Photo of the Day


Eye-Catching Portraits and Photos of the Week

October 17, 2022

By Jacqueline Tobin

This week, we hone in on a tender photo moment here and there between couples, taken by Bloom & Wander Co., M and G Wedding Photography, Groovy Banana, and Moriah Jae Photography. View the featured images below and get the back story on how each one was executed.

This image was taken during a First Look, says Jessica Albonico of Bloom & Wander Co. The photographer calls herself “part photojournalist + part experience director + part magic maker” (“depending on what the moment calls for,” she says).

“The moments leading up to a First Look are often super high energy,” she explains. “But this moment, specifically the calm expression on her face, captures why I love first looks so much. It’s a magical moment when you see your partner for the first time on the wedding day and the nerves and jitters—and all the stress you had about wanting the day to be perfect—all fade away.”

tender photo moment between bride and groom.
© Bloom & Wander Co.

Adds Jessica, “I love how the expression on bride Pam‘s face captures a feeling of calm and deep love and adoration. And technically, I love how the sunlight spotlights her expression, while the canopy above creates a speckled light pattern along the back.”

“As a documentary wedding photographer,” says Hollie Mateer of M and G Wedding Photography, “you could say capturing emotion as it naturally occurs is my stock in trade. Not all emotion is expressed in a highly dramatic way.”

mom watches her daughter get dressed for wedding.
© M and G Wedding Photography

In this image (above), Mateer says she framed the mother of the bride using the bride’s arm and body as she adjusts her dress—to draw the viewer to the picture and to the bride’s mum, watching quietly from the edge of the room. “She stands, very still, the angle of her hat paralleling the angle of the bride’s arm, her gaze fixed with a smile forming and her fingers touching each other with just a hint of nervousness. Her pride is palpable—it’s a deep and many layered emotion, borne of years of love and care towards her daughter, at the very moment she moves into a new stage of their relationship.”

In the image below, Gaga and Ben from Groovy Banana explain that they rode in a pickup truck with the couple for one hour to get to the top of an active volcano—the most accessible active volcano in the world, they say. “But the best part is the ashen plain left behind, which looks like you are on the moon. We were witnessing a full moonrise that night, and we love the combination of the stars and the moon rising in this image.”

tender photo moment with volcanic eruption in background.
© Groovy Banana

This photo (below) was taken at Aldergrove park in Vancouver, BC.  “The bride stood in front of the dark trees and grass, and I used my Nikon Z 6 to get a closeup of her face,” says Moriah Cummings of Moriah Jae Photography. I love how the wind blew her hair in front of her face and gave off a very romantic, moody feeling.”

beautiful bride reflects before ceremony.
© Moriah Cummings/Moriah Jae Photography

This tender photo moment (below) was taken at Aldergrove park in Vancouver BC, also by Moriah Cummings. “It was a wide shot and I love how it showed the flow of the bride’s dress train, and we used a slight touch of fog [in a can] to add to the whimsical effect,” she says.

tender photo moment between bride and groom in the woods.
© Moriah Cummings/Moriah Jae Photography

Dig into our Photo of the Day archives for even more eye-catching images that convey tender photo moments and more. Submit your wedding portraits, editorial, documentary and commercial image submissions here:  jacqueline.tobin@emeraldx.com