The ceremony is upon you. The vows are read, the rings are exchanged, the priest/minister pronounces them “married”. Its coming….the words “You may now kiss your bride.” Cameras go up, focus is locked and BOOM someone stands in front of you in the aisle. Or, someones flash goes off. OR all you have are LCD screens in your side view because the wedding was NOT unplugged. Or for some reason, you MISS the shot for whatever technical difficulty arose. Nightmare.

You were hired to capture the first kiss…and for any one or all of those reasons above…you DIDN’T get it. Its a scary feeling to think that you can NEVER recreate that moment. At the front of the church….friends and family surrounding your couple….you simply can NOT re-stage that “authentically.”

So here is my tip/trick: HAVE THEM DO IT AGAIN…..A SECOND KISS! I educate my wedding clients that once they turn to face their guests and are ready to walk down the aisle….pass at least 4-5 pews (just enough to pass your parents, grandparents, bridal party) stop and kiss. This does 2 things….assures I got them kissing IN the church/ceremony venue….NO one is in my way, because I am close to them down as they walk down the aisle RIGHT to me (I usually have on a 35 at this point…so I am close) and the background is their loved ones faces smiling at them as they walk away NEWLY married. Another advantage….the guests do not KNOW they are going to stop and do so…so they can’t prep for a picture…only I have that inside knowledge with the bride and groom.

By choosing to do this, I have given myself a little wiggle room….I have relieved myself of the “OH NO PRESSURE” that comes along with priceless moments you cant ever get back. The second kiss may NOT be the very first…..but its within 5 minutes of the first….its after they were introduced as man and wife for the first time….emotions are still high, exit music is playing, everyone is smiling…clapping…cheering. Trust me…your couples WONT MIND you asking them to stop and kiss again…they just may THANK YOU for it. They will appreciate that you thought ahead of what COULD go wrong and prepared for it. They will thank you for capturing a kiss with the loved ones in the background…and not a priests face or empty alter….they will thank you for giving them another excuse to kiss, love on each other, and LIVE in that moment. Trust me!

So…if you are fearful that you may MISS the first kiss for any of those reasons above, consider educating your client that after they are married and make their way back down the aisle together, stop, kiss, hold it, and GO! We as PROFESSIONAL photographers always need to cover our bases and our “tushies.” You do NOT want to tell your couple that their one/first kiss at the ceremony was NOT captured. So even if the first kiss is “ruined” you will have that second one….that they may even love MORE! Plus…sometime the “first kiss” happens SO FAST…and your couple may be nervous or not a huge PDA kind of couple…so it may be blurry….out of focus…we are HUMANS and errors DO HAPPEN with all things technology sometimes…so again…go for the “second kiss” and give yourself the assurance that they will have at minimum…ONE shot of their first kisses as a married couple!  : P

Here are some of my “second kiss” captures:

Obviously there are a million more, but in the interest of getting this blog post up…I hope you got the idea. Its a 5 second pause out of their exit to ensure a kiss is captured…wouldn’t you want that extra assurance? Happy shooting!

xoxo, Kaitlin