Weddings are a kaleidoscope of colors expressed through flowers, fashion, decor, and the emotions of the day. Yet, capturing that vibrancy and richness takes more than simply pointing a camera. It’s about preserving atmosphere, honoring culture, and translating design into imagery that feels as alive decades later as it did in the moment. Photographer Perry Vaile, a leading expert on the sophisticated use of color, shares why color matters so deeply in wedding imagery—and how it can shape the way your memories live on.
Timeless Colors that Age Well
Since some wedding photography can take a turn either for the underwhelming or over-processed, there is a significant need to find imagery that balances them both. Color is a pivotal element in replicating the feeling and memories from your wedding so that you can relive the experience—even at anniversaries years down the road. The best way to determine if a set of photographs will age well in 10 or even 100 years is to ask yourself: does this look like what it did in person? Wedding photography should reflect these vivid experiences in an elevated and memorable way in order for multiple generations to appreciate their true beauty.
Celebrating Cultures
While traditional Western weddings emphasize the stark white gown, many other cultures use the wedding as an opportunity to lean into the celebratory joy or the austere reverence that color can awaken in our hearts. If your wedding uses color to honor heritage, it should be highlighted by your wedding photography and not washed away. For those couples who are planning a wedding that emphasizes color for cultural reasons, this is perhaps the best reason of all to hire a photographer who can honor the intentional choice of color.
Fashion that Stands Out
Color has been a way throughout history for people to stand out, express themselves, and celebrate in life’s biggest events—yet it has somehow gone missing in today’s modern wedding photography. Couples allow their stories to feel alive and be amplified when they lean into vibrant wedding photography because color is an integral and often overlooked part of the story. When you’re choosing imagery that will differentiate your wedding from everyone else’s, one of the key components is fashion—from color to pattern and cut. All of these give insight into how you want to express yourself when all eyes are on you, even beyond the joy that will surely be emanating from your faces.
Doing the Design Justice
Few things are more disappointing in wedding photography than designing a space, experiencing it in full glory on the day, and then seeing the final photographs fall flat and lack the “pop” that you remember in person. When it comes to the design of your wedding day, you’re working to tell a story beyond the words shared in the ceremony by providing an immersive feeling that your guests experience when they enter a space. A photographer fluent in color should highlight the rooms you worked so hard to create.
Leaning into Joy
Weddings are a celebration, and photographs of these special days aren’t meant to show only serious faces and subdued emotions (though these do have a place depending on the moment). Instead, wedding imagery should capture the robust, rich, lively stories of those who were a part of it.
Bringing Life to Neutral Palettes
You don’t need to have a colorful design to benefit from vibrant wedding photography because even with subdued palettes, color can still shine. From the depth of the night sky to the glow of skin tones, candlelight illuminating a reception, or the richness of the natural world around you, there are unlimited benefits to leaning into a vivid photography style because the right photographer will allow even neutrals to sing.
