influences to include through customs or symbols.
If a couple has a pet, include the pet.
If they love music, find a way to include a musical theme.
Find a way to tell a story about the relationship through your images.
As storytellers, when we get to know our characters better, we can take wedding photos that are more personal and meaningful.
Go Beyond the Wedding Day
36. Plan a Day-After Wedding Portrait Session
You may have noticed that there are no rules anymore in weddings or wedding photography.
If there’s something you want to capture, you just have to think outside the box of traditions and timelines.
For example, day-after-wedding portrait sessions are a great way to get epic portraits in wedding attire without negatively impacting the wedding day experience.
Doing a portrait session after the wedding allows you more time, freedom, and flexibility to do more with your photos.
You can plan around sunset, hike to an adventurous location, or even do some astrophotography.
Without the constraints of the wedding day, you can control the who, what, when, where, and why for a more creative photoshoot.
37. Capture the Rehearsal Dinner or Morning After Brunch
A wedding is typically more than one day, so the wedding story should be more than one day as well.
Capturing other wedding weekend events is a great way to tell a larger story of the families and friends coming together to celebrate.
As an additional bonus, the more you’re around on the wedding weekend, the more comfortable everyone grows with your presence.
As you’re able to immerse yourself in the wedding festivities, people start to let their guard down, which allows you to capture more genuine candid images that show the true personalities of your subjects.
38. Wedding Weekend Events
There are some traditional wedding weekend events, such as a rehearsal dinner as I mentioned above, but you can consider capturing other things that happen at a wedding.
If it’s a destination wedding, maybe you capture the travel aspect, such as arriving on the plane.
Or if the families are going rafting, golfing, or hiking, you can capture other activities that everyone is enjoying.
These elements of a wedding help you tell a bigger story.
Think about the overall image collection and the slideshow or wedding album you could put together with more than just the wedding day.
Is getting ready the beginning of the story or can we go further back and start the story somewhere more meaningful?
39. Home Lifestyle Session
The wedding is just the beginning of the marriage.
After the white dress and the big party, a new life together begins.
What a fun opportunity for a home lifestyle session to capture this time in the relationship but in a real way that’s much different from the big production of a wedding.
A home lifestyle session is a great idea for couples who want to show who they are at this point in their relationship.
Weddings are often over-the-top productions, so a lifestyle session is a great real-life contrast.
40. Anniversary Photoshoot
Weddings don’t have to be the only time anyone ever gets professional photography.
An anniversary photoshoot is a fun idea, especially if you travel somewhere new, special, or meaningful.
We’ve worked with couples who perhaps didn’t have a big budget for a big wedding, but now they’re celebrating their marriage with an anniversary session.
Anniversary sessions are rewarding as a photographer because we get to see the “happily ever after” part of the story.
Summary of Wedding Photoshoot Ideas to Try
Hopefully, this list of wedding photoshoot ideas to try in 2024 will help inspire you.
Whether you use these ideas or others, pushing your creativity will help you enjoy your craft and up your game.
One thing to remember: Not all creative ideas work the first time, so don’t give up after one shoot.
Sometimes you learn more from failing than succeeding, so let your failures be springboards to new ideas.
Happy shooting!
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