Wedding Photography On Film

We're living in a digital world. From what we can do with our phones and televisions to the cars we drive and everything else, it's hard to escape living fully digital. In recent years, this has extended to wedding photography. 

Recently, a captivating trend has been on the rise: film photography at weddings. The resurgence of photos being captured on film is a testament to the enduring charm of nostalgia that we all share. It's a unique way to envision how your wedding photos will be viewed when you want to reminisce about them in the future.

Documenting your magical moments on film has pros and cons, and we will review them all to see if they're suitable for your wedding day. The process involves using a traditional film camera to capture your wedding moments, which are then developed in a darkroom to produce physical prints (and also as a digital option). While it may seem old-fashioned, this method has a unique charm and can create timeless, high-quality images.

What makes film photography at weddings so special?

We've seen a revival of weddings being shot on film in recent years, and in an era where nostalgia reigns supreme, I think we'll start to see a lot more of it coming soon.

One of the biggest reasons couples opt to have their weddings shot on film is the timeless vibe it gives your wedding photos. Being able to print these out and know the visual quality will remain the same for years is a big positive, especially when many brides realise that the fast-moving digital landscape can sometimes lead to wedding photos appearing pixelated and low-quality after a few years. However, it's important to note that film photography can be more expensive than digital, due to the cost of film, processing, and the limited number of shots per roll. Cameras, iPhones, and other means of capturing content can age rapidly in the wrong way.

Having physical photos when they're printed on film is a huge bonus for couples who want something to remember their day and look back on it without using a screen.

The imperfections of film photography at weddings

When photographers shoot on film, they take a thoughtful approach and strive for the ultimate catch-22: the perfect imperfections. There are a limited number of exposures per roll and only so many rolls of film that the photographer can use throughout your event. The constraints this places on the person behind the lens can lead to some beautiful imperfections, capturing the essence of moments at their most authentic.

Choosing a photographer you trust, whose work you admire, and whose style you adore is crucial. If you opt for film photography at your wedding, they'll need to understand composition, timing, the constraints of film, lighting, and more. It may sound daunting, but they're artists, just like your dressmaker, working within their constraints to provide the best work possible for you. If you trust them, it's a win/win scenario!

Wedding photographs on film are a touching nod to nostalgia and timelessness and a romantic medium for remembering your wedding day. Imagine your first dance captured in soft, grainy light, or your vows exchanged in a frame that looks like it's from another era. These are the unique qualities that film photography can bring to your wedding album.

An Artist at Work

When you hire a photographer to shoot your wedding on film, you're entrusting them with an important task. As we mentioned earlier, once you've found a photographer you can trust to take the right kind of photos, you get the bonus of sitting back and watching them work their artistic magic throughout your wedding.

Photographers are artists in the purest sense of the word. Allowing them the time, space, trust, and grace to shoot your wedding on film will be a wonderful way to have your special moments documented forever. Film photographers offer the ability to tap into a well of emotions, adding an extra layer of depth to your wedding photos. The grittiness of grain can be a great lens through which to look back on your wedding.

Be bold and consider a mix of digital and film. This modern approach allows you to enjoy the best of both worlds, capturing the timeless charm of film and the convenience of digital.

While there's an obvious play here of hiring two photographers, one to handle digital and another for film, that's generally not feasible financially. So, you can do what I did at my wedding: choose both and DIY the film side. We opted for high-quality disposable cameras at our wedding while paying a photographer to take digital shots of us and our family. We handed out the film cameras to our guests (and ourselves) and spent the night snapping away unthinkingly. The next day, we used FotoScan at Indooroopilly here in Brisbane, and they did same-day photo printing for our rolls of film; it was a wonderful way to add physical photos to a wedding album while also having digital options.