During a wedding I find myself being a wedding photojournalist, portrait photographer, architectural photographer, food photographer, jewelry photographer, and wedding photographer all within 5 minutes.  Things happen so quickly that I need to be on the top of my game.

If you’re a follower of my Daily Photo Blog , you know that I post a new photo every day that at first glance have nothing to do with wedding photography, yet they all relate in some way.   It keeps me on my game because it’s a place for me to explore composition, to learn, to play with light, to spark creativity, and to document whatever catches my eye.  Earlier last month I posted a picture of my bride that I had photographed at Imaging USA using a lighting technique that I had just learned from Denis Reggie (the best of the best in wedding photo journalism.)  I had the opportunity to use that technique at the wedding two weeks ago and I was amazed with the results.

How do you cut the cake?  There’s a lot more going on for the cake cutting than you may think.  The position of the cake table in the room needs to be well planned with plenty of light and plenty of room for the guests to observe.  The position of the photographer needs to be just right so that the guests can see and the photographer can capture the moment.  One of the first places that I go to when I arrive at a reception hall is the cake table (if there is a cake) because I know I will need to plan where to stand for the most optimal light and best composition.

I watch as the bride and groom stand next to their cake in preparation for their first act as a husband and wife.  They both look at each other as if to say “How do we cut the cake?”  They usually figure it out by having the groom hold the knife and the brides hand is on top of his.   The crowd has gathered with cameras in hand all pointed at the two best dressed people in the place.  Bride and groom then begin to cut into the cake together, slowly as not to damage their beautiful masterpiece too much.  The masterpiece that they spent hours upon hours fumbling through magazines and cake books to find just the right one only to stab it with a serrated object and feed it to themselves with their bare hands.  Sometimes the cutting is a bit more difficult than anticipated because those fauna cakes have a harder outer shell.   The feeding of the cake generally involves icing on one or both of their faces, and as a photographer those moments don’t get old and are fun to capture.

So, how do you cut the cake?