This blog is a celebration of our amazing couples and the photos we’ve captured of them together. We also wanted to share a little insight into how we photograph couples. Always naturally, always without posing. Whether you’re considering booking us as your wedding photographers or you’ve already booked us, this blog will give you a sense of what to expect when it comes to your couple shots.
Natural Couple Shots During Your Wedding Day
When we photograph your wedding, you will receive a full day of natural, documentary wedding photography – plus any group shots you’d like us to take. A special part of the day is your couple time, which is exactly what this blog is all about.
Your couple shots will be taken in the same relaxed and natural style as the images on this page. That means no looking at the camera, no staged poses – just authentic moments of you both together. We can capture these images within your wedding venue and its grounds, or if you’d like, we can take a short walk or drive outside the venue for some variety. Either way, the focus is always on letting your connection and personalities shine through naturally.
Taking Time for Just the Two of You
Couple time is exactly as it sounds – a chance for our couples to spend time together! On a wedding day, all the clichés about the day racing by in the blink of an eye are so true. That’s why we always recommend taking a few minutes just for yourselves.
Whether it’s a walk around the grounds or a short drive to a nearby location, every couple and every venue is different. The important thing is to savour those few quiet moments together and really enjoy them. A wedding day is exciting, fun, and full of celebration, but it’s also incredibly busy. With so many guests to speak to and mingle with, carving out time to connect with the person you just married is essential – and it often becomes some of the most memorable moments of the day.
Natural Couple Shots, Not Posed Portraits
During your couple time, we capture beautiful images of you together – completely naturally, without any posing or staging. Some photographers might call these “portraits,” but by definition, portraits are posed. They are often about how the photographer thinks a couple should stand, kiss, hold each other, or interact. Portraits can involve forced smiles, moody glances, or staring wistfully into the distance – all directed by the photographer.
Our approach is completely different. We focus on you and your connection, not on a rigid set of rules or a “one size fits all” formula. By letting you be yourselves, we capture moments that are genuine, relaxed, and full of emotion. This way, your couple shots truly reflect your personalities and the joy of your wedding day.
Capturing Every Couple’s Unique Moments
Every couple is different, and every wedding is completely unique – and our photography reflects that. In some of our images, you’ll see couples laughing, holding each other close, stealing kisses, picking each other up, running, jumping, climbing into a river, or practising their first dance.
But here’s the key: it’s all down to our couples, not us. We don’t tell couples when to kiss, we don’t suggest jumping in a river, and we certainly don’t stage moments for the camera. We might tell a rubbish joke now and then, but that’s just because we are terrible at jokes – it’s never to force a laugh or create a moment artificially! The magic happens naturally when couples are just being themselves, and that’s exactly what we capture.
Couple Shots That Truly Reflect You
Our photos capture your day exactly as it is, showing the personalities of you and your guests. And our couple shots? They show how you and your new husband or wife are together, naturally, as a couple. These images are all about your personalities – not ours. There’s no directing, no forcing, no pretending – just real moments between the two of you, beautifully documented.
Letting Moments Happen Naturally
We won’t ask you to kiss, or put you in a pre-rehearsed pose. In fact, we won’t even ask you to look at the camera! All we ask is that you ignore us, forget about our cameras, and enjoy your time together.
If you kiss, we’ll capture it. If you just have a chat, we’ll photograph that instead. By giving our couples the freedom to simply be themselves, the most beautiful moments happen naturally – natural kisses, genuine hugs, and unposed interactions that truly reflect your relationship.
Celebrating Real Connection On Your Wedding Day
We’ll be truthful – as you can see from these images, we love interaction from our couples. We love closeness, and we love it when they kiss or make each other laugh (or both!). It’s these little moments that really make a photograph special.
But we also love it when couples do something unexpected. By letting our couples be themselves – because that’s the key here, each of you is unique – we capture the genuine, unplanned moments that show your personalities and your connection in a way no posed photograph ever could.
Forget the Camera, Enjoy Your Time Together
Another key element of our approach is that we don’t ask our couples to look at the camera. To some people, this might seem a little unusual! In today’s selfie-driven world, so much photography has become portrait or “self-portrait” based – essentially selfies. But we don’t want our work to look ordinary or like a phone snapshot – we want to capture beautiful, timeless memories.
Looking at the camera is fine for a quick group shot (we still do a few at most weddings, but never let them take over the day). For everything else, though, we encourage you to ignore the lens completely. During your couple shots, this is especially important. You’ll quickly forget we’re even there, and that’s when the natural, relaxed, and intimate moments happen – the ones that truly tell the story of your wedding day.
Enjoy moments without looking at the Camera
You don’t need to look at the camera at all. By simply ignoring the lens and enjoying your time together, you allow real moments to happen naturally. Your laughter, your hugs, your quiet conversations – these are the moments that make your images truly special.
Looking at the camera can make things feel awkward or staged, but when you focus on each other instead, the photographs capture your genuine connection. This is especially true during your couple time, where you’ll quickly forget we’re even there. The result is natural, relaxed, and timeless images that are completely about you.
Focus on Each Other – Let Us Capture the Moments
When you focus on each other instead of the camera, everything opens up. It gives us the freedom to move around, try different angles, and create a variety of beautiful images. You’re not restricted to one position or one pose, and every shot captures a slightly different perspective – all of which tells the story of your couple time naturally.
For you, it means you can fully enjoy being together without thinking about us or the cameras. Your couple time becomes just that – your time. Trust us, you are the important ones, not us! By ignoring the lens, moments like laughter, hugs, quiet conversations, and playful interactions happen effortlessly, giving us the chance to capture truly natural and timeless images that reflect you as a couple.
Every Couple is Unique – So Are Their Photos
You may notice that some photographers’ couple shots look very similar from wedding to wedding. Often this is because the images are posed or staged, using the same set of poses repeatedly. As a result, the photos end up looking alike, no matter who the couple is.
That said, this isn’t a criticism of our peers – the wedding photography industry is full of incredible talent and so much choice. There are photographers who produce amazing work in styles completely different to ours, and we genuinely respect them. It’s just that approach isn’t for us, and it’s not a style we ever work in. If a couple asked us to shoot in a traditional, posed way, we simply wouldn’t want to – we prefer to let every couple’s personality and story shine through naturally.
Natural, Unposed Couple Shots
We specialise in natural, documentary wedding photography and unposed couple shots – it’s what we do best and what couples book us for. If you want beautiful, authentic images of the two of you together, we’ll be the perfect fit for your wedding. When you look back at your couple shots, we want you to remember the moments as they really happened. We don’t want you to recall being posed or directed into unnatural positions just to “get the shot.” That’s why we won’t move your hands, adjust the way you stand, or tell you how to act with each other – that would only make you feel awkward and like your natural connection isn’t enough.
We take the opposite approach. Just be yourselves and enjoy your day. By letting your personalities shine and letting moments unfold naturally, we’re able to capture beautiful, timeless images – exactly like the examples here.
Couple Shots Your Way – No Pressure
Not every couple wants to kiss during their couple shoot, and that’s absolutely fine. We don’t want anyone to feel awkward or pressured. Our goal is simple: for you to act naturally, just as you would if we weren’t there.
We keep everything discreet, moving around to stay out of sight as much as possible. Sometimes this even means hiding behind a tree or crouching in a bush – yes, it’s a strange job being a documentary wedding photographer, but it’s all worth it to capture genuine, unposed moments.
Couple Shots That Fit Your Day
We want your couple shots to feel completely relaxed, so we never extend them for hours on end. Couples and guests often comment on how much they appreciate this! Everyone has been to weddings where the couple disappears for what feels like forever to take formal photographs or “portraits.” We don’t do that.
Instead, we split your couple time into two or three short sessions, usually five to ten minutes each. This way, you never miss the flow of your wedding day, while we capture natural moments in different locations and in changing light. You get a variety of beautiful images that show you together as your day progresses. And yes, a few photos in front of a sunset are always magical – though, of course, we can’t promise one, no matter how much we wish we could!
Couple Time Is Optional
If you don’t want to go for couple time, that is absolutely fine! We’ve photographed many weddings without taking any couple shots at all, and even without group photos. This is a fully documentary approach – your day is all about you, not us.
If you prefer to spend all your time with your guests instead of taking a walk around the grounds while we capture discreet moments, that is more than fine. Just let us know your preference and we will adapt completely. The day is yours, and we are here to document it in the way that suits you best.
Relaxed Couple Shots That Reflect You
If you do want some couple shots – as most of our couples do – we always take them in the same relaxed, natural style. No matter the venue, your plans, or the weather, our approach doesn’t change. This consistency allows your personalities to shine through in every image, capturing authentic moments that feel like you, not a staged version of you.
All Images by Award Winning Wedding Photographers
All images are by The Mateers, award winning wedding photographers based in Yorkshire. We photograph weddings all over the country, so location is never a barrier. We have photographed and filmed over 600 weddings across the UK and have been fortunate to receive many awards for our work. While we are based in Yorkshire, our couples choose us for our natural, relaxed style and the quality of our images, not our location.
From the Lake District one weekend to Cornwall the next, then Devon, Scotland, Surrey, Derbyshire, and Cheshire, we love the variety this brings to our work. Exploring new wedding venues and capturing unique moments is one of our favourite parts of this job. Wherever you are getting married, we would love to hear more about your plans. So, if you love our work and want a photographer who is relaxed and takes natural photos without posing, please get in touch with us by clicking here. From Yorkshire to and beyond, we photograph weddings everywhere, capturing natural moments that tell your story. If you’d like to see more of our work and find out about our approach, you can visit our full portfolio and wedding photography information here.
