the dark side of wedding trends - when authenticity gets lost

When a Wedding Becomes a Performance

Somewhere between Pinterest boards, viral Reels, and styled inspiration shoots, weddings began to change.

What was once a deeply personal celebration has, for many, turned into a performance — a day curated not for emotion, but for content.

As a wedding photographer and filmmaker in Tuscany, I’ve witnessed this shift up close. The desire to create something beautiful is natural — but when trends take the lead, the soul of the celebration can quietly fade into the background.

The Pressure to Be “Perfect”

It often starts with good intentions: a stunning venue, a well-planned design, a touch of style. But soon, inspiration becomes a checklist — the right arch, the right light, the right dance moment to post online.

Couples begin to feel their wedding must look a certain way, that emotions should be timed, that everything needs to align for the camera. And in chasing that vision of perfection, something essential is lost — the genuine spontaneity that makes every love story unique.

Because perfection photographs well. But truth? Truth feels better.

I recently shot a wedding in Sicily, and I was thrilled to travel and capture their celebration. A week before the wedding, during a call with the bride and groom, they expressed their desire to recreate some trendy videos that were going viral. On the day, we ended up focusing most of our time shooting these clips, which resulted in a final delivery of scripted shots and videos. While visually appealing, the day felt somewhat constrained, and the spontaneity — the laughter, the small gestures, the fleeting moments that make a wedding unique — was diminished.

This experience reinforced a truth I’ve always believed: trends may look good on social media, but they can never replace real emotion and genuine moments.

When every moment is styled or scripted, there’s little room left for surprise — and weddings are, above all, human. The laughter that breaks the silence during the vows, the wind that plays with the veil, the imperfect, beautiful chaos of real life — these are the details that make a story memorable.

While some photographers chase every trend to stay “relevant,” I let authenticity guide my work — because true storytelling never goes out of style.

I believe the beauty of a wedding lies in imperfection — in the small, unplanned gestures that can’t be recreated. When you allow yourself to simply be present, the day unfolds in ways far more meaningful than any Pinterest moodboard could imagine.

Through hybrid coverage — photography and cinematic film — I capture the full story of the day: the candid smiles, quiet glances, spontaneous laughter, and all the moments that trends can never script. My role is not to direct life but to observe it, preserving truth, energy, and connection as they naturally appear.

Years from now, when you look back at your wedding photos or films, it won’t be the color of the flowers or the trend of the season that moves you — it will be the emotion.

The people who were there. The way it felt. The way you looked at each other when no one else was watching.

Trends fade. Authentic moments don’t. And that’s what makes them worth capturing.

If you value real, authentic storytelling over fleeting trends, I’d love to capture your wedding in a way that will stand the test of time — in both photography and cinematic film