Getting ready is where a wedding day is quietest and most itself. Nothing here was arranged. The window was doing the work, the spray drifted into the light, and the frame was made from a step back rather than a step in.This is what an unobtrusive approach looks like in practice: waiting for the room to carry on as it would have anyway.

A cloud of hairspray catches the window light behind the bride, moments before the dress goes on.

The Last Spray

A creative frame made in the middle of an ordinary preparation morning, working the light and the glass rather than asking anyone to pose.Portraits should not interrupt the day. The best of them are made in the gaps, while everything else carries on.

Lipstick going on, refracted into a repeating run of the same face in black and white.

Prism

Two things happening at once, which is most of what a wedding morning is. The laugh is real because nobody was asked for it.Children are usually the honest part of the day. They are worth watching.

A flower girl works through a sandwich on the bride's knee while the hair is finished behind them.

Sandwich

The ceremony starts and the smallest member of the party has his own opinion about it. Behind them the bride is already on her way.Moments like this only exist for about a second, and they cannot be asked for a second time.

Two page boys in tartan lead the way in, one of them entirely unconvinced.

Down the Aisle

Veil, glass and a reflection all sitting in the same exposure. The quiet minute in the car is one of the few a couple never get to see for themselves.

A bride at the car window in the last minute before arriving, her father beside her.

The Car

The weather here is rarely flat, which is a gift if you use it. Exposing for the sky turned the couple into shape alone and let the cloud carry the rest.Portraits are done in a relaxed way. Stand there, talk to each other, and let the light do the work.

A couple in silhouette against a broken North East sky, framed by the window that held it.

Against the Sky

Everybody photographs the bride walking in. The photograph is usually behind you.Being in the right place for this one means knowing the room and staying out of the way of it.

The groom loses it as his bride comes down the aisle, a hand arriving on his shoulder.

The Turn

Ten minutes away from the reception at the right hour. The couple were asked to do nothing except stand together while the sun dropped behind the trees.Being willing to walk out for a few minutes is usually the whole trick.

Last light through the trees, the couple held small in it and doubled in the water below.

Golden Hour

A documentary approach means the whole day, not only the couple. The reception is full of people quietly doing their own thing at the edge of it.

A quiet pint in the van door while the drinks reception carries on without him.

The Campervan

Rain is not a problem. Lit from the side it becomes the entire photograph, and it takes about four minutes to make.Couples who are willing to step outside for it always end up with the frame everyone remembers.

Rain lit hard against a city facade, one umbrella and no reason to go back inside.

Rain

Confetti happens once and it is over in seconds. Standing in the right spot beforehand is the only preparation that matters.

Petals thrown from both sides at once, the whole line of guests in on it.

Confetti

Every venue has something worth using. Here it was watching from a rope in the trees, so the couple were left soft and it was allowed to be the sharp thing.

A kiss in the foreground, and a ring-tailed audience of one behind it.

An Audience

Exposing for the bulbs alone leaves the rest of the room to fall away, so what is left is the couple, the flowers and the light they were standing under.

A first dance held under hanging bulbs and flowers, the room dropped away to black.

Festoon

The first time a father sees his daughter in the dress, in an ordinary front room, with everyone else trying to hold it together along the wall.Photographed from the doorway, because the moment belongs to them.

The dress is on, her father goes first, and the room follows him one by one.

Duncan McCall Photography, Newcastle and Northumberland wedding photographer