Nontraditional Wedding Photos You’ll Love

July 8, 2022

So you are ready to get married and you are looking through thousands of pictures online for inspiration for your wedding pictures, but everything you see looks exactly the same. Don’t get me wrong, traditional wedding pictures are great and there are some that you just have to get on your wedding day. 

The reality is though, you are not the traditional person that follows what everyone else does so why should your pictures? I absolutely love nontraditional wedding photos and think that they are a great way to be sure your wedding sticks out from the crowd and you capture you and all of your friends and family in their truest form. 

Ready to make your wedding pictures as unique as you? Check out the pictures below for some inspiration on nontraditional wedding photos for your big day! 

Bringing Your Pet To Your Wedding

Let’s be honest, our pets are our best friends and there is no reason they should be left out of your big day. Whether you have a hoard of furry friends, or one that’s been with you from the start, having them there will make your day extra special. 

Don’t have any younger relatives to be your ring bearer? Have your dog step in. They are sure to be smiling ear to ear as they trot down the aisle toward you (and may even stop on the way to get some pets).

There are even some states where you don’t need a witness to get married and instead your pet can put their paw print on the marriage license. However your pet is involved in the wedding, you are sure to get some memorable pictures that will make your day even more special! 

Fun Pictures With Drinks 

Drinks (either alcoholic or non-alcoholic) are at every single wedding. While many people overlook them, they can help bring a light and fun element to your pictures. These can be a pre-wedding drink with your wedding party, a toast with you and your wedding guests, or a first shotgun with your new spouse. 

Having some sort of drink in your hand can help make you feel more comfortable too and feel like you have to pose a little less which will help your true personality shine through. We can even do some super cool pictures of any specialty drinks you have during your cocktail hour! 

Get Artsy With It 

There are a lot of cool elements we can add to your pictures (during the shoot or while editing) to really make your pictures stand out. Some of my favorite things to do are to use smoke bombs, play with the shutter speed, and add a double exposure effect to your pictures. 

These effects, and other editing techniques, can help enhance your photos and even add more of a moody and mysterious feel to your photos (which is especially cool if you have a spooky halloween wedding). I love these pictures too, as they tend to be the most unique from your wedding! 

Candid Moments and Reception Props

Some of the best and most real pictures you can capture come once your DJ hits play on your favorite songs that you can’t help but dance to. Even playing classics like the macarena, the electric slide, or the wobble can make for great pictures as all of your guests get up and dance together.  

P.S. I absolutely love capturing you and your guests having a full on rager on the dance floor and the results are some of the most fun pictures from the day!

While it may seem a little cheesy, props are a great way to help relax you and your guests and get genuine smiles out of everything.

You don’t have to spend a ton of money on props and can even just go to your local dollar store or party store and grab some oversized glasses, plastic hats, and confetti poppers for you and your guests to use. 

You can also make your props a little more personalized and get things like signs for your guests to hold with your names on them, the date of your wedding, or anything else to commemorate your special day.  

It can also be really fun to set up a photo booth with cool backgrounds to pose in front of! I also loved this old van that was converted into a photo booth at Nicole and Tyler’s wedding. It was such a fun idea and added so much character to their pictures! 

Fun Themes At Your Wedding

Most of the time, when it comes to your wedding you want to keep things simple and classic but sometimes stepping out of that box and adding more personality to your wedding can make all the difference.

Having a theme for your wedding can take your special day to the next level and make for some unforgettable nontraditional wedding photos!

I had the chance to do a pop art inspired wedding shoot and the pictures came out absolutely stunning. The photos were so vibrant and even the simple photos of the setup were eye catching. 

You can even get your guests in on it and have everyone come dressed to match your theme. I mean who wouldn’t want a Gatsby themed wedding where everyone looks like they are in the peak of the Roaring 20s?

Nontraditional Wedding Colors

Your wedding colors are something that you can spend weeks trying to pick out and sometimes go through hundreds of combinations to find the perfect one. However, it can sometimes feel like there are certain rules you have to follow and that may not match you and your partner’s personalities.

I love when couples choose a more nontraditional color palette and these weddings have resulted in some pretty amazing pictures. 

One of my favorite weddings like this was Ashley and Josh’s. These two opted for a darker and more moody color palette and Ashley even had a dark navy colored dress instead of the traditional white. Even though we took some of the traditional pictures (like Ashley and the wedding party) the colors just made the photos stand out and feel completely different from any other wedding.

We even got to play with some cool elements like a green smoke behind them to elevate their wedding pictures even more. The results were moody and mysterious photos unlike any other. 

Outdoor Reception Dance Floor

While this may not be an option all year round, I absolutely love an outdoor dance floor. There is nothing better than celebrating your nuptials dancing the night away under the stars. You can also add some string lights to light up the dance floor once it gets dark.

An outdoor dance floor gives you some more room and lets you and your guests let loose a little more and enjoy themselves without being cramped in a small space. 

They can also give you the chance to end the night on a magical note with fireworks. Whether it’s with hand held sparklers or a full on fireworks display, we are sure to get some perfect, nontraditional wedding photos.

Let Loose And Have Fun Before The Ceremony

Getting married can be super stressful, especially in the hours leading up to you and your partner saying I do. One of my favorite things to do is to try and get the wedding parties on both sides to let some of that anxious energy out and just have fun with their closest friends. 

I love having surprise group hugs or even having your wedding party toss you up in the air to help bring some laughter and fun into these pre-ceremony pictures. Odds are you and your friends are not the most serious people in the world so these pictures can help to bring out your true personality and make sure you get the perfect shot you are looking for! 

Your wedding is one of the most important days of your life together and I am here to help make sure that the pictures you get from it are just as memorable and unique as you are.

Whether you opt for a unique color scheme, props that everyone can pose with, or if you just go out and have the time of your life on the dance floor, you are sure to get some amazing nontraditional wedding photos to last a lifetime. 

Still looking for a Lancaster wedding photographer? Click here to get in contact with me and we can chat about how to make your wedding stand out from the crowd! 


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