Wedding photographer

[Brianbar]

I have a question for wedding photographers.
When the Bride and Groom are stood at the alter, the Groom is ALWAYS on the right of the Bride, yet when taking photos after the church service most photographers switch them around, why?
I did wedding photography in England many years ago, and if I had the Groom on the left of the Bride, it was unforgivable.
The tradition goes back many years in England, that the Groom stood on the right side so as to leave his right hand free to draw his sword to defend his Bride.


Brian

[Bruce Foreman]

I have a question for wedding photographers.
When the Bride and Groom are stood at the alter, the Groom is ALWAYS on the right of the Bride, yet when taking photos after the church service most photographers switch them around, why?
I did wedding photography in England many years ago, and if I had the Groom on the left of the Bride, it was unforgivable.
The tradition goes back many years in England, that the Groom stood on the right side so as to leave his right hand free to draw his sword to defend his Bride.


Brian

It may have more to do with attire accessories than anything else. The Grooms boutiniere is worn on his left and as you often turn the bride & groom slightly towards each other there is less chance of causing it to look like it is about to be crushed.

Also if the groom is in military uniform, most ribbons and decorations are worn on the left and the same thing as above applies. It will always look awkward to photograph the couple with the grooms awards and decorations on the "inboard" side.

Bruce Foreman

[DaveG]

I have a question for wedding photographers.
When the Bride and Groom are stood at the alter, the Groom is ALWAYS on the right of the Bride, yet when taking photos after the church service most photographers switch them around, why?
I did wedding photography in England many years ago, and if I had the Groom on the left of the Bride, it was unforgivable.
The tradition goes back many years in England, that the Groom stood on the right side so as to leave his right hand free to draw his sword to defend his Bride.


Brian
I've always refused to get caught up in the right side/left side protocol. There is no reason for it and there are times when having the groom on the left and the bride on the right (or vice versa) makes a better image.

For example, I shot a wedding last summer and the groom and the groommen were very tall, while the bride and her ladies were relatively short. The park area where we were doing the group formals was on a bit of a hill, so I positioned the ladies up hill and the gentlemen downhill.

The results were that there was a much more horizontal "head-line", and I would suggest that this line is more important than their "feet-line", so to speak. Now if I was playing the left/right game in the park I may well have had to put the taller guys up hill and had an even worse "head-line" angle.

I've taken the same approach to the B&G couple shots, if I have to play games with their height if one of them is a lot taller than the other - and it ain't always the guy!

In Canada (and maybe only Canada) there is a very important shot to get and that's when the B&G sign their documents. This is done at the end of the wedding and in the alter area. Although it can be done in real time I prefer to set it up later.

I ask the bride to sit at the little table and then I have the groom kneel next to her, so their faces are close together. But before the groom takes his position, I ask the bride if she's left or right handed. I want her hand with the pen to be on the outside! So if she is right handed the groom would be on her left in the shot. This may sound a bit silly but it'd be very awkward for her to hold the pen in a natual position if he was leaning against that arm.

Once again a good shot takes precidence over left/right body positions, and isn't that the point?

[steven]

It might just have to do with where you are looking from.

From the alter the groom is on the left and the same for the set shots.

[Harry Settle]

He's still on the same side, just facing a different direction.