At the close of every year I sit down and review my body of work — the wedding photographs created in the calendar year — to reconnect with why I photograph weddings the way I do. And as I review my 2025 corpus, what stays with me are the moments no one realized were happening except the camera.
This collection is a selection of my best documentary wedding photographs from 2025. They’re unposed. Undirected. Hopefully honest. They represent what I believe is the best documentary wedding photography in 2025 has to offer.
My clients don’t come to me looking for perfection. They come looking for a wedding photographer who isn’t afraid to let moments breathe instead of manufacturing them with a bevy of poses and highly choreographed portraits.
Yes there were portraits taken (many of which I’m incredibly proud of). Yes I shot plenty of family photos (an element of my work I tried to elevate this year). And yeah I did a lot of “basic shots” too (there’s nothing wrong with photos of table settings and rings and cutting the cake).
But when I look back at 2025, what I’m most grateful for is the freedom my couples gave me to photograph weddings my way.
And I felt that way evolve this year. A little looser. A little more confident. More observation, less shooting for the sake of shooting. Less time chasing moments; more time anticipating them, letting them arrive naturally, documenting.
The stylistic shifts were subtle but noticeable this year. Deeper depth of field. Working more with the light instead of fighting it. Getting closer. Always get closer.
What Makes Documentary Wedding Photography Different?
For me Documentary wedding photography isn’t about performing the wedding or manufacturing beautiful moments. It’s about observing the beauty that is already there. Sometimes that’s a wedding backdropped by a glorious Seattle sunset. But it’s often in the quotidian — a gesture or a half smile or the first moment of a hug.
This means I don’t stop to pose during emotional moments. I don’t pull people out of conversations for more photo time. I’ll never ask a couple to “do it again” or recreate something that already happened.
And no forced smiles or scripted intimacy.
Instead, I believe in quiet observation, anticipation, and perhaps most of all emotional literacy. Knowing when to be close enough to capture the moment, but far enough to let it unfold.
In a year where weddings felt more personal than ever, documentary photography felt like the natural way to tell those stories.
These images define my idea of what the my best documentary wedding photography represents. It’s not about being “on-trend” or “social media ready”. It’s about the real unscripted moments that will make couples laugh or cry twenty years from now.
The Best Documentary Wedding Photography: From Seattle to Olympic National Park
I can’t say enough about the beautiful experiences I had this year thanks to this little career. From waterfront wedding ceremonies interrupted by passing cruise ships, to sunset ceremonies on Ballard rooftops, to a summer camp themed wedding weekend in Olympic National Park where everyone felt like family by the second night. A quiet backyard celebrations in Bremerton. Raging parties in Queen Anne. So much love and so many hugs.
Each photo in this collection was chosen for how it made me feel — not how it performed on social media.
For my photography feeling is the only metric that matters.
