Professional photographer John Branch says that wedding photography is about to change radically, due to Gen Z couples starting to get married.
Branch, who has 264,000 followers on YouTube, says he's been doing weddings for 11 years, mainly for millennial couples. But in the next five years, the oldest Gen Z couples will begin getting married – leading to huge changes to the photography styles required.
Branch claims that Gen Z will favour candid photos rather than posed, so no more 'everybody say cheese!' group photos. "They want it to be documented and look real," Branch says. "No more fakeness, no more staging things too heavily. They want real feels."
He also says there will be a return to old formats. "A lot of people are going back to film, to vinyl, to VHS cassette tapes, which is why you see videographers shooting with [Super 8], the old old video cameras, or even just camcorders and point-and-shoot cameras. Anything that feels vintage and feels real is going to sit well with Gen Z."
ABOVE: Watch Branch explain the changes he predicts
Branch says that wedding photographers should be learning to use film cameras – and that mastering and offering old formats should be easy for millennials, as they lived through them. "Gen Z has been so steeped in [digital] technology that they want something a little more real."
He says the quicker a photographer can get photos back to Gen Z couples, the better. He himself prints photos off on the day from an Instax Mini printer.
Branch claims that the parents of Gen Z will be less involved in weddings, as they're less likely to have paid for them. He thinks we'll see more elopement weddings, and smaller and less traditional weddings with shorter ceremonies, so parents will be less heavy-handed.
He says there will be more 'dry weddings' – weddings that are alcohol-free – and fewer weddings that are going to impact the environment, so no more sparklers.
In addition, Branch thinks traditions like the bouquet toss, the garter toss and even the cake-cutting may fall by the wayside. He says the garter toss in particular is "super-cringe!"
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