What is documentary wedding photography?

Documentary wedding photography or photojournalistic wedding photography are phrases that have become really popular in the last few years within the wedding industry as there has become a desire to move away from a more traditional approach to wedding photography.  I'm sure you've seen your parent’s wedding album which included maybe 10-20 stiff and formally posed photographs?  

Wikipedia explains Documentary Photography as:

DOCUMENTARY PHOTOGRAPHY USUALLY REFERS TO A POPULAR FORM OF PHOTOGRAPHY USED TO CHRONICLE EVENTS OR ENVIRONMENTS BOTH SIGNIFICANT AND RELEVANT TO HISTORY AND HISTORICAL EVENTS AS WELL AS EVERYDAY LIFE.

A wedding provides a wealth of material for the documentary photographer.  A full day of very genuine reactions and emotions across a complex series of relationships with subjects ranging from babies to the very elderly.   How this translates practically:

Documenting people

By blending into the background and being discrete in the way I work (small cameras, silent mode, limited use of flash) I aim to create as little disruption to the flow of your day as possible.   I want to capture truly honest reactions and emotions from you and your guests and so want them to be relaxed around the camera and for the camera not be intrusive into the atmosphere of the day.

Here are some of my examples of my documentary photographs which I feel really capture the energy, emotion and honesty of the day - unposed and natural and full of smiles: