Is TikTok influencing how you can photograph?

Social media can create a lot of hype and some clients may feel the pressure to reproduce photos that they see their friends or other influencers taking at their own weddings. What is trendy today, often is not  10, 20, or 30 years down the road. Clients are going to want to revisit real, genuine moments when they look back on their photos, not a TikTok production. If you’ve experienced something similar and/or want to help your clients have the best possible experience, then this blog post may help! Feel free to share! 

Is TikTok the death of your wedding? 

Social media can be an amazing tool when it comes to planning your wedding.  It connects you to friends & family, and allows you to see vendors and venues that may be perfect for you. It can also help give you inspiration for your wedding. However, the thousands of videos and images from other people’s weddings can also have a detrimental effect on your own. 

Most couples end up spending somewhere between 5-6 hours with their guests, which includes the ceremony, cocktail hour, and reception. During the ceremony, you’re typically not chatting with guests andat cocktail hour you may be taking your formal photos. During dinner, you’re trying to scarf down some food.Which leaves you with 2-3 hours of time to actually interact with your guests.

What’s Important?

When you have so little time to connect with the people you want to celebrate with, it’s important to stick to WHY you are doing these things. Ask yourself: Is this important to you? Will it make your day more relaxed? Will it add to your experience with your loved ones? Over-scheduling to fit in manufactured moments(like the ones you may have seen on TikTok or Instagram) can leave you stressed and overwhelmed. It can even make  you lose sight of the real meaning of why you’re doing it. Social media shows you small glimpses of picture-perfect tidbits of someone else’s wedding. Many of those posts are manufactured and/or from styled shoots and NOT from the real wedding day (so it doesn’t even make sense to try and recreate these artificial moments). Fitting in all these extra things can make your logistics stressful and ruin the experience for you, and your guests.  It also adds to the stress you put on yourself, which cannot be understated.

Ignore what’s trending

If it’s important to you to see the genuine emotion and connection with your friends and family in your photos, then my advice is to ignore what is trending at the moment. Instead, have experiences and connections that only you can have at your wedding. If You try to plan the whole day around composing and manufacturing, it leaves no room for genuine moments for ourselves. At the end of the day, what images do you want to remember your wedding from?

You’ll never feel so loved by a group of people as you will on your wedding day. Simplify your day and take the time to enjoy it with your friends and family. Resist the urge to manufacture moments your “followers” will love on TikTok.

Photographers, is TikTok influencing how you can photograph? Check out our Podcast, ‘How to Create Moment-Driven Photography Rather Than Manufacturing Moments’ with Alia Siarto.

Ready to have all the tools you need to provide the best client experience? Check out our course, guides, free resources, and mentoring for documentary wedding photographers.