About two years ago I got an inquiry from a person called Alex. Alex wanted me to Photograph and do Video from their wedding in May 2019. Little did I know that this particular wedding would bring me somewhere VERY different than Denmark!
The Danish Wedding
On May 25, 2019, this lovely couple said their "Yes" to each other on the beach next to
"Gammel Brydegård" in Denmark.
The day started at 10 am with me and my co-photographer Kris arriving at the wedding venue, getting ready to cover the whole day in both photo and video. The bridal party was getting ready in a small hut next to the Venue while "the boys" started getting ready at a cottage house just down the road.
There's always this very special atmosphere around the preparations on a wedding day - and because of this especially I recommend all my couples to have a Photographer at the preparation as well. I stayed at the hut to cover the bride getting ready and my co-photographer went on to cover the boys getting ready.
The Ceremony
At 1.30 pm we headed down to the nearby beach where the ceremony was to be held.
The sun was bright and it was very windy but I still managed to get the drone in the air to cover the brides 800m long entry to the venue from above.
The venue was very beautifully decorated and the ceremony itself was just as intense, emotional and happy as a ceremony in a church would normally be. Absolutely lovely!
One of the things that I really love as a wedding photographer is to be able to capture those very intense moments - for instance the groom standing at the altar waiting for his bride to walk down the aisle.
Portrait Photography
After the ceremony the couple, my 2nd shooter and I went off to do the portraits of the couple - and what a lovely couple to work with! Both the bride and the groom very much liked my relaxing photography style - and that's exactly what we did for the portrait photos. My way of working is to have the bride an groom go along by themselves and not interfering with their actions. This is by far the most personal style of photography in my opinion as it shows the couple exactly as they are and not set up in any way.
Reception and dinner
The reception was held in the garden and on the terrace of "Gl. Brydegaard" where some of the portraits - and all of the family pictures were also shot.
If there's time for it in the schedule I always recommend to take photos of the nearest family (The couples parents etc). and also very important: the elderly - often the grandparents of the Bridal couple attend the wedding and I see it as a very important thing to have photos with the elderly since you really never know for how long they'll be around and therefore a photo with them is a lovely memory to have alongside your wedding photo gallery.
Before the dinner I always make sure to capture a lot of the details from the table setting as these often had a lot of attention from especially the bride leading up to a wedding - and therefore the details are VERY important for me as a photographer as well.
A snapshot
Before the dinner - while we were waiting for the bride and groom to get to the room - I saw that they were dancing in the room next to the dining area - and I shot the photo that in my opinion was the photo of the whole day that reflects their personalities in the best way:
This couple loves to dance!
During dinner I always try to stick to the "fly on the wall"-principle to get the most intense, smiling and more special moments.
A lot of photographers have their very own way of doing it - and therefore I recommend that you always check with the photographer if he or she matches your preferences before going along.
In Denmark it is a tradition that when the groom leaves the room the male guests go to kiss the bride and vice versa - these moments make for some very special photos with a lot of smiles and happy faces.
The trip
So this couple is actually a Danish/American couple with a groom from Denmark and a bride from Minnesota, US. And before their wedding in Denmark, they knew that they were going to do an "American wedding" as well.
In the start of September they reached out to me to ask if I wanted to go to Minneapolis to do photo and video from their American wedding as well - and of course, I wanted to go! So this Saturday (October 12), I was in place at one of the biggest Lutheran churches in the United States when the couple once again said: "I do".
For me, this whole trip was a highlight for me. To be able to fulfill my dream of going international and at the same time to experience the love of a beautiful couple saying "I do" one more time.
This wasn't the top of my experience though: At the wedding reception in Minneapolis the bride and groom showed off the photos and video that I did at the Danish wedding - and then they introduced me to the guest afterward and told them that I'd come all the way from Denmark to cover their wedding - I don't know about you but at that exact moment I felt like something very special - and that was the absolute highlight of my trip to the states!
To be able to walk around the guests and the couple while the Wedding video from their Danish wedding was on display - that was an absolute HONOR!
