History of Wedding Photography

The earliest dated wedding portrait yet discovered seems to have been a daguerreotype taken in Boston, MA in 1854.

Wedding photography began in the 1840s. The thought of creating memories of a wedding day emerged. Mainly because of equipment limitations, wedding photography remained studio photography for more then a century. There was only a daguerreotype portrait on a small copper plate. Advances in technology changed how photographs were made and viewed. Wedding photography encompasses photographs of the couple before the wedding for announcements, portrait displays, or thank you cards, as well as coverage of the wedding and reception.
The practice of wedding photography has evolved and grown since the invention of the photography in 1826. Until the later half of the 19th century, most people didn't pose for formal wedding photos during the wedding. Instead, they posed for a formal portrait in their best clothes before or after a wedding. In the late 1860s, more couples started posing in their wedding clothes or sometimes hired a photographer to come to the wedding venue.
Because of the enormous size of photographic equipment, wedding photography was mainly done in the studio for most of the late 1800s, many couples only posed for a single wedding portrait. Wedding albums started becoming more common in the 1880s and photographer started including the wedding party in the photographs. Often the wedding gifts would be displayed and recorded in the pictures as well.
At the beginning of the 20th century, color photography became available, but was still unreliable and very expensive, so most wedding photography was in black and white. The concept of capturing the entire wedding day came about after World War II. Using roll film and improved lighting techniques became available with the invention of the compact flash bulb, photographers would photograph the wedding and sell the photos to the bride and groom months after the wedding.
Initially, professional studio photographers would bring a lot of bulky equipment, thus limiting their ability to record the entire event. Even candid photos were often staged after the ceremony. In the 1970s, the more modern approach to recording the entire wedding event started evolving into the practice as we know it today, including a more documentary style of photography.
The concept of the white wedding, with its lavish wedding dress, dates from about the same time, and like many Victorian trends, was adopted first by the wealthy to emulate the opulence of the ball gowns worn at court and only slowly evolved to the common people. Like so many Victorian fashions, the practice of hiring wedding photographers owes credit to Queen Victoria. While her own wedding in 1840 was before the days of practical photographic portraiture, her children's weddings were all photographed. What the Queen did, others copied.
Before photographic paper, photographers used glass, tin and copper plates. In the early 1900s, the production of color photographs became possible, but the process was unreliable for professional photography. It wasn't until the 1940s that photography was readily available to the public.
Using portable roll film based cameras and compact flashbulb lighting, photographers would photograph a wedding and then sell the photos to the bride and groom. Many of these were military trained photographers, but most were amateurs who took advantage of the portability of small, newly designed cameras.
Despite low quality results, these photographers created competition and forced the studio photographers to start working on location. Trying to imitate the studio settings, photographers would have to bring heavy photography equipment and bulky lighting to wedding locations. While it was almost impossible to document a full wedding using limited amount of expensive film, even candid shots were posed after the ceremony.
The traditional wedding photography style of beautiful poses created in a studio or on location using studio quality lighting has been practiced for more then a hundred years: until the early 1970s it was practically the only style of wedding photography. A dynamic change in the photo industry evolved changing the traditional wedding photography style into a new style called wedding photojournalism or documentary style: in other words, the style which captures the wedding as it unfolds. While requiring serious skills, talent, and experience this style was misinterpreted as a series of snapshots which any 35mm camera equipped amateur could take. This opened a door for weekend shooters who could get away with a series of candid shots and sell it under the guise of wedding photojournalism. While both styles have advantages and drawbacks, neither of them is the primary style for most professional photographers today. Driven by the glamorous look of classic photos which still have their places on the covers of wedding magazines as well as technological advantages that allow modern photographers to document a wedding with less effort, brides and grooms began requiring a mixed or blended style of wedding photography.
Then comes the invention of digital photography, new creative opportunities emerged. Digital cameras allow deeper coverage of the event with a virtually unlimited amount of photographs taken, and great design opportunities. Even in this instant digital culture we currently live in, film photography still has it's place.