The Secret to Beautiful Wedding Photos

In Conversation With Helaina Storey: Why the Best Wedding Photographs Aren’t Always the Ones You Planned

“Every wedding needs less people-pleasing and more expression.”

There are photographers who document a wedding day, and then there are photographers who understand it.

Before picking up a camera, Helaina Storey spent a decade designing luxury weddings around the world. She understands the rhythm of a celebration, the quiet moments between the milestones and the subtle shifts in emotion that often pass unnoticed. Today, that experience informs every image she creates.

Rather than chasing perfection, her work is rooted in something far more enduring: authenticity. The fleeting glance between a father and daughter. The laughter that erupts unexpectedly between friends. The moments that were never on the timeline but become the memories couples treasure most.

We sat down with Helaina to talk about why wedding photography is becoming less polished and more personal, the return of film, and why the best investment a couple can make isn’t another shot list, it’s trust.

She Understands Weddings From Both Sides

Long before becoming a photographer, Helaina was planning weddings. When the pandemic forced celebrations to be redesigned, postponed and rebuilt repeatedly, some from scratch three times over with an entirely new brief, she found herself questioning where her creativity truly belonged.

“I realised I had more to say artistically. The part I always looked forward to most was seeing the photographs afterwards.”

That shift has given her something few photographers possess: a backstage pass into the mechanics of a wedding day, not just its emotions. She understands vendor relationships with the same depth she brings to her couples and that mutual trust shapes everything.

“I know where the unexpected magic is likely to happen. If something needs doing, whether that’s fixing a dress, jumping onto the plating station at a DIY marquee wedding, or simply calming nerves, I’ll step in. A relaxed couple creates beautiful photographs.”

It’s this combination of logistical understanding and emotional intuition that quietly underpins her work.

A Camera Made by Hand

Long before she was buying her first professional camera, Helaina received one as a gift, a homemade pinhole camera, made by her father. It’s a memory she carries quietly into every wedding she shoots.

Her dad was handy and creative, and those early years were filled with little projects made together. He was her hero. But their relationship broke down when she was a teenager, and they haven’t been in contact since.

“I always wonder how proud he might feel if he saw my work and what I’m doing today.”

It’s also, she believes, why she is so drawn to father-daughter moments at weddings. She notices them in a way others might not.

“An adoring dad beaming at his little girl on her wedding day gets me every time. It will often be a moment of particular significance within the collections I deliver.”

The Image That Stays With Her

Ask Helaina about a single photograph that has meant the most and she doesn’t hesitate for long, though she’ll tell you her favourites change constantly as she looks back through the archives.

The one occupying that place right now arrived as a message from a previous groom. He sent her a copy of an order of service from his Godfather’s recent memorial. The photograph used was one Helaina had taken at the wedding. His Godfather had since passed away from cancer.

“His wife said it was ‘the nicest photo of him he has ever had’. Such a testament to the power of preserving time with photography. Just knowing the impact it had.”

It is a reminder, she says, of why wedding photography is about so much more than a single day.

Wedding Photography Is Becoming More Honest

While wedding photography has always evolved, Helaina believes the biggest shift isn’t aesthetic, it’s emotional.

Brides are moving away from overly styled details and fine art flat lays, gowns hanging in curious places, and towards photographs that feel lived-in, natural and deeply personal.

“It’s less about how the images look and more about how they make you feel.”

That change has coincided with the resurgence of analogue photography. Film encourages photographers to slow down and be intentional, producing images with true-to-life colours and beautifully imperfect grain. Helaina is predicting a shift towards ‘clean film’ away from the gritty point-and-shoot aesthetic though, which she describes as a whole other technical skill in itself.

She’s so passionate about the medium that she now includes both 35mm and 120 format film within her standard collections, with large format portraits available for couples who want to preserve their legacy as handprinted heirlooms. Super 8 motion footage adds another layer of storytelling entirely.

“There is something about moving film images which can transport you back to a moment in time in a way that still images simply never could.”

The Photographer Matters More Than the Portfolio

Pinterest boards and Instagram saves have become an almost universal part of wedding planning, but Helaina believes couples often focus on the wrong things when choosing their photographer.

A crucial distinction, she says, is between images taken at styled shoots or workshops, models in controlled environments, and real wedding galleries. Both have their place, but a Bride deserves to know the difference.

“Are there any real weddings in their portfolio, or are they all models? How do they capture guests and the more ordinary parts of a wedding day? Always ask to see full collections.”

Rather than asking whether they like a handful of hero images, she encourages Brides to look deeper: how does the photographer handle difficult light? How do they communicate? Would you feel comfortable getting dressed in front of them? Do they have genuine reviews?

“I wish every Bride would ask me how I’ll make them feel. Anyone can have a beautiful portfolio, but your emotional connection with your photographer is what allows truly personal photographs to happen.”

Family Portraits Don’t Have to Be Stressful

Most Brides find them daunting. Many photographers treat them like a military operation. Helaina takes a different approach.

She asks for a list of must-have group combinations ahead of the day, with a suggested limit of around five to ten maximum, and recommends a member of the bridal party keep a copy to help gather people efficiently. By this point, she’s usually on first-name terms with most of the significant guests anyway.

From there, she reads the room. Some families respond best to a relaxed, candid approach; others enjoy a little direction and more dynamic compositions, playing with height, furniture or unique locations. The interactions between shots, she says, are often the real highlight.

For couples who want no group shots at all, she’ll still arrive armed with a quiet list of ‘guests of honour’ and often, group moments happen naturally anyway.

Stop Worrying About Being Photogenic

Perhaps the biggest misconception Helaina encounters is Brides believing they’re somehow ‘bad’ in front of the camera.

“There is no such thing.”

Every couple arrives with different insecurities, and adapting to those personalities is simply part of her role. She is often asked by guests how long she has known the couple, or whether she does this for a living, as though she has simply been invited as a family friend who happens to have a camera. It is, she says, the ultimate compliment.

Some Brides need gentle guidance; others barely notice the camera is there. She shoots as though she’s a guest, immersing herself within the couple’s inner circle rather than purely observing from the sidelines.

“The most beautiful moments almost always happen in-between, when people forget they’re being photographed.”

Time Is the Greatest Luxury

Ask Helaina what couples regret most and the answer isn’t flowers, dresses or décor.

It’s time. Time to breathe. Time to be together. Time for something unexpected to happen.

Extensive, rigid shot lists, she cautions, can be restrictive and prevent opportunities for spontaneous, genuine moments. Give your photographer creative freedom, she advises. Be guests at your own wedding. Let go and let them work.

Those unscripted moments, she says, are often the ones that become family heirlooms decades later.

Please Print Your Photographs

One consistent gap she notices in how couples invest in their photography: tangible, printed pieces.

“Nothing compares to an artisanal heirloom print. An image will look entirely different on a page than it does living in your digital screen. Please, please print your photos.”

She offers beautiful handprints straight from the darkroom with some film coverage options, mounted fine art archival prints as part of every full-day collection, and a signature coffee table book, a stunning, physical way to preserve the memories of a day and pass them down for generations.

Don’t Let Trends Decide Your Memories

If there’s one piece of advice Helaina returns to repeatedly, it’s this: don’t allow social media to dictate what your wedding photographs should be.

She gently warns against over-stylised editing, but she’s equally cautious of following any trend simply because it’s fashionable, including the trend of rejecting tradition altogether. She’s seen couples so determined not to be ‘performative’ about photography that they skipped moments they later wished they’d captured.

“Even consciously fighting against trends can backfire. Just be you and do what you like.”

What Brides worry about most, she has found, is conforming often subconsciously. Social pressures, family pressures, and even the pressure not to conform to social pressures. The antidote is simply authenticity.

She speaks from personal experience. In embracing the documentary approach so wholeheartedly at her own wedding, she never took a single photograph with her three children.

“I’ve never gotten over that.”

Sometimes, she reminds couples, the slightly more traditional formal group shots are those which will be most treasured in ten, twenty, fifty years. A reminder of loved ones lost. It’s all about balance.

The World as a Backdrop

Helaina has photographed weddings internationally, and each setting has taught her something new. Amsterdam was one that genuinely surprised her.

“I travelled with the bride and groom to the ceremony by canal boat, which arrived to all their guests alongside a Caribbean steel band with pre-ceremony dancing, a vibe which was totally unmatched.”

Quite different, she notes, from the usual fairytale scenes of Italy and France. This year, she’s particularly looking forward to shooting in The Azores, the ‘Hawaii of Europe’.

The Moment That Stopped Her in Her Tracks

There have been countless sentimental moments over the years, ones that have choked her up, that she has carried long after a wedding day ended. But one stands apart for its unexpectedness.

At a wedding in Ireland, she found herself shooting a Bride and her girl tribe in the bathroom during dinner. They laughed so hard it hurt.

“I will never ever forget that moment and the overwhelming sense of the power of unbreakable female friendship and sisterhood. It was very, very special, totally unexpected and so hilarious we could hardly breathe.”

The Moment Nobody Talks About

Ask Helaina for the most underrated moment of a wedding day, the one nobody talks about but she always notices, and she doesn’t have to think.

It’s the few minutes immediately after the ceremony. Guests exiting the space and gathering in huddles, clutching their confetti, assisting Granny, guiding the smaller children. Smiling, laughing, whispering, debriefing. Preparing to shower the couple with love and petals.

“Whilst they remain hidden around the corner in anticipation, I capture moments and interactions they would otherwise never have got to witness. Most photographers might follow them there. But I’m forever in pursuit of the unobvious.”

The build-up to the confetti throw, she says, is understated, organic bliss. A precious little pocket of time where happiness lives.

Do you love Helaina's photography? See her Directory Profile here