Photographs may be the closest thing we have to time travel. Years after the flowers have faded and the last guests have gone home, a single frame can transport you right back to the feeling of the day—the light in the room, the people around you, and the little moments you may have otherwise forgotten. For Mexico-based husband-and-wife duo Romana Lilic and Mariano Arias Diez of LA76 Photography, that ability to preserve not only how a wedding looked, but how it felt, sits at the heart of their work.
Together for nearly 20 years and photographing weddings side by side for 16, Romana and Mariano of LA76 have developed a visual identity shaped by fashion, architecture, and design, while remaining rooted in documentary storytelling. Their photographs are not simply about how a wedding looks, but about what gives it character: the way light moves through a space, how design interacts with its surroundings, and the moments of connection that unfold naturally throughout the day. Their distinct point of view is always present, but it leaves room for each couple and setting to shape the story, resulting in images that feel specific to the people, place, and atmosphere they captured. We sat down with Romana and Mariano to talk about what happens beyond the beautiful image, and how light, space, design, and human connection come together to give a wedding photograph its meaning.
The Wedding Defines the Photography
At LA76 Photography, we’ve developed a recognizable visual language over the years, but we never want every wedding we photograph to look the same. A wedding by the sea in Mexico naturally feels different from a celebration in an old European villa or a modern architectural space, and we think the photographs should reflect those differences, as well as the individuality of each couple.
The couple's personalities matter too. Some couples are quiet and shy, others are playful and expressive. Some celebrations are small and intimate, others are big and vibrant; some weddings have a minimal design, while others are full of color, movement and energy. Our backgrounds in architectural design, photography and editorial work naturally influence everything we notice and the way we photograph it.
For us, this is where editorial photography and documentary photography naturally meet. There are moments when we intentionally create a beautiful composition, work with the design, landscape and architecture of the place, find the right light, and then gently guide our couple so the photographs still feel natural. And then there are moments when the best thing we can do is simply observe and allow life, emotions and movement to happen in front of us, and capture it all. We bring our own visual language to every wedding, but we never want to force our couples into it. Instead, we let their personalities, their connection, and the way they are together help shape the photographs we create.
The Grand & the Intimate
One of the things we appreciate most about being a married couple who have photographed weddings together for over a decade and a half is that we have complementary views of the events happening around us. During a wedding celebration, two things can be happening at the same time, and both can matter.
One of us may see the couple within a dramatic landscape or beautiful architectural frame, while the other focuses on a private, intimate interaction within the same moment. We love that one photograph can show the scale of a place and all the people gathered there, and the next can be a hand being held under a dinner table. We love that contrast.
We believe every wedding story needs the photographs that immediately feel iconic, but it also needs the quieter images that may become important for completely different reasons later on. When we plan wedding photos with our couples, they might be looking forward most to the portraits we'll create of the two of them on the beach on their wedding day. But twenty years from now, an image of a parent laughing during dinner, dancing with a grandma or grandpa, or a candid photo of two lifelong friends embracing may carry an entirely different weight.
We can't always know which photographs will become the most meaningful. That is one of the reasons we try to look everywhere, not only at what is immediately beautiful, but at what is happening within that beauty.
Beauty Becomes More Meaningful in Context
Mariano and I both love fashion, art and design, travel, architecture and interiors, and those interests naturally influence the way we see a celebration. With personal roots in different cultures, and different ways of seeing beauty, we bring complementary perspectives to every image we take. But we don't think about these elements separately from the people experiencing them.
We love a beautiful wedding dress, but a dress isn't interesting to us just because it is beautiful. We notice how it moves, how it catches the light, how the person wearing it carries herself in it, and how its shape relates to the space around her. The same is true of flowers, tablescapes, stationery or reception setups. We love photographing the details, but also the context they belong to.
A beautifully designed dinner table has a completely different meaning once guests are sitting around it, talking, laughing, reaching across it toward one another and sharing food. A beautiful space becomes more than architecture when a father sees his daughter there in her wedding dress for the first time. That is where beauty becomes part of the story. The setting isn't just something behind our couples. We feel it influences how a moment is seen and how it is remembered years later.
“We can't always know which photographs will become the most meaningful. That is one of the reasons we try to look everywhere, not only at what is immediately beautiful, but at what is happening within that beauty.”
Light, Weather, & the Feeling of a Place
Light is one of the first things we notice when we arrive at a wedding. It can completely transform the feeling of a photograph: soft morning light coming through a window, strong shadows against modern architecture, the golden glow just before sunset, candlelight at dinner, or a cloudy sky that brings a little drama to the setting.
The same is true of the weather and natural surroundings. An ocean breeze may send a veil flying in a way we could never have planned. Strong sun can become part of a graphic composition rather than something we need to hide from.
We don't believe every wedding should be made to look as though it happened under the same perfect conditions. We would rather respond to what is actually there and let the character of that particular day influence the photographs. Those elements become part of the memory too. Years later, a photograph can remind you how warm the evening was, how the breeze felt coming off the ocean, how the light changed just before dinner, or how the entire room looked once the candles were lit. For us, light and atmosphere aren't simply tools for making a beautiful photograph. They help give a wedding a distinct sense of place and time.
Capturing the Meaning That Remains
What matters after the wedding day is over? You'll eat the food, the flowers will wither, and your guests will go back home. There is a very good chance this exact group of people you love, from different families, friendships and chapters of your lives, will never all be together in the same way again. Ultimately, people give everything else meaning.
The extraordinary landscape matters because two people chose to stand there and make a promise to one another. The venue matters because everyone they loved traveled there and filled its rooms. The beautifully designed dinner matters because friends and family sat around those tables, talked, laughed and celebrated together. That is why, for us, photographing a wedding has never been only about making beautiful images. It is about creating a visual legacy of a particular moment in a couple's life.
Years from now, we hope the photographs remind the couple of how beautiful and happy they looked and of everything surrounding them, but most importantly, of how it all felt: the anticipation before the ceremony, the sound of their friends laughing over dinner, the people who were there, and perhaps even small moments they didn't realize were happening at the time.
Fashion, design, architecture, details and light give a wedding its visual character. But the people and the memories made within those spaces are what give the photographs their lasting value. A beautiful wedding photograph can show you where you were. A meaningful one can take you back there. And that is what we hope to preserve every time we pick up our cameras.
