We have all gone through well-worn old wedding albums of our parents, aunts and uncles, and of course even grandparents, laughing at those days’ hairstyles, long handlebar mustaches, funny bridesmaids’ dresses, and powder blue tuxes. Wedding photojournalists might contend that these photos would not have been so out of style if more emphasis had been given to the un-styled, un-planned moments of the wedding day, rather than the prescribed agenda of highly organized groups of people staring at the camera. But naysayers say that wedding photojournalism is only a trendy, passing fad that does not respect the venerable traditions of the classic posed shot. To them, tradition and true photographic quality are replaced by grainy, natural-light candid that claim to be "art."

There is a general feeling that tears and laughter recorded forever will soon be going out of style. When real life goes out of style, all will be in trouble. Real moments – you cannot fake them. When people look back at their wedding photographs, they want to remember what they felt at the time, not just what they looked like, which is surely to be out of date 20 years later. What really matters is the actual experience the photographer is documenting. People would like to experience real life as it happens. They want to remember their wedding day, without someone asking them constantly to move or stand a certain way. They do not like to remember the photographer making him dip her back like that, but only the spontaneous moment — the real moment.

Today there are trendy photos in every wedding posing as wedding photojournalism. This” trendy” wedding photojournalism occurs when a photographer takes photos that have become expected in the genre. When a photographer thought that it was photojournalistic to take a photo of the dress hanging on a hanger every other photographer started taking a photo of the dress and it is not wedding photojournalism anymore. One will wonder, on seeing posed shots like dipping the bride; the jumping bridal party; tilted horizons which does not make you a photojournalist and close-up detail shots like those of shoes, ties etc, what photojournalism you can see in such weary pictures. We can look back at the 70s and 80s and say, ‘Oh that’s so passé,’ but we are doing the same with a different set of pictures.

Brides and grooms must understand the difference between real wedding photojournalism and the trends some photographers are buying into, If you are adamant about documenting your wedding in a photojournalistic style, make sure you communicate your wishes to your photographer, so he or she doesn’t feel pressured to get those canned shots, and can instead focus on the real moments, happening organically, without direction or interruption. Actually many clients don’t want those posed shots that they’ have seen in everyone else’s album, they already know that they don’t want the experience of the photographer being in charge and directing the whole day.

An observing eye captures the reality of a wedding — the real moments that you will remember years later when flipping through your photos. There is beauty and art in reality. Is there a better-known fad than a mother standing back in awe of her daughter's beauty or a tearful father walking his daughter down the aisle, when life itself is a great fad?