Nothing will document your wedding day like formal wedding portrait photography, but just because your pictures are formal doesn’t mean they have to lack personality. If you’re seeking to give your formal wedding portraits a personalized touch, you can be creative in your wedding portrait photography location and composition.

Location

After you’ve decided on the location of your ceremony and reception scour the surrounding areas for unique places to take your pictures. If you’re having a traditional ceremony in a church, a lot of times you can find nice gardens or walkways on church grounds.

Also look for places within the church that you may have overlooked in your rush down the aisle. Stained glass, for example, can provide a gorgeous backdrop for your wedding portrait photography. If your reception and/or ceremony are being held in a location other than a religious center, concentrate on smaller elements, not necessarily larger backgrounds, to create beautiful wedding portrait photography. Look for a doorway with an ornate frame, or a spot near a window that bathes you in sunlight. If the weather permits taking your wedding portrait photography outdoors is also a great idea.

Composition

If the location of your wedding doesn’t necessarily lend to great scenery for your wedding portrait photography you can be creative with the composition of your pictures. After you take some traditional portraits of you and your wedding party posing as a group, shake things up a little. Give everyone a glass of champagne and take some pictures of everyone toasting and laughing. If you’re fortunate enough to have more than one generation of family members present, take a portrait with your parents and grandparents.

Also try grabbing pictures of actions, just not poses. Get a picture of someone pinning the boutonniere on the groom, or the bride anxiously waiting to walk down the aisle. Take both individual and group shots of your wedding party. Put on some music and get everybody dancing, then start snapping.

The key to good wedding portrait photography is just to take as many pictures as possible and in as many locations as possible. The more pictures you have to pick and choose from later on, the happier you will be. You won’t regret having a lot of pictures to sort through, but you will definitely be disappointed if you don’t feel like you got enough pictures.