This weekend, my friends Michelle and Allan got married in Boston! And… they had me tag along and photograph it! They live in New York too and I’m “distant classmates” with the bride at med school, but we all trekked to Boston because she also went to Harvard. The groom also went to Harvard. None of us knew each other when at Harvard, haha.

It’s a strange role to have, being both guest and semi-official wedding photographer, but I love it. To be a trusted set of hands present for most functions behind the scenes (weddings are enormous productions) is such a privilege. I hope the newlyweds appreciated it too.

The hybrid role quite suits my preferred style of event photography. I prefer to tell it how it is, to capture moments charged with rich and honest emotion. I want to stand by and let things unfold organically, so it helps to be a guest-looking person with an inconspicuous unadorned DSLR. It helps if it’s a photogenic beautifully lit in-focus moment, but that’s my business to worry about…

I don’t possess the equipment to execute the glitzy posed cinematic shots that some couples want to commemorate their weddings. This weekend, they also hired an actual pro wedding photographer for the ceremony. My primary responsibilities were the day-before and day-after functions.

That being said, now with six weddings behind my camera and me, I have become confident in its ability to fully document a wedding by myself. So if you know someone looking for a no-nonsense straightforward documentary-style wedding photographer, tell them to call me up! And if they want the fancy posed photos too, fear not, I can bring a flash. =)

It was a beautiful, spectacular, special wedding. Congrats, Michelle and Allan.