Southern Weddings

Hi ladies + gents! You all were so enthusiastic about our round-up of images from past issues of Southern Weddings that we wanted to elaborate a bit on what, exactly, makes our print images so special (in our humble opinion, at least!). In a word? Film.

Braedon Flynn as seen in V4

Of course, it goes without saying that we love both digital AND film photography. We feature both types in print and online and truly believe a great photograph is a great photograph, no matter the medium. We have both incredible film and incredible digital photographers in our Blue Ribbon Vendor Directory!

A Bryan Photo as seen in V4

Still, why are we such fans of film? To tell you the truth, when I tell people that we shoot our editorials mostly on film, or that my wedding photographer shoots exclusively film, they think it’s the strangest thing! They can’t believe that in this day and age, people still go to the time and expense to shoot film instead of digital. But you know what? I think that’s exactly why film photography and Southern Weddings are such a good match. We appreciate and celebrate a lot of things that have been forgotten “in this day and age,” like graciousness, hospitality, romance, honoring your history, timeless and classic style, slowing down, and being kind to and appreciative of the community that surrounds you as you plan your wedding.

Katie Stoops as seen in V4

However, the most important reason that we use film to shoot our editorials is that to our mind, you simply can’t beat the soft, romantic look of the final images. In V4, every major editorial was shot on film, as were the covers of V1, V3, and V4! Seven of our V4 real weddings were also shot all on film or partially on film.

Jose Villa as seen in V4

That being said, we have to introduce you to Richard Photo Lab, the company who almost every film photographer trusts to develop their rolls. They’re the ones we use for Southern Weddings shoots, too, because since we’re not photographers ourselves, we’re inclined to trust the recommendation of the photographers we work with. And the recommendation, unanimously, is Richard Photo Lab.

Paper Antler as seen in V4

A small sampling of their stellar client list: Jose Villa, Lisa Lefkowitz, Jonathan Canlas, Tanja Lippert, Bryan Johnson, Yvette Roman, and Tec Petaja. Goodness gracious. We love Richard’s for some of the same reasons we love film and the South: they still take the time to do things the “old fashioned” way, like paying meticulous attention to every single frame, never applying “one size fits all” settings, and treating their clients as valuable instead of expendable. We think nothing sounds more Southern than that!

Veil and Bow as seen in V4

To close, we just wanted to send out a little public service announcement to every bride, no matter what sort of photographer you hired: get those photos off of your high-res disc and onto your walls! Gorgeous photos are meant to be lived with and appreciated every day, y’all! And when you do print those photos, make sure they’re the highest quality possible and printed on archival paper and all that goodness — your wedding photos are destined to be heirlooms passed down to your grandchildren, so treat them right! Unsurprisingly, we’re big fans of Richard Photo Lab’s printing options.

While you go run and grab that disc, we’ll be taking our own advice and ordering up the top picks from our survey. We’ll be sure to share a photo of our wall when we’re done!

Written with love by Emily