My Best-of 2025 wedding photos

I have been shooting weddings since 2011, and I don’t think I have once done a year-in-review blog post! Back during the COVID days, when there were little to no weddings, I ended up starting a bearded dragon business that quickly became successful, and we were named one of the top breeders in the USA in just a few years. It was crazy, unexpected, and not what I wanted to be doing full-time.

The whole time I was juggling the dragon business, I was also hanging onto doing weddings. The wedding business coasted, but by the end of 2024, I made the decision to fully close up the dragon business so I could focus more of my time and energy back on weddings. I felt like a student again in 2025 and I LOVED it.

When I first fell in love with photography as a kid, I was terrible with writing and was struck by how impactful imagery could be (if you get the right shots). 2025 was a year of me honing my documentary skills & fleshing out the idea that legacies matter. I’m good at directing crowds and guests, but I had realized (like many in the industry) that I would use that skill to pose more than observe. Yes, the photos looked cool, but the moments were staged and the people in them would remember the posing happening, not the moment happening. The reason so many photographers do this is because weddings are such an uncontrolled event with terrible light, unpredictable things happening, and getting good shots without directing is extremely difficult.

So, I started being unapologetically there for the moments. I pored over more documentary photographers’ work (most of them dead or old). I’ve always prioritized telling the whole story of the day, but I’ve honed it closer to letting it unfold, and almost no intervention.

And to sidebar about my rigorous belief in printing. I have 6 kids now (!!!!), and one thing I have learned is how important it is to have real, in-your-hands photos. Because of this, over the last three years, I’ve gone all in on printing, getting my own printing set up in my studio, and making albums of all shapes and sizes in record numbers. My wife and I print dozens of personal albums of our family life throughout the year and the kids pore over them daily. It’s amazing to see the power the right moments printed have for retaining long-term memory, and giving us fuel for the days ahead. (Just today, one of our sons spotted a specific dressup game moment captured while flipping through a mini book and said “guys! we should play the king game again!”).

I have compiled this year in review into five parts: five acts, because every wedding day consists of them in one form or another.

2025 taught me:

Pose less.
Stay in the moment.
Print everything you can.

ACT I: SET UP

The quiet before the storm. I document getting-ready time not for certain shots, but to become invisible. The initial awkwardness fades (helped along by me reminding people “don’t worry about the camera, I’m here to just capture what happens”), family dynamics reveal themselves, and I’m yet again another guest—watching life unfold, no direction, no posing.

Act II: Rising Action

Things heat up. Family formals—brief and natural, couple portraits—showcasing the uniqueness of their relationship & their environment. This is when I step in more—directing, making people feel comfortable, letting them soak in the moment.

Act III: The Climax

The ceremony. The crux of the matter! Everything that comes before and after is supporting the moment everything changes and two become one. I pull back, go full documentary, and capture every tradition, every tear, every vow exactly as it happens.

Act IV: Falling action

Ties get loosened and the high intensity of the ceremony lead-up goes straight into the joy and the relaxing. A total feast with everything that comes with it. I love to find the quiet moments in the middle of the chaos.

Act V: Resolution

My favorite part of the night. Everyone knows me, the party’s loosened them up, nobody’s worried about the camera. The dance floor getting WILD, tired babies, big or little send-offs, the couple relishing moments together in the middle of their people.

Thank you to each of the couples who trusted me with their memory-keeping this year. It was a true honor getting to be a part of such heartfelt, personalized, and beautiful celebrations. I am more fired up than ever this year to keep honing my craft and giving my best to what matters the most.