Wedding Photographers Reveal The Hardest Photo They've Ever Taken

"This beautiful location on Maui has been shot so many times by so many talented photographers, so we really wanted to create a new perspective for our clients. This involved Adam, the photographer, changing out of his wedding attire after the ceremony and into his wetsuit top and board shorts, swimming out above shallow coral reef and positioning himself to shoot from the water back at the land. After the shots were taken, Adam quickly dressed to be back in time for the reception entrance." -- Shawn-Marie Ravazzano

"This was a tricky procession. Half of the aisle was in shade, and the rest of it in very bright, direct sunlight. I had two cameras on me; my telephoto exposed for the shade and my wide angle exposed for the light. I switched between them for each person as they came down the aisle. I caught his moment of the bride and her dad just as they hit the bright light, making the shadow space behind them drop to black. It's a good reminder, when you see those lighting situations that make you start to sweat, that maybe there's a unique opportunity there." -- Helena Martin

"How do you plan for photos in 50-mile-an-hour winds and 30 inches of snow? You really can't. Inside the venue, I quickly huddled the bridal party together -- like we were playing football -- to go through all the movements and poses that they would shortly go into whiteout conditions to bust through. The blizzard couldn't bring them down. This easy-going group made it a breeze to handle the challenging weather." -- Justin Johnson

"The bride and groom wanted to do their first look on the subway platform in downtown Toronto. We all had to time it perfectly so the groom would be waiting for his bride on the right platform, at the right time. In addition to timing, we had loads of busy Torontonians unloading at their stop, so their first look was literally in a sea of people, who erupted in cheers and applause for the happy couple." -- Erika Rowell

“It took five minutes to walk down two flights of stairs, cross the street and walk far down a sidewalk to reach the ideal position for this epic wedding-day photograph. Let’s just say that yelling detailed posing instructions to a couple across a busy street when you’re hundreds of yards away makes it really hard to capture a photo like this one.” -- Rob Greer

"Recently at Darby and Kimbra’s wedding at Edisto Island, South Carolina, we had to deal with having an outdoor wedding with Tropical Storm Bonnie. It rained non-stop and the wind whipped strong most of the day, but we still wanted to create something epic for their portraits. With a twenty minute window after their ceremony where all the weather just seemed to eerily stop, we rushed out to the sea. We carefully placed Darby and Kimbra on top of some very slippery rocks that protruded out to sea." -- Matthew Druin

"My wedding clients requested to be photographed on one of the resort's boat docks with the gorgeous Sawtooth Mountains in the background. It was an extra windy day, and I saw the potential to showcase the layers of the bride's Sarah Seven dress. You can't tell in the photo, but the boat docks were super crowded with lake goers and rocking so bad I ended up sitting/laying down to keep from falling off! Even with the dock rocking, the couple precariously swaying, lake water sloshing up between the planks and trying to keep me and my assistant from falling off the sides, I caught this image." -- Tana

"For starters, the bride and groom had so many friends that they asked 24 people to join in on their wedding party. If that wasn’t challenging enough, it was pouring buckets of rain for about 90 percent of the day. We’ve photographed rainy weddings before, but nothing like this. When it came time for group portraits, we scrambled. We thought about trying to wait for a break in the rain (which never came, by the way), but thankfully we locked eyes on the wide, covered porch on the side of the stables. We knew it would be perfect and everyone would stay dry -- except for us -- as we captured some of our favorite wedding party shots to date! The rain was an added challenge, but worked in our favor for a fun and unique group portrait." -- Emma Teague

"I took this photograph of Catherine and her grandad just after she'd gotten married. He was only able to attend the ceremony, so this is them saying their emotional goodbyes. Catherine had an amazing relationship with her grandad which reminded me of the relationship I had with my own grandad, who sadly had passed away just a couple of days before I shot Catherine and Tom's wedding. I find weddings hugely emotional under normal circumstances, but this one gave me a lot to think about. Seeing this moment unfold in front of me became a personal challenge I had to overcome. I could hardly see through tears while capturing this moment, but I knew it was so important." -- Jonny Draper

"Our instructions were to go scouting in Belize after arriving and look around for a sandbar to hold a small destination wedding of 15 people or so. We live five hours away, so all this was new. I figured it was absolutely necessary to carry our underwater housings on this journey. Housings are big, bulky and not travel-friendly and make the job harder, especially when the images you will be getting are for that 'one shot.' We carried these housings on five boats on the wedding day, at the same time documenting the entire event." -- Matt Adcock