Cultural & Traditional Wedding Photos
Maidens, fans, family and dancing: the ceremonies that carry a family’s heritage
Many of the couples we photograph mark their marriage with a ceremony from their family’s culture, often on a separate day from the white wedding. A traditional engagement, a dowry day or a cultural reception each has its own order of events, its own key moments and its own dress, and the photographs come from knowing when those moments are about to happen.
We have photographed one cultural wedding in this collection so far. Pearl and Allen’s West African Dowry Day was held at Pearl’s family home in Melbourne’s west: maidens in blue woven cloth carried baskets and calabash bowls on their heads, the couple wore gold and purple with fans in hand, and family and friends danced around them in the marquee. We photographed their engagement session at Carlton Gardens too.
Photographing a cultural or traditional wedding
Send us the order of events early and tell us who must be in the family photos, because traditional ceremonies often run on family time and the key moments, like a procession, the presentation of gifts or the first dance, can arrive quickly. We work wide and low once the dancing starts, and ask for twenty minutes away from the crowd for couple portraits while the light is soft. If an elder or a family spokesperson leads the ceremony, we check beforehand what can and can’t be photographed.