Masks in Wedding Photos - Is It Weird?
Having a wedding during the Coronavirus pandemic is… bizarre, to put it one way. As we sit with baited breath, waiting for a vaccine and a global “all-clear” to happen, many couples are deciding to change their wedding plans.
But life has given us lemons, so we have no choice but to make lemonade. For many, that means planning an altered version of their dream wedding with all sorts of unexpected provisions like a limited guestlist, a different venue, and so on. And another potentially strange new facet of COVID-19 weddings? Face masks.
That’s right, you may or may not have thought about the fact that all of the wedding festivities and fun - the makeup, the dancing, the toasts - will have to happen with masks on. And, hey, that’s fine! At this point, we’re all so used to living life with our masks on that we barely notice them anymore.
But there is one caveat… What will it be like in the future to look back on your wedding photos and see that everybody is wearing masks in them? Is it weird? Should you maybe take your photos without masks? Let’s talk about it.
See? You can still rock a mask at a wedding.
Cons of Having Masks in Your Wedding Photos
On the one hand, there are some definite disadvantages to having masks in wedding photos. Generally speaking, people want their wedding photos to be timeless. That’s why we put such a focus on wearing hair, makeup, and clothing that will still look good 40 years from now when we look back on our weddings.
Unfortunately, having masks in your photos will immediately break that illusion, making it very clear when they were taken. When you’re showing these memories to your family, decades later, they’ll probably ask about them. For some people, that may feel like you’ve ruined the wedding photos, especially if you’ve led your whole life dreaming about having that perfect wedding album full of exposed, smiling faces.
Pros of Having Masks in Your Wedding Photos
On the other hand, there are actually a lot of reasons why you should have masks in your wedding photos. First of all, the most obvious one: it’s the safest option for your health. To avoid having masks in your photos, you and your guests would have to take them off at one point, which would immediately put you at risk for getting or spreading the virus, something you’ve most likely been working very hard to avoid at this point.
Even if you only take your masks off for the staged photos, they’d still be obvious in all of your candid photos from other moments. That leaves you with the option of either accepting masks in your photos or taking off the masks for your entire wedding, which is a major health risk that we highly discourage you from taking.
Of course, you could just wait to have your wedding until masks are no longer necessary. But since we don’t have a definitive date or timeline for vaccination rollout, or if and when the general population will be vaccinated enough to consider it a thing of the past, we still have to play it safe. You don’t want to be responsible for someone getting sick - or worse.
You shouldn’t hold back your wedding for the sake of picture perfect memories.
Because the reality is, having masks in your wedding photos can even have some charm to it. Think about it, the whole point of photographing your wedding is to capture the moments and the memories that you really lived. If the reality of the wedding is that it happened against all odds during a pandemic, don’t you think that’s something to celebrate instead of trying to hide?
It’s definitely a very interesting story to tell in your future, something completely unforgettable that adds a certain uniqueness and interest to your wedding story.
Ultimately, wedding photography isn’t about the looks and the pageantry and the spectacle. It’s about capturing the memories of something real and special. So if you ask me, keeping your masks on in your photos is A-okay - it’ll definitely be okay with those in your party that don’t want to contract a potentially lethal virus and bring it home to their families. Not only will it keep you and your guests safe so that you can live to even look over your wedding photos in another 40 years, but it also will let you look back on something that was real and remarkable and, sure, maybe a little unusual.
Booking a Post-Covid Wedding
What a lot of my clients have been doing is getting ready to create their post-covid receptions to allow more guests, and have the same look and feel of their wedding reception. Some are documenting their adventures from their wedding dates and all the way through until the pandemic is over and making presentations to share with the guests that couldn’t attend the original wedding. You can always book a photographer and catering for any party you want to have. It doesn’t just have to be for a wedding. Having a wedding anniversary party or a “we made it” party is becoming a more popular idea since traditional 100+ headcount weddings are temporarily impossible.