Wedding photographer Jennifer MacDonald of Liminal Wonderland has built a reputation shooting weddings between Melbourne and Scotland, and along the way she’s noticed something couples keep getting wrong: the tighter the schedule, the fewer real moments actually make it into the photos. She shared her thoughts on why the best images almost always happen in the gaps.
There’s a funny thing that can happen when you’re planning a wedding. You start with a day that’s supposed to be about marrying your best friend, your true love, your favourite human. You start to make a list of all the people you love in one place, eating something yummy and having a fabulous sparkly evening…. Then it creeps in, you suddenly have a 2 page spreadsheet telling you where you need to be at 3:17pm. Kinda takes the joy and spontaneity out of the day.
Slow DOWN!!! The spreadsheet will most likely not go to plan, you won’t be standing eating a canapé at 6:47 because most likely that pal that flew in from interstate chatted a bit long, some hugs were held longer than others, happy tears, faces you haven’t seen in a while. All these moments add up and you don’t want to skip them. Build wiggle room, add pockets of 15 mins here, 10 mins there. I always say to my couples, be ok with the fact that things will take longer.
The best images happen in the gaps. The five minutes sitting outside with your dad before the ceremony. Your best friend seeing you dressed and immediately bursting into tears. Your little one deciding halfway through the family photographs that they’ve had quite enough of this wedding business, thank you very much. A pal laughing so hard during dinner that they snort. Your grandmother squeezing your hand. The wind picking up your veil. You see where I’m going here…. The most important pocket of time is 10 minutes just the two of you, no one else, go for a walk, have a glass of champagne and look at everything, record a memory and it’ll help slow down your day.
And if you want a wedding gallery filled with those moments, one of the loveliest things you can do is create a wedding day with enough breathing room for them to happen.
Outdoor weddings are particularly good at slowing things down
There’s something about being outside that seems to soften a wedding. Maybe it’s the light, the space to breathe, or maybe it’s the fact that gardens have absolutely no respect for spreadsheets. A garden creates the perfect pockets of magic and allows spontaneity to happen. A breeze moves through dresses and trees, someone takes their shoes off, and suddenly everything feels a little less like an “event” and a little more like a gathering. Think back to your favourite moments with people, it’s most likely a bbq, an outdoor picnic, space gives people room to relax.
A beautiful outdoor setting gives us layers of storytelling without having to manufacture them. You might have your ceremony beneath an old tree, drinks spilling onto the lawn afterwards, grandparents chatting on a bench, kids running through the garden and the two of you wandering away together as the evening light starts doing something spectacular. It’s not forced. The setting becomes part of the story.
Don’t Fight the Weather, Work With It
This is my favourite topic, I have gotten a reputation as the cloud lady photographer, I have had clients book me purely on how I capture sky and incorporate weather! You can check the weather app 800 times, it can say blue skies then you step out onto the ceremony and it suddenly pours with rain. It’s how you cope with it, you either accept you can’t control the weather or roll with what it’s going to throw at you. But on the flip side it can be 43 degrees and everyone is sweating!
So here are top tips for all weather so you can still be outside and not worry.
Rain: I say so what… pack some wellington boots (aka gum boots, what, I’m Scottish haha). If you are happy to dance in the rain then dance in the rain. Get a stack of umbrellas, make sure you have a wrap or a nice coat, as often sometimes the temperature can plummet.
Wind: Wind is your friend, wind creates drama, clouds, laughter.
Heat: This is hard, no one wants to stand in a garden with no shade. Heat can be dangerous. Have parasols, fans, water stations. No one wants to be squinting in the hot sun for photos either, have some fun gorgeous eyewear that’s not plain black sunnies.
We’re in Australia and we also have to be careful of fire here…. If you are out bush please check warnings, CFA etc, that way everyone will feel more comfortable.
If you don’t want to have the drama of the elements you can look up historical weather data to see what the weather was like on the day, it’s not 100% accurate but it can give you a general idea.
Plan for how you want the day to feel
When you’re planning a wedding, it’s very easy to ask: What should we have? That word SHOULD… you shouldn’t have to do anything you don’t want, easier said than done. Family might help out with finance, there’s a delicate balance of everything.
But the question I think is much more interesting: How do we want this day to feel?
Maybe you want it to feel like one enormous dinner party. Maybe you want bare feet and champagne on the lawn. Maybe it’s intimate and quiet. Maybe it’s colourful, theatrical and gloriously over the top.
Start there. Sit down with your partner, each with a separate pen and paper:
- Both write down what you want the day to feel like
- Write 3 non-negotiables each
- Write your favourite 10 people each
This is when the wedding will feel like you, and everything else will follow.
Choose 3 vendors for each category, don’t go sending off 50 enquiries, this will lead to decision fatigue and confusion. Pick 3 favourite venues, 3 favourite photographers, 3 favourite florists. Start there. Meet with your vendors, talk to them, get a feel for them, see if you feel like you trust them.
Leaving room for spontaneity is much easier when you trust the people around you. The people helping create your wedding should make you feel like you can unclench your shoulders a little. You shouldn’t have to manage everyone on the day.
A big part of my work happens long before I pick up my camera. I help my couples think through timelines, locations and how the day might flow, so that when the wedding arrives, there’s already a loose roadmap underneath everything. Structure where it helps. Freedom everywhere else. That means if the light suddenly becomes glorious, we can wander outside.
If your grandmother starts telling a story that has everyone crying with laughter, I’m not interrupting that because the schedule says it’s portrait time.
If you’re having the best conversation of your life with someone you adore, stay there. The photograph can wait. Or, more likely, that is the photograph.
The meaningful images aren’t meaningful because everyone was standing in precisely the right place. They matter because something was happening, and for one tiny fraction of a second, the camera caught it.
Years later, when you open your album, I want you to remember more than how everything looked. I want you to remember the breeze, the ridiculous laugh, the hand squeezing yours, the people who were there.
It’s one day of your life that you get to actually live.
Leave a little room for that.
About The Author: Jennifer MacDonald at Liminal Wonderland loves anything sci-fi and re-runs of Gilmore Girls. Loves baking and Champagne. Jennifer spends her free time hanging out with her husband and toddler that keeps her active. Jennifer is a wedding photographer that travels between Melbourne and Scotland. She specialises in capturing artistic portraits paired with unique storytelling. Digital, camcorder, 35mm film and more.
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