It’s kind of funny- I realized recently that my demeanor during certain parts of a wedding day is completely at odds with who I am as a person. And what I mean by that is in every day life, I don’t mind being the center of attention. It’s actually why I love public speaking so much! Having all eyes on me doesn’t phase me a bit.

But on a wedding day, especially during the ceremony, my goal is to draw as LITTLE attention to myself as possible. Because the most important thing is what’s happening at the altar, and I never want to be what detracts from that!

In light of that approach, I choose NOT to use flash during 95% of the ceremonies I photograph, even if I’ve been given the okay by the church wedding coordinator or priest! I know that might surprise some of you, but hear me out. Because everyone in the vicinity sees when your flash deploys, and because I shoot pretty continuously throughout a ceremony, every click of my shutter would alert people to my presence. And like I said- I never want to serve as a source of distraction during the ceremony.

This is why it’s so important to have a camera body that can handle low-light situations! I love shooting at old, sweeping churches, so my gear of choice for dark cathedrals is the Canon 5dmarkIII + my 85mm 1.2 lens. The wide aperture allows me to let in more light, and for really dark churches, I’ll up my ISO to 4000 or 5000. With the 5dmarkIII, the grain is never SO visible that it detracts from the subject in the photo.

All that being said, there have been 2-3 weddings over the last six years where I DID choose to employ an off-camera flash, and in each of those situations, it was because I knew that simply changing my camera settings wasn’t going to work. At Mike & Jill’s wedding, for example, the huppah they were standing under, combined with the gorgeous uplighting throughout the ceremony space, meant that they were going to be in shadow for almost the entire ceremony. Normally the issue is flipped- with spotlights on the bride & groom, it throws everything ELSE into shadow. So I set up two off-camera flashes on the very edges of the room, and was very conscious to shoot more slowly so that the pops of light didn’t become a source of annoyance.

If you’re someone who really likes using a flash during ceremonies, Justin & Mary do it REALLY well. Their approach is subtle and yields some seriously beautiful photographs, and if I were to ever incorporate artificial light in a ceremony on a regular basis, I’d take after their method! Their Lighting Guide is the bee’s knees, if you’re looking to learn more about off-camera flash for wedding :).

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